If I were to ask you what type of work brings you the most joy, would you have an answer?
Whether you have a clear answer or not, you do some things which brings you joy. You also do things that leave you feeling drained. Have you ever wondered why?
Pat Lencioni and the Table Group developed a workplace assessment called Working Genius in 2020 that puts words to some of those feelings. The Working Genius assessment is 80% work style assessment and 20% personality assessment. That means it’s more focused on how you approach work, which has some long reaching implications if you have a job.
The Basics of Working Genius
The premise is simple: there are parts of your work that give you life/joy, there are parts that drain you, and there are parts that you can do (maybe even really well) but are not as fulfilling as the first.
Your geniuses bring you joy. They energize you. Tasks that fall into your genius are things that you naturally want to do, and sometimes unknowingly, lead the people around you to do. You can do these all day.
The tasks you do that drain you are your frustrations. They drain you. When you have to do work in your “frustrations”, you feel it differently. You tire more easily. You finish the day exhausted. It feels as though it takes more effort to accomplish something in your frustration, because it does.
The third category are things you do, and maybe even do really well, but they do not give you life-your competencies. They’re not frustrations, but they don’t energize you the same way as your geniuses.
What’s a WIDGET?
I’m going to give a brief overview, emphasis on brief. You can find out more information at workinggenius.com and take the assessment there.
There are six total geniuses, and they spell the word WIDGET. These descriptions are directly from the site.
- WONDER – The natural gift of pondering the possibility of greater potential and opportunity in a given situation.
- INVENTION – The natural gift of creating original and novel ideas and solutions.
- DISCERNMENT – The natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations.
- GALVANIZING – The natural gift of rallying, inspiring and organizing others to take action.
- ENABLEMENT – The natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project.
- TENACITY – The natural gift of pushing projects or tasks to completion to achieve results.
As you look at the WIDGET, you will likely discover two that bring you joy (your geniuses), two that drain you (your frustrations), and two that you can do but wouldn’t want to do them all the time (your competencies).
Your WIDGET at Work
So what’s the implication of Working Genius and your work? As I’ve spent more and more time processing the framework, implementing it into my own life, training others to do the same, there are few things I’ve started to notice.
First, knowing your geniuses helps you know yourself. There is no job in the world that falls into only one or two of the categories above. In fact, every job is a six letter job, meaning we have to exercise all aspects in order to succeed. But the Working Genius framework gives you a tool to help you understand why some days you are filled to the brim and some days you drag yourself into bed. And knowing is half the battle.
Second, knowing your geniuses helps you relate to other better. There’s a self awareness that comes when we are able to say, “maybe we don’t need another idea right now (invention), but we need to carry the ball across the finish line (tenacity).” When you’re able to acknowledge those moments and differentiate, it helps you become the kind of person others want to spend time working with.
Third, understanding the geniuses of those around you help you understand them on a deeper level. What if the person who is always suggesting new ideas isn’t doing it because they think your ideas are inferior, but because they have the genius of invention? How would you interact with them differently? Or what about the people whose eyes gloss over when you start talking bigger picture because their genius is tenacity and talking about something doesn’t actually accomplish anything? How would you interact with them differently. In my experience, giving your team a share framework helps unlock potential.
What Now? What’s Next?
I can keep going, but I’ll stop with this. Working Genius has transformed how I approach my work, how I work with co-workers, how I lead volunteers, and how I handle the parts of my job that seem to drain me.
So what’s your next step? Simple – head over to workinggenius.com and take the assessment. Or if you would prefer to listen to conversations on it, you can go here to check out the podcast.
It’s going to be a time investment that pays dividends if you take it seriously. I promise.