Your natural genius

I recently learned we all have six (6) types of Working Genius. Yes, everyone does.

Our top two types of Genius (our WORKING GENIUS) are the work we do naturally, enjoy it, could do it indefinitely without tiring. It gives us energy.

Two other Geniuses (our WORKING COMPETENCIES) are types of work we’re good at but wouldn’t want as our primary roles.  

Our two lowest Geniuses (our WORKING FRUSTRATIONS) drain us. If we have to do them often, it negatively affects our mindset, our attitude.

Just think of the impact – and the doors in your mind that may open – if you know which types of work are your top two, second two and lowest two types of Genius. Think of your colleagues, team members, boss, family who could benefit from knowing this about themselves, too.

I learned about this by listening to Patrick Lencioni’s podcasts and taking the new Working Genius assessment. You may recall Patrick created the Five Dysfunctions of a Team years ago and plenty of good stuff since. He and his team at The Table Group are focused on “changing the world of work so that more organizations can be more effective and less dysfunctional, and employees can be more fulfilled and less miserable.”

I encourage you to do three things:

  1. Listen to this half-hour podcast, WHAT IS YOUR GENIUS. You may also want to listen to YOUR GENIUS AND YOUR TEAM.
  2. Take the assessment – it’s quick and inexpensive. Enter the code: THETABLEGROUP for a 50% discount. Instead of $25, you’ll pay $12.50. FYI: I’m not an affiliate, nor do I get anything if you take it. I’m just excited about its possibilities for you. If you’re in the market for a new role, this could be a game changer in how you talk about what you do best and the kind of roles in which you’ll excel.
  3. Let me know what you think after reviewing your Working Genius report, which arrives in your Inbox immediately after taking the assessment. Mine reinforced why I love what I do with coaching. It also enabled me to stop beating myself up for not doing certain things well. They’re my lowest Genius.

You’ll hear more about this on the podcast, but here’s quick a summary of the six Working Geniuses:

The Genius of Wonder: the natural gift of pondering the possibility of greater potential and opportunity in a given situation. You like to contemplate what could make things better. You think about opportunities, problems to be solved. You often ask WHY and WHY NOT?

The Genius of Invention: the natural gift of creating original and novel ideas and solutions. You like to start from a blank slate or develop a new approach or model.

The Genius of Discernment: the natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations. You have great gut instinct. Not linear, you see patterns. You can see the value in something, raise questions to make it better. You offer advice, counsel, solutions.

The Genius of Galvanizing: the natural gift of rallying, inspiring, organizing others to take action. You like to get things going, encourage people to take action, spread the word, keep things moving forward.

The Genius of Enablement: the natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project. You make things possible, make things happen, come alongside someone with a new idea or problem to solve and say, “I’ll help you do that, make it work.”

The Genius of Tenacity: the natural gift of pushing projects or tasks to completion to achieve results. You like to get things across the finish line, make sure whatever was committed to is accomplished.

Knowing about your and others’ Genius types can shift the way things get done and who does what. It opens your eyes to why some things are not happening the way you’d like, and who might help you change that.

My hope is that this simple assessment opens up a gift beyond measure for you.

Share Button