Why Does Some Work Give You Energy—and Other Work Drain You?
You may be capable of doing many things well. That does not mean every kind of work brings out your best.
Some responsibilities leave you engaged and energized, even when they are difficult. Others leave you frustrated or depleted, even when you are good at them. Over time, that mismatch can affect your confidence, productivity, relationships, and sense of purpose.
The Six Types of Working Genius offers a simple way to understand the work that gives you energy, the work you can do competently, and the work that consistently drains you. It also gives teams a shared language for recognizing one another’s contributions and understanding where important work may be getting stuck. By helping people understand how they and others work best, The Six Types of Working Genius can increase productivity and morale while decreasing frustration.
Understanding Your Working Genius
The model recognizes that each person approaches work with a unique combination of natural gifts, learned abilities, and areas of frustration.
- Your two Working Geniuses are the kinds of work that come naturally to you and tend to give you energy.
- Your two Working Competencies are activities you can perform well but that may not provide the same sense of energy or fulfillment.
- Your two Working Frustrations are the kinds of work that tend to drain your energy and may require greater effort.
None of these categories determines your value or limits what you can accomplish. Together, they can help explain why you thrive in certain parts of your work and struggle in others—and where the strengths of other people may complement your own.
The Three Phases of Work—Six Types of Working Genius
Every kind of work moves through three phases: Ideation, Activation, and Implementation. Each phase depends on two distinct Working Geniuses, and all six make an important contribution to moving work from the Big Picture Question to successful completion.
Phase One: Ideation
Ideation is the beginning of work—the process of identifying an important challenge or opportunity and imagining a new way to address it.
Genius: Wonder
- Identifies the need for change
- Responds to the environment
- Energized by pondering and imagining possibilities
Genius: Invention
- Generates ideas and solutions
- Disrupts the status quo
- Energized by innovating from scratch
Phase Two: Activation
Activation moves an idea toward action by evaluating what is most likely to work and generating the enthusiasm needed to move forward.
Genius: Discernment
- Assesses workability of ideas
- Responds to and refines ideas
- Energized by curating information & recognizing patterns
Genius: Galvanizing
- Inspires & pushes to action
- Disrupts comfort zones
- Energized by rallying people
Phase Three: Implementation
Implementation turns the idea into a reality by providing the support needed to carry out the work and ensuring that it reaches completion.
Genius: Enablement
- Helps move things forward
- Responds to need
- Energized by helping others make things happen
Genius: Tenacity
- Ensures successful results
- Disrupts by imposing standards & plans
- Energized by task-oriented implementation
How Working Genius Can Help
Understanding your Working Genius becomes most valuable when it changes how you approach real work. The framework can help individuals and teams make more thoughtful decisions about responsibilities, collaboration, communication, and where support is needed.
For Individuals
- Understand why some responsibilities give you energy while others leave you drained.
- Recognize and communicate the contribution you naturally bring to your work.
- Make more informed decisions about roles, priorities, and where you need support.
- Reduce unnecessary guilt or frustration around work that does not come naturally.
- Find practical ways to spend more time using your Working Geniuses.
For Teams
- Recognize the different contributions needed during each phase of work.
- Identify gaps or areas where the team may be relying too heavily on one person.
- Assign responsibilities with greater clarity and intention.
- Improve meetings, communication, and collaboration.
- Increase appreciation for one another while reducing avoidable frustration.
Ways We Can Work Together
Working Genius is most useful when insight is translated into practical changes. I offer facilitated conversations for individuals and teams who want to understand their results and apply them to the work in front of them.
Individual Working Genius Debrief
After you complete the Working Genius assessment, we will walk through your personalized report together and explore how your results appear in your current role and responsibilities.
We will identify the work that gives you energy, the work that may be creating frustration, and practical ways to communicate what you need from the people around you.
Team Working Genius Workshop
A team workshop gives people a shared language for understanding how each person contributes to the work and where the team may have strengths, gaps, or recurring sources of frustration.
Together we will examine how the team moves through the three phases of work and identify practical changes that can improve communication, collaboration, meetings, and the way responsibilities are assigned.
Let’s Put the Insight to Work
Completing an assessment is only the beginning. As a certified Working Genius facilitator, I can help you understand your results and translate what you learn into practical changes for your work, relationships, or team.
During a free 30-minute discovery call, we will discuss what you hope to understand or change and whether an individual debrief or team workshop is the right next step. There is no pitch and no obligation—just an honest conversation.
