Everyday one has to work with people. People come from different families, cultures and environments. The human management system at workplaces try as much as possible to fit the various cultures and backgrounds into the organisation’s culture. This however is, in the final analysis, translated as being effective and efficient at work.

In my working experience, and having visited several places with good work culture such as the Lagos Business School (www.lbs.edu.ng) foremost in business education; Hayat Kimya - having high quality production processes, Guarantee Trust bank (www.gtbank.com) foremost in banking services; Institute for Industrial Technology (www.iit.edu.ng) foremost in industrial technical education and training; Primera Africa Legal (www.primeraal.com) a full service commercial law firm and many other foremost firms, one can say that people are the ones that drive firms forward and those who do well at work are the ones that sustain and add value to the organisation.

As a result, I have been able to categorize people’s work life, based on my opinion, into three groups. Before I talk about the categories and the subject topic, I would like to summarize that lovely story written by Yeshualeader (https:///2NGW9IzI) which I find useful for it gives deep insight into the work lives of many Nigerians.

Mr. A works hard and had worked for a firm longer than Mr. B. Mr. B however, also works well. There was a vacancy for a promotion (promotions are positions of more responsibility) but it was given to Mr. B. Mr. A became furious and went to complain to Mr. M who is the manager. Before giving an explanation, Mr. M sent Mr. A on errand to buy a particular fruit. Mr. A came back saying that the fruit was not available. Mr. M then sent Mr. B on same errand. The intelligent report from Mr. B to Mr. M was witnessed by Mr. A then Mr. M gave his explanation to Mr. A. In this explanation, it was clear that Mr. A, even though he works hard, only provides data and not information. A manager always needs information to make decisions and not data that makes no sense. Mr. A works hard employing all his strength, but at the end of the day, week, month or year, he only produces data.

Stepping back, I have named the categories of people whom I have come across as the Doers, the Coders, and the Wishers. The Doers are thinkers that translate thoughts into results. They work hard, they are enthused about their work, they are fast learners with lots of initiative, they work smart, and they love to maximize their time with the mentality of doing more with less. The Coders love to show. Intelligent as they may be, they take pride in positions and office polities. They get things done only if it adds to their own benefit and somethings may be extravagant in spending to achieve success. The Coders unlike the Doers may not be self-sacrificing because the motive for working is not for the firm but to their own interest. The Wishers are just something else. They are difficult to deal with and take instructions, always complaining about problems without offering solutions, have to be taught almost everything, low sense of initiative, satisfied with doing little but expect high returns. They think things will work out but they do nothing or little to make it work. They can however be helpful because unlike the Doers and Coders who can be very volatile i.e. they can change jobs at any time, the Wishers on the other hand complain but they seldom change jobs and as such their little input can be relied upon.

Knowing the attitudes of the people you encounter at workplace is key to doing well otherwise, you may frustrate yourself.