An Empowering Organizer of Great Teams
If you’ve been around corporate America very long (and probably some other places, too), you’ll eventually come across ‘working style’ personality tests. These vary from companies straight up giving employees an Enneagram or Meyers-Briggs (MBTI) test, to work-specific ones like DiSC Profiling. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a fan of personality tests in the workplace or outside it. Most are made up and not based on any real science. The idea that people can be boiled down to a few specific categories always bothered me, and felt a bit like a horoscope. Applying that to work just seems like a blunt instrument for bad managers who couldn’t be bothered to get to know their teams.
But then I was introduced to the “Working Genius” system while I was at HeroWear, and it was a revelation. Not too extreme. Not painting anyone in a corner about what they’re good at. But helpfully identifying what kind of work ‘energizes’ you vs ‘drains’ you. It goes out of its way to say that this is NOT an aptitude test and does not say what kind of tasks or skills a person will have. It breaks down the functional areas where each person derives the most energy — not necessarily what they are most skilled at — it’s what they “could do all day” and doesn’t drain them. THAT is useful!
My ‘Working Genius’
Of the six areas (Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity), I score highly on Galvanizing and Enablement. In short, I love bringing a team together around a common goal, helping to focus and drive that team’s success, and knocking out roadblocks that are getting in the way. I can still execute well in my own areas of responsibility, but whether I am a leader in name or function, I love helping as part of a larger whole.
I’d say this generally fits. I can work through the ‘Wonder’ of exploring green-field ideas, and I personally love problem-solving in the ‘Invention’ stage. And I couldn’t be a very good leader if I couldn’t use ‘Discernment’ to make calls on what campaigns to run or investments to make. And if I couldn’t see anything through with ‘Tenacity,’ then nothing would get done.
But in all of those aspects, it’s working with a team – whether leadership peers, my internal team, or external resources – that I thrive. Making sure we’re all aligned on the problems and solutions, building a plan and strategy, and then knocking down barriers to make it happen. That’s the stuff I love. It’s looking forward to those sessions that gives me the energy to do the rest of the work. In particular, I’ll do a much better job with Wonder and Invention if I’m collaborating with others and doing a bit of Galvanizing and Enabling in those sessions.