How many meetings have I been in where I wanted to pull my hair out? Way too many to count—and I don’t have much hair left to pull out. Have you been there? The meeting is in the weeds, whether it is how to more efficiently get people out of the parking lot or how to get sign ups for the discipleship pathway. You know the scenario. You are in a staff meeting, you ask a simple question and suddenly you are exploring a myriad of different possibilities, going down rabbit trail after rabbit trail. Before long, you are going out of your mind!

Talented Employee Quits

Maybe you’ve experienced this scenario. Scott was the IT guy, keeping everyone’s computers running efficiently. One day he was asked to help with programming the lighting console for a special event. Scott knocked it out of the park! How about we have Scott program lighting every week? He agrees and he does an incredible job. Nine months go by and then Scott lets us know he is leaving. What? Why? He’s burned out, tired, and wants something different. Great … now we need to find a new IT person and a lighting programmer. 

I’ve been there. I thought Scott (not his real name) was doing great. He kept producing amazing results, week after week. What none of us realized is that Scott was working in his frustration, not his genius. 

Impact of Working Genius

I have been a Patrick Lencioni fan for years. I have all his books and know the business fables well. When he comes out with something new, I purchase it. This is the case with Working Genius. Working Genius began as an assessment, then the book was published. I took the assessment before the book was released and was amazed at the simplicity of it and how easily it applies to any kind of work. It was like light bulb after light bulb began to illuminate. We know about getting the right people on the bus. Working Genius is about getting those people in the right seats. 

Working Genius gives Executive Pastors a simple, shared language to align roles, reduce burnout, resolve conflict, and unleash their staff’s God-given contribution to the mission. The big idea in one sentence is: A practical guide for Executive Pastors who want healthier, more productive teams.

I’m sure you are familiar with personality assessments, such as Meyers Briggs, DISC and Strengths Finder. These are all fantastic tools for self-awareness and awareness of our colleagues. Working Genius is different. It is 20% personality and 80% productivity. It is easily one of the greatest productivity tools we can use with our teams. It gives us language to use, reveals how we show up and how others show up too. Working Genius removes guilt and judgment and creates a healthy path for us to work together and accomplish what God has given us to do with joy, energy and fulfillment. 

The Big Idea

The idea is that every one of us have two working geniuses. When we are working in our genius, we are energized and find fulfillment. We each have two working competencies. We can work here and find some joy, but not for long. And we each have two working frustrations. When we are working in our frustration, it feels like life is being sucked out of us. As the name states, we get frustrated. 

We want to maximize the time every team member spends in their genius’ and minimize the time they spend in their frustrations—simple enough. One thing I discovered, though, is we can be very good at a particular task, even when it is a frustration. Take Scott as an example—he is very good at programming the lighting console but it sucks the life out of him. No one asked him if he enjoys it. We all tell him what a fabulous job he does and assume he must enjoy it. Perhaps Scott didn’t even know it was draining him; it’s only in hindsight that we realize that the creative decision-making was a constant frustration, wearing him down.

6 Aspects of Work

In a very simplified description, Working Genius is 6 aspects of getting work done, any kind of work. Because we love acronyms, the 6 aspects of work (or types of genius) spell out the word Widget.

  • Wonder asks questions like, Is there a better way of doing this?
  • Invention responds to the question of wonder, Yes, there is a better way, and here are some ideas.
  • Discernment will analyze the options and say, Of those ideas, this one is best.
  • Galvanizing takes the best idea and gets the team energized around it, Okay team, here is what we are doing and why.
  • Enablement (the good kind) is ready to get to work. They are the boots on the ground, even anticipating what needs to be done.
  • Tenacity ties a bow on it. Checks the box and calls it done. It gets the idea across the finish line making sure it aligns with any criteria/specification set early on.

Stages of Work

These six geniuses are divided into three stages of work:

  • Wonder and Invention is the ideation stage.
  • Discernment and Galvanizing is the activation stage.
  • Enablement and Tenacity are the implementation stage.

Knowing what stage of work any idea or project is in is critical to efficiency and effectiveness. 

  • Have you ever had a project that started strong and fizzled out, never to reach completion?
  • Have you ever had staff or volunteers get burned out and leave?
  • Have you ever had people check out of your meetings even though their body is still in the room?

The 6 Types of Working Genius will bring light to each of these situations and provide a clear path forward that brings life to the team—and you!

Working Genius & the XP

How can Working Genius elevate your game as an Executive Pastor?

  1. Organize the staff for best results: XPs are constantly asking, Do we have the right people in the right seats? Working Genius gives a concrete way to map your team and see where people are serving outside their natural strengths. Small shifts—like changing who leads a project or who owns followthrough—often create noticeable gains in morale and execution.
  2. Balance out the leadership table: Many churches are heavy in Galvanizing and Tenacity (lots of rallying and doing) but thin in Wonder and Discernment (slowing down to ask the right questions and test ideas). Working Genius helps an XP see those gaps and intentionally invite voices that would otherwise be overlooked.
  3. Defuse conflict and burnout: Staff conflict often isn’t about doctrine or loyalty. It’s about different kinds of work people naturally prefer. When a Tenacity-driven administrator feels that a visionary Invention-type keeps moving the goal posts, or a Wonder-type staff member feels shut down in meetings, frustration builds. Naming those dynamics with a shared language lowers defensiveness and increases empathy.
  4. Align gifts with calling: Working Genius is distinct from traditional personality assessments because it focuses on how work actually gets done, not just how people are wired. For a church, that means it becomes a premier productivity tool for stewarding God-given talent toward real outcomes. While tools like DISC, MBTI, and APEST help you understand temperament and calling, Working Genius shows where each person naturally thrives in the workflow so you can align roles, projects, and expectations to their best contribution.

Growth Through Working Genius

Early on in my church production career, I remember sitting in a meeting where we were talking about an event we had coming up. My mindset was getting things done, and how to accomplish these dreams. I was functioning in Enablement and Tenacity as I tried to shepherd the limited resources of my team. I was the Debbie Downer of the meeting—always thinking about how we can’t do this or that because we don’t have the people, the money, the infrastructure, the tools, you name it, I could only think of how difficult it would be. 

Fast forward a number of years, and now I’m the one leading creative meetings. We had ground rules, nothing is impossible. We have a theme and now let’s come up with ideas—no matter how crazy they might be, write them down. No one in this meeting can comment on any constraint, this is the impossible is possible meeting. These meetings generated some very outlandish ideas that might lead to a good idea, which could lead to a life changing idea.

Using the Working Genius language, this is the Ideation stage of work. The critical question is, Who gets invited to this meeting? People with the genius of Wonder and Invention and maybe Discernment are best suited for Ideation work. It’s usually better that Enablement and Tenacity aren’t there. It wouldn’t be the best use of their time and they’d probably get frustrated. That makes sense, right? 

What about when we are in the Implementation stage of work and Wonder or Invention has an idea? I’ve seen this happen too many times. Our teams are hard at work birthing this life changing idea when someone comes along with a new idea – throwing the momentum off and disrupting the team. Not to mention morale taking a serious hit. 

Conclusion

If we understand the stage of work we are in, we can have far better communication and alignment. This isn’t to say that a new idea can’t happen, but how you approach it should be different.

Here’s the ideal scenario. I have a new idea, I approach the Implementation lead, I say I know we are in the Implementation stage of work, and I want to respect that. You have permission to say no, and we can shelve it for another time. But I have an idea I’d like to run past you, here is the impact I think it could have. There has to be respect for the team and stage of work and clear communication of the why behind this new idea. Remember, ideation does not go straight to implementation. Any idea should pass through the Discernment and Galvanizing.

When you know your team’s geniuses, you know who to pull into meetings and who to look to in every stage of work.  Prepare for transformation to come to your team.

Free Offer

This whole process starts with an assessment. I suggest having an experienced facilitator provide the assessment and debrief. I am offering a free assessment and debrief for any Executive Pastor. I feel confident after our time together you will see the power this tool will bring to your team and organization—serving your mission and providing staff health and alignment. For your free assessment, visit dpcherry.com/team-workshop. Enter XPastor in the Discount Code