What’s Your Genius?
Discover your strengths to work smarter, not harder, with Working Genius.
Burnout is more about doing the wrong type of work than having too much work.
This statement comes from a program called Working Genius by Patrick Lencioni.
As I navigate clients through this program, we are able to get more done in less time. Therefore, I felt compelled to share the program and its key concepts.
The Working Genius model explains there are six types of work and a logical order for success. Each of us has the ability to derive joy and energy from two of those types of work - our Working Geniuses. Because we love that kind of work, we naturally gravitate toward it and are typically good at it.
On the other hand, there are kinds of work that naturally exhaust or drain us. These are called our Working Frustrations. For many of us, our Working Frustrations are the source of guilt and self-judgement because we feel bad about not being competent or eager to help in those areas. While we can’t always avoid these tasks, we are meant to minimize the time we spend on them. However, if we don’t understand what those deficiencies are, we can’t effectively minimize them.
The remaining two types of work neither brings us joy nor drains us; they are known as our Working Competencies.
The objective, whether as an individual or a team, is to understand our areas of genius, competency, and frustration in order to improve job satisfaction and productivity.
What are the Six Geniuses?
The Genius of Wonder (W)
The natural gift of pondering the potential for greater opportunities in a given situation. People with this genius are constantly curious and on the lookout for ways to improve.
The Genius of Invention (I)
The natural gift of creating original ideas and solutions. People with this genius love generating new concepts and solving problems, often creating something out of nothing.
The Genius of Discernment (D)
The natural gift of intuitively evaluating ideas and situations. These individuals have a knack for assessing ideas or situations and providing valuable guidance.
The Genius of Galvanizing (G)
The natural gift of rallying, inspiring, and organizing others to take action. People with this genius enjoy bringing energy and momentum to an idea or decision.
The Genius of Enablement (E)
The natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project. These individuals quickly respond to the needs of others, offering their cooperation and help.
The Genius of Tenacity (T)
The natural gift of driving tasks or projects to completion and achieving results. People with this genius push for excellence and love seeing the impact of their efforts.
Understanding these geniuses and how their order supports the implementation of any project improves the likelihood of success.
Most of our waking hours involve some kind of work. Learning how to work smarter - not harder - either as an individual or a team makes work more enjoyable.
Nancy Dewald is a business development professional, workshop facilitator and optical industry veteran. She is CEO and founder of Lead Up Training & Consulting, which specializes in identifying business gaps, implementing solutions and developing leaders.
Article as seen in Optical Prism.