How to Use Working Genius to Improve Team Performance

Wrong people doing the wrong kind of work.
Too much energy spent in areas that drain them.
Not enough clarity around who should lead which part of the process.

That is where Working Genius can make a real difference.

Created by Patrick Lencioni, the 6 Types of Working Genius framework gives leaders a practical way to understand how people contribute best at work. It helps you see what naturally energises your team, where friction shows up, and how to get better performance without just pushing everyone harder.

And that matters.

Because when people are working in the right zone, they are usually more engaged, more productive, and far less likely to feel like they are slowly dying inside during another team meeting.

What Is Working Genius?

Working Genius is a model that identifies six different types of work required to move a project from idea to completion.

Those six types are:

• Wonder – spotting opportunities and asking important questions
• Invention – generating ideas and solutions
• Discernment – evaluating ideas and judging what will work
• Galvanizing – rallying people and creating momentum
• Enablement – supporting others and helping execution move forward
• Tenacity – driving work through to completion

Every team needs all six.

Not every individual needs to be strong in all six, but every business needs access to all six if it wants to work well. That is why this framework is so useful for leaders trying to improve team performance, productivity, and role alignment.

Why Working Genius Matters for Team Performance

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make is assuming all high performers should work the same way.

They should not.

Some people are brilliant in the early idea phase. Others are far better when it is time to execute. Some naturally challenge and refine. Others build momentum. Others quietly make sure the work actually gets finished.

When leaders ignore those differences, teams get stuck.

You get:

• good ideas with poor follow-through
• busy teams with low momentum
• frustration between people who work very differently
• employees doing work they can do, but hate doing
• leaders wondering why things feel harder than they should

Understanding Working Genius for teams helps solve that.

It gives you a clearer view of who is best suited for each stage of the work and where your gaps are likely to be.

1. Identify Each Person’s Working Genius

The first step is simple:

You need to understand where each team member naturally brings the most value.

That means identifying which parts of work energise them and which parts drain them.

For example:

• someone strong in Wonder may be great at spotting issues and opportunities
• someone high in Invention may thrive in brainstorming and creative problem-solving
• someone with Discernment may quickly sense whether an idea is strong or shaky
• a Galvanizer may be brilliant at getting people moving
• an Enabler may naturally step in to support execution
• someone high in Tenacity may be the one who makes sure nothing gets left half-finished

This matters because people often look less effective when they are constantly working outside their natural strengths.

It is not always a capability issue.
Sometimes it is just poor alignment.

2. Align Work With Natural Strengths

Once you know each person’s Working Genius, the next move is to align responsibilities more intentionally.

This is where leaders often get quick wins.

Instead of giving work based only on job titles or availability, you start thinking about who is best suited for this part of the process.

That might look like:

• bringing your Wonder and Invention people into strategy sessions early
• using Discernment to pressure-test ideas before the team commits
• asking your Galvanizers to lead rollout and buy-in
• leaning on Enablement during collaboration and implementation
• giving Tenacity ownership of follow-through, deadlines, and completion

This does not mean people only ever do the work they love. That is fantasy. Business still needs grown-up work done.

But when a team is mostly aligned around people’s strengths, performance improves fast.

Why?

Because energy improves. Ownership improves. Friction drops. And the team stops forcing square pegs into round holes like it is some kind of corporate hobby.

3. Build a Culture That Values Different Strengths

A healthy team is not made up of people who all think and work the same way.

That is not balance. That is just an echo chamber with better branding.

High-performing teams learn to value different contributions.

That means helping people understand that:

• the person asking questions is not being difficult
• the person challenging the idea is not being negative
• the person pushing for action is not being impatient
• the person supporting others is not “just helping”
• the person following up on details is not being annoying

They are each contributing something essential.

When leaders create that kind of understanding, team culture improves. People feel more seen. Collaboration gets easier. Resentment drops. Mutual respect grows.

And that matters because teams rarely fail from a lack of talent alone.

They usually fail from misunderstanding, poor alignment, and a lack of appreciation for how different people work.

4. Improve Communication Using the Working Genius Model

One of the practical benefits of Working Genius is that it improves communication.

Once you understand how different team members naturally work, conversations start to make more sense.

You begin to see why:

• one person keeps raising new questions
• another wants to move quickly
• another keeps asking whether the plan is actually solid
• another is already halfway through helping everyone else execute
• another keeps chasing completion while the rest of the team is still talking

Without context, those differences can create tension.

With context, they create balance.

This is one of the reasons Working Genius for leadership is so valuable. It gives leaders a better lens for interpreting team behaviour, assigning responsibilities, and guiding discussion in a more productive way.

Instead of reacting to personalities, you start leading the work more intentionally.

5. Use Working Genius to Reduce Team Conflict

Conflict in teams is normal.

The problem is not conflict.
The problem is misunderstanding what is actually driving it.

A lot of workplace friction comes from people assuming others are wrong, difficult, slow, scattered, negative, or overly intense.

Sometimes that is true.

But often, they are simply operating from a different Working Genius.

For example:

• a Tenacity-driven team member may get frustrated when ideas keep changing late in the process
• a Wonder-driven person may feel ignored if no one is asking bigger questions
• a Galvanizer may want movement while a Discerner wants more evaluation
• an Enabler may quietly overextend because they keep jumping in to help everyone

When leaders understand these patterns, conflict becomes easier to navigate.

You stop treating everything as a personality problem and start seeing where work styles, timing, and expectations are clashing.

That does not magically remove tension. But it gives you a much better way to handle it.

6. Develop Your Own Leadership Through Working Genius

This model is not just useful for understanding your team.

It is also useful for understanding yourself.

In fact, one of the best things a leader can do is identify their own Working Genius and pay attention to how it shapes their leadership style.

Because every leader has bias.

You will naturally favour certain kinds of work. You will probably overvalue the stages where you feel strongest. And you may unintentionally frustrate your team by expecting them to work the way you do.

That is why self-awareness matters.

When leaders understand their own genius, they can:

• delegate more effectively
• stop over-involving themselves in the wrong stages
• avoid becoming the bottleneck
• build complementary teams
• lead with more clarity and humility

That last one matters more than most people think.

Because leadership is not about being great at every stage of the work.

It is about knowing where you add the most value and building a team that covers the rest.

How to Apply Working Genius in Your Team

If you want to start using Working Genius in a practical way, keep it simple.

Start here:

Assess your team

Identify each person’s natural Working Genius and look for patterns.

Review your current workflow

Map your projects against the six stages and look for where things typically stall.

Spot the gaps

Notice where your team may be overloaded, under-supported, or missing a key genius entirely.

Reassign work where needed

Shift ownership so people are spending more time in their strengths and less time in energy-draining work.

Use the language regularly

Bring the model into team conversations so people understand themselves and each other more clearly.

Done well, this helps teams improve collaboration, execution, and employee engagement without needing another complicated framework no one remembers two weeks later.

Final Thoughts: Working Genius Is a Practical Tool for Better Leadership

The best leaders do not just look at output.

They pay attention to how work gets done, who is carrying which part of it, and where people are either energised or drained.

That is why Working Genius is so useful.

It helps you:

• understand your people better
• align roles more effectively
• improve communication
• reduce friction
• increase team performance
• build a healthier culture

In short, it helps leaders stop guessing.

And that is a big deal.

Because when you get the right people doing the right kind of work at the right stage, performance improves. Not through pressure. Through alignment.

And that is usually where the real momentum starts.