Secret keys to enjoying your work

"Stephen, will you shut up, or leave the room."

When people use your full name, they're either being polite, or you're in real trouble. 

The Sales Director, Bob, said this to a guy when I was in a meeting with some colleagues and we were discussing the tactics to be used for a new sales opportunity.  He wasn't being polite. 

Steve was bringing up some really valuable ideas ... at the wrong time.  You see, having been discussing the prospect for an hour or more, we had started to narrow the possible solutions down to select the one we were going to use.  Steve had just had a brilliant idea about a new possible solution and seemed to be insisting that we all give it some thought.  An hour earlier and we would have.  Now, on the other hand, we had moved past that part of the process.

The problem with Steve's idea wasn't in the solution, rather that it was in the timing of sharing that idea.  That's when Steve was met with that ultimatum from Bob about leaving the room. 

If I'd known then what I know today, then I would have been able to intervene and explain what was going on.  You see, Steve had the Working Genius of Invention, and Bob had the Working Genius of Enablement.  The group had already spent several hours inventing solutions and narrowing them down to the preferred course of action, and Bob was now in the process of putting plans in place to make it all happen.  Spending time going back to Invention was now not only unproductive for everyone, but it was also really frustrating for Bob, causing him to act aggressively.

These are two of the Six Types of Working Genius described by Patrick Lencioni, which is a really helpful productivity tool for understanding the stages of work and how they fit into the workplace.  They are also a brilliant way to understand where people naturally enjoy spending their mental energy.  If only we'd understood that model during the sales planning meeting, we would have completely avoided that clash, during which Steve actually left the room in a rage, and the interchange meant that those left behind in the meeting were emotionally unable to engage fully with the rest of the process.

The  Six Types of Working Genius model is 80% about productivity and 20% about personality and explores the areas where you find most enjoyment and fulfilment in the things you engage with, both at work and outside of work.  It also identifies those areas that sap your energy and that leave you feeling really drained.

One of the things I love about this model is that it addresses so many of today's workplace wellness issues, such as "quiet quitting", monitoring productivity when working from home, and understanding the results of the four-day work week experiment.

Another thing I love about this model is that it brings to life the notion that each of us has a place where we enjoy what we're doing. Understanding this model means that we can all find a place where we really enjoy our work!

So what are the Six Types of Working Genius? I'll describe those here and spend the next few blogs unpacking them.

The Six Types of Working Genius

Wonder

People with the Genius of Wonder love to speculate and question. They ask questions like, "Why are things the way they are? Is there a better way?" They love to sit in the ambiguity and imagine the possibilities. People with the Genius of Wonder help create the conditions for Invention.

Invention

People with the Genius of Invention get joy from taking on challenges and generating solutions. They enjoy innovating from scratch and love a blank whiteboard or piece of paper on which they can brainstorm. Invention is the most commonly recognized Genius, but all six Geniuses are needed to get work done.

Discernment

People with the Genius of Discernment have a natural ability to evaluate the workability of ideas. They are good curators of what’s going on around them and can recognize patterns. They know how to connect the dots and give people good feedback across a broad range of topics.

Galvanizing

People with the Genius of Galvanizing love to get things moving. They are great at pushing people out of their comfort zone and inspiring them to get started. They enjoy rallying people around an idea and getting them moving in the right direction.

Enablement

People with the Genius of Enablement make things happen. They know how to help, when to help, and can flex to whatever the situation calls for. People with the Genius of Enablement are people-oriented and want to help realize a vision. This Genius provides the support needed to move solutions into the first stages of Implementation.

Tenacity

People with the Genius of Tenacity are task-oriented and love to take things across the finish line. They ensure a project is going to have the impact it’s supposed to have and lives up to agreed-upon standards. They don’t respond to the emotional appeal of the Galvanizer but to the need to see the work completed. They get joy and energy from checking off a box on the “to-do” list.

If you'd like to get your personal Working Genius Assessment and really understand the results, then I'd love to help you with that. Please feel free to get in touch; click here to find out more.