Three types of people

idea, eye, question mark

In Business world you may find three types of people:

  1. Those that make things happen
  2. Those that watch things happen
  3. Those that are wondering: “What’s just happened”

My first impression was, that we all should try to be the type one in every area of our life… but is it true?!

It’s about control, accountability, ownership, stress and joy. 
First of all, we may have different approach in different areas: work, technology, politics, culture, environment, family…

I would call those tree types accordingly: Makers, Observers, Unawares.

Makers will have full control and ownership on the situation. This position will give you lot of joy, related to accomplishments. On the other side it may lead to huge stress exposure. Makers changing the world! They change it in different matters: good and bad. Sometimes not able to predict long term consequences of their actions. Makers are accountable for those changes.

Observers have a distance. They are not in the middle of changes. Have no direct impact on actions. Their emotion levels are much lower, and may come to zero in some moment. This approach may make them perfect speculators. Observers see what’s happening, and may predict what will happen tomorrow. Calm and strong. Observers may bet on best horses: “buy when there’s blood in the streets” – it’s their motto.

Unawares – this role seems to be negative. Unawares are passive. Have neither control nor visibility of the situation. Is there any positive of being Unaware? Probably no-one would like to be Unaware… but actually.. we all have areas of our live where we’re unaware. Those areas, where we doesn’t care about control, or prediction. If flowers bloom in my garden – I wonder… I’m not a gardener at my home (my Maja is) – so have no control on it. I don’t provide daily notes about flowers status and blooming chances – so have no visibility on the proces. I just enjoy new flowers, birds, bugs and small animals, who come to our garden… No stress, no accountability, no prediction tries but joy.

RACI – business approach

Those three types of people may be applied into RACI model:

  • R – Responsible
  • A – Accountable
  • C – Consulted
  • I – Informed

Makers have to be Responsible. They will lead change and feel very comfortable in this role.

Observers should be Consulted. They have best observations and visibility of the whole picture. Looking for their advice is the best option.

Unawares should be Informed. They don’t care about the process, don’t bother them with details. Just inform them when done.

All three roles might be Accountable, but due to lack of control in Unawares approach I would avoid them to be Accountable.

You may have different RACIs in different processes in your company or job position.