Working Genius Unlocked
“Another assessment? What can this one tell me that I haven’t already heard?”
Humans are complex beings, so no one assessment gives a complete picture, but instead, gives an insight into how and why people function the way they do. The 6 Types of Working Genius is unique because it gives insight into what type of work will bring joy and energy versus what type of work will bring frustration or lead to burnout. According to its creator, Patrick Lencioni and his team at The Table Group, it’s 80% of a productivity tool and 20% personality assessment.
The model is set up by the six stages that occur in every type of work. Work can mean anything from developing and launching a new product to planning a family vacation. It all goes through these same six steps, but sometimes it goes more smoothly than others. The model explains why.
The six steps of work are:
Wonder – Asking a question like, “Why do we do it this way?”
Invention – Creating the solution.
Discernment – Determining the correct solution.
Galvanizing – Getting everyone excited and moving on the solution.
Enablement – Getting involved in the project, wanting to help the person.
Tenacity – Making sure all tasks and details are complete.
When work flows through these six steps in order, then it flows smoothly and great results are achieved, but when a step is missed, then ideas fall flat, no one buys-in, or details are missed.
Lencioni identifies each of the steps as Geniuses, or our natural God-given gifts. Each person has two Geniuses, two Frustrations, and two Competencies. Each genius is critical to success.
Genius tasks are those where the individual will gain joy and energy from doing that type of work. It may not even feel like work to that person because it comes so easily and naturally. This is where productivity soars, creativity happens, and where God’s work is being done.
Frustration tasks will quickly frustrate and drain an individual of energy, or they may avoid those tasks completely.
Competency tasks won’t give joy, energy OR frustration, but there is a risk of burnout if the too much time is spent doing them.
“Every job is a six letter job,” meaning that time will inevitably be spent utilizing frustrations and competencies, but the focus should be to transition as much work as possible to genius work.
When evaluating projects, looking at how the work flowed through the team can give invaluable insight as to why goals were or were not met. What is typically observed is that where projects go smoothly, geniuses are present; when projects stall or become difficult, geniuses are lacking. Team members working in these lacking areas will be disgruntled, disengaged, or often struggle to meet expectations. A simple shift of responsibilities, or merely acknowledging the difficulty, can improve productivity nearly instantly. Aligning the work with the geniuses of your team members improves the productivity of the team and the fulfillment of the worker.
The ease of productivity improvements with the Working Genius is amazing, but for leaders and teams who embrace the model, there is so much more. Many typical leadership struggles can be overcome by leaders who understand their own geniuses as well as those of their teams.
Self-Awareness
The single most important trait that all leaders need is to be self-aware. Becoming completely self-aware takes many years of experience, prayer, and learning, but the simple, often overlooked, knowledge of what type of work God intended you to do, can be life-changing. Understanding that the Working Geniuses are natural God-given gifts can grant leaders the freedom to say, “I dislike doing this and that’s ok.” This awareness will not just alleviate guilt and wasted time for leaders, but it also helps leaders show up better for their teams, delegate appropriately, and get better results.
Hiring
Hiring is one of the most subjective yet important roles of a leader. Understanding the geniuses and frustrations of the team before starting the hiring process can improve its effectiveness. It’s helpful to evaluate the geniuses and frustrations of the current team first. It’s likely that one or both of the following will be identified:
Missing or Underrepresented Geniuses – leading to work moving slower than ideal, missing a key part of the process, or disengaging a portion of the workforce.
Overrepresented Geniuses – the group may collectively skip processes or lack productive conflict, leading to less innovative ideas and solutions.
When these scenarios are identified in advance, changes can be made to the work distribution of the current team and the job description can be modified giving a better representation of what the team needs, increasing productivity and job satisfaction for the entire team.
Development
Leaders must develop their team members. This includes assigning the appropriate tasks that challenge them, giving feedback and coaching, and enrolling in training. Typical development plans will look at where the individual isn’t performing well and enroll him or her into a program, assign a project where he or she can further develop the skill, and spend time in one-on-one sessions discussing the concepts. This can lead to frustration, demotivation, and burnout if the development “need” is a frustration.
According to Don Clifton in his book Soar with Your Strengths, “[Weaknesses] cannot be transformed into strengths. The goal, therefore, is to manage weaknesses so the strengths can be freed to develop and become so powerful they make the weaknesses irrelevant.” Development plans should deal with weaknesses only in so far as to make sure they’re not getting in the way. Instead, focus on how team members can employ strengths and geniuses to overcome a weakness.
Enrollment in training programs should be focused on enriching a strength or developing a new skill where the team members can more readily engage their geniuses. This will give 10x the ROI as investing in weakness improvement.
Feedback
One of the surprising challenges that the Working Genius can help overcome is giving constructive feedback. This is a crucial element of any relationship and is also one of the most requested training programs.
Most feedback conversations go awry because someone is defensive. The first line of defense against defensiveness is empathy. This is because the feedback needs to come across as caring and helpful, not accusatory. Creating empathy before the conversation is key for success.
A helpful way to do this, according to Dr. Becky Kennedy, is to imagine the “Most Generous Interpretation” of what may have happened. In Working Genius language: “This is probably in his frustrations.” For example, the team member whose assignments are continually late has Tenacity in their frustrations, so they are easily distracted as the finish line approaches. Or, the team who struggles to find a creative solution is lacking Invention on their team.
This is not an excuse for poor performance, but it gives an empathetic view from which to start the conversation versus the alternative of “They must be lazy and not care!”
Additionally, it allows for better problem-solving and solution creation. The most important part of any constructive feedback conversation is the action to improve. When the type of work that may frustrate or energize them is considered, solutions can be focused on leaning into geniuses or creating support structures when working in frustrations.
Teams are an integral part of work and life, and the success of those teams will determine the success in both areas. The 6 Types of Working Genius is a powerful tool that can better align leaders and teams with the work that God intended them to do while improving productivity. Embracing the tool and integrating the language and practices into the culture will gain the greatest benefits.
For more information on the 6 Types of Working Genius and other leadership programs, click here.
Kristina Schmitt is the founder of Kristina Schmitt Development, where she develops and coaches leaders and their teams to get even better results from their businesses and their lives. With 15 years of experience in the automotive manufacturing industry, Kristina integrates leadership models, The 6 Types of Working Genius, lean manufacturing principles, and Catholic values to help leaders transform workplace cultures.
Kristina holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, is a certified 6 Types of Working Genius Facilitator, and a Certified Humaning Made Easier Facilitator.
