The Wonder of Widgets - an exploration of Working Genius

Tim Woodcock writes: At recent church retreat for session members, we explored in depth the Working Genius model, which previously been presented to us by Travis. It is partly a personality test and partly a tool for analyzing productivity, developed by Patrick Lencioni, a consultant for businesses and non-profits. If you’ve taken a Myers-Briggs test or something comparable before, the gist of the questionnaire would not be unfamiliar to you, but its focus is primarily on how people approach complex tasks and work in groups.

Patrick Lencioni

I was, to be frank, a little dubious to start with: it sounded like voguish corporate speak, a needlessly novel set of labels for a familiar set of concepts. The use of the boastful-sounding word “genius” rubbed me the wrong way initially and still does a little. Nonetheless, each session member plus Travis took the assessment prior to the retreat and when we discussed our questionnaire results as a group, almost everyone said it captured something of his or her individual essence very accurately and for some the insights were revelatory. Furthermore, because of the assessment’s focus on productivity and group dynamics, Working Genius also functions as a tool with to analyze the personality and patterns of a group as a whole. This in turn offers a sense of where the likely tensions and potential pitfalls are in any group project.

The acronym that ties Working Genius all together is WIDGET, which stands for the six following concepts:

Wonder: the natural gift of pondering the possibility of greater potential and opportunity in a given situation.

Invention: the natural gift of creating original and novel ideas and solutions.

Discernment: the natural gift of intuitively and instinctively evaluating ideas and situations.

Galvanizing: the natural gift of rallying, inspiring and organizing others to take action.

Enablement: the natural gift of providing encouragement and assistance for an idea or project.

Tenacity: the natural gift of pushing projects or tasks to completion to achieve results.

The model is explained in more detail here.

Collectively, as  a group of about 10 people together on a retreat, we were very strong on invention, enablement, and tenacity. The most noticeable weakness (or "working frustration") for the group was in the area of galvanizing, that is “the natural gift of rallying, inspiring and organizing others to take action.”

Another aspect of the Working Genius model that impressed me was how these labels can be used to  structure a discussion, giving a framework to explore topics that could otherwise feel too large or might invite a feeling that a group is focused on the wrong aspect of a task.

To illustrate this, let me show you how we worked through the idea of Food Truck Sunday. This was initially scheduled for a date in May but it was rained out and the idea had been kicked in the long grass. Discussion and planning necessarily moves through all six stages but, accordingly to Working Genius framework, it should be self-aware (ie. participants should always know what “altitude” they operating at) and it should not lurch from dramatically from one level to another. Wondering is analogous to a 20,000 foot view looking down from an airplane; enablement and tenacity are like approaching an airport and a runway and then touching down.

So here’s a flavor of the Food Truck Sunday discussion in bullet points.

Wonder: How can we be church outside of the church building?

Invention: Could we feed people outside? How about food trucks? One or two food trucks?

Discernment: Who are we trying to engage with this? What the best date? Best time? Does this fall apart if it rains? Is there a way to ensure lines don’t get too long? What else needs to be part of this event, other than food?

Galvanizing: Will there be sufficient buy in from the church community? Neighbors? How will this be advertised?

Enabling: All hand on deck - Who can help with this? Who is responsible for what?

Tenacity: How do we get this over the finish line? How many chairs are needed? Who will bring the trashcans in at the end of the event?

This is not the place for getting in the nitty-gritty logistics of the planned event - much of which still needs to be worked out, quite honestly - but we penciled it in for a Sunday in September. This is a random Sunday but one that corresponds to “Rally Sunday” – when we are firmly past the period summer vacations, schools are back in session, and it represents one of many new seasons within church life, even if it not a liturgically meaningful Sunday.

I hope this gives some insights and context for when Travis and session member introduce the Working Genius model to others in the coming months.