Lencioni’s 6 Types of Working Genius

Takeaway: 

Everyone has something to contribute to their work place. Patrick Lencioni believes that there are 6 different types of working genius, knowing more about your working geniuses can take your leadership and contributions to the next level and even help prevent burn out.

Lencioni’s Six Types of Work Genius:

After listening to a podcast with Patrick Lencioni being hosted by Entreleadership, I took the plunge and paid to take the online assessment to find which type of working genius I am. Yes, it sounds very egotistical, but the big idea is that there are six categories of working genius and everyone has talent in at least a couple of them - so I thought, why not?

I took the online assessment, which was rather quick and only has 42 questions, and the feedback came out fairly predictably - wonder and innovation were my highest areas of genius. After reading through the entire nearly 20 page PDF that was sent to my email, I adjusted my results from the other four types to better reflect each category’s descriptors and my self-perception.

Below are the six types of working genius:.

Wonder

Loves to start new and exciting projects, is inspirational, does not settle for the status quo, always looking forward, not backwards.

Invention

Creatives, innovative, can find novel solutions for today’s problems, often seen as a true genius in your organization.

Discernment

Uncanny ability to know what is right or best, can have a gut feeling about any situation, keeps a team or organization on the right track.

Galvanizing

Can be passionate or charasmatic, brings enthusiasm and energy to whatever they do, has the ability to get things done and motivate others to move, and they tend to be happy to do it.

Enablement

Loves to help, wants to contribute, when on board with a project or idea can really get things done, great addition to a team.

Tenacity

Following through is a hallmark of this genius, loves to see things through to completion, even when others feel like a project is a slog - tenacious geniuses are motivated to always finish.

So, how can knowing your working genius help you? First, if you can identify your talents from the list above and how these qualities bring you energy and joy, you can focus on developing and harnessing these skills to further your work. Second, knowing what drags you down - your lowest two categories - and wears you out will help you to know on what you should work on or what to avoid. This is how to prevent burn out for many of us, reducing time in our two lowest working genius categories. Lastly, the middle part, those are things you are probably good at, but they may not bring you joy. Lean into those areas, but break them up with your high genius areas.

Why listen to Lencioni? He is a very successful author and entrepreneur who focuses on organizational health. His previous works have been a mainstay in many new and reinvigorated businesses. His work on recruiting people that are hungry, humble, and smart had been huge for me personally. Honestly, I really enjoy his work!

Want to take this to the next level? Have your teams, staff, or colleagues also complete the Working Genius quiz and share what their findings are. Use this information to help get the right people in the right place. Have someone with a high level of Discernment? Bounce your ideas off of her so you can see if they are worthwhile. Working with someone who is tenacious? Let them take on the parts of the project that require focus and finishing something that may not be generally exciting. Have a huge problem that needs solved? Look for your innovative folks.

Summary

While paying $25 for a short online survey to give you feedback on your working genius can seem like a cash grab - and I am sure that is a part of it - I also found it very helpful. When other members on your team take this survey and you spend time understanding what areas of working genius brings energy and talent to you team, then you know how to place people. I do recommend taking the plunge, although the PDF they send you is where the real gold is.