What I Learned from the Working Genius Model

Last week, I reviewed the book, The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team, by Patrick Lencioni. During the next three Mondays, I want to talk a little more about the significance of this great model for understanding ourselves, the teams we work on, and how we accomplish work.

In the book review, I mentioned that when I took the assessment I discovered that my Working Geniuses were Discernment and Wonder and I briefly mentioned that this was part of the reason for the name of this website. On the home page of the website, you can see an article that explains the main reason for the name and I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already, but I also want to explain a little about how The 6 Types of Working Genius Model shaped this as well.

When I learned about the Working Genius model, I had a pretty good idea of what my geniuses would be and taking the assessment confirmed it. Just in case you didn’t read the Book Review and aren’t familiar with the Working Genius model, the six types of Work include: wonder, invention, discernment, galvanizing, enablement, and tenacity. The Discernment aspect was not really a big surprise for me. I love brainstorming and working with others or even at times by myself to think about various ideas and make them better. Sometimes I do this even when it’s not really helpful or asked for. I’ve been known to be in grocery lines or hospitals with family and friends and start going off on how I think they could be doing things better. At times I’ve been told by whoever I happen to be talking to that I should “Go ahead and go tell someone who works there and not them.” The emphasis definitely being on “not them.” I’m rarely bold enough to take that suggestion and offer the unsolicited advise to someone other than the person I happen to be with. That’s probably due to a number things. One might be because Discernment is a responsive genius and not a disruptive genius. A bigger reason is probably because Galvanizing is one of my Working Frustrations and going up to someone in a business or organization out of nowhere with a suggestion does not give me joy. If I’m asked for my input, however, it does generally energize me.

My other Working Genius was Wonder. Like many people with this genius, I knew this sounded a lot like me, but I’d certainly never really thought of it as a strength, let alone a genius. In fact, my wonder seemed more like something that just annoyed people and even got me in trouble at times. The  Genius of Wonder involves asking a lot of questions. Why are we doing this? Why don’t we do that? Would it be better if we tried this? Why couldn’t we…? What do you think is causing this? You get the idea. I’d never really considered that Wonder is the first part of the process of work. There wouldn’t be ideas or processes or products to discern and implement if someone doesn’t first wonder about why something is the way it is and what might be done about it. Like every Working Genius there are appropriate and not-so-appropriate times for this genius and sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of that.

So when I started brainstorming different names for this website, and was thinking about the importance of us recapturing wonder it reminded me of the Working Genius model. The wonder that we talk about recapturing throughout this website isn’t exactly the same as the Working Genius of wonder. We’re talking more about being open to seeing the amazing things that God is doing and has placed around you. You don’t have to have the Working Genius of wonder to be able to remember how to recapture the wonder that children so naturally have. For me, understanding my Working Geniuses helped me take some steps to recapturing that wonder because I understood myself better and had more grace for myself and others.

So while Discerning Wonder has some deeper meanings, it’s also a bit of a play on words from my Working Geniuses. Understanding this model has helped me. If you would like to learn more or would like to see if it can help you or your team identify your sweet spots in the process of work and possibly have more understanding and grace for yourselves and each other, please use the contact page to reach out to me. I’d love to talk with you more about this great model.