Working Genius: Building a Shared Language for Better Teamwork

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul paints a striking picture: 

“But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them,
just as he wanted them to be.
If they were all one part, where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” 

He goes on to paint a picture of how we are to work together as the body of Christ, each with our own unique contribution. Every part plays a crucial role. It’s a vision of a beautiful, interdependent community where the hand cannot survive without the ear, and no single member is the “whole.” Although we are designed not to carry it all on our own, we remain indispensable to the body.

Yet, in our daily work, we often lose sight of this. We’ve all been there: sitting in a meeting where we feel like we’re speaking a different language, or staring at a to-do list that feels like a heavy weight we weren’t meant to carry. We’re working hard, but we feel out of sync with one another, like a hand trying to do the work of a foot. We assume we should be able to do it all, but the truth is simpler and more freeing: none of us were built to handle the whole process alone. This is where the Working Genius assessment can change the story. It reveals that work isn’t just a list of tasks; it’s a process of ideation, activation, and implementation. While we often try to “do it all,” each of us has just two “Geniuses”. None of us has all six geniuses, and we need one another to complete the work given to us. 

Every project follows a natural rhythm.

• It’s ignited by the genius of Wonder, asking why things are the way they are and exploring how to make them better, challenging assumptions about how things have always been done. 
• Then comes Invention, where new ideas are born that answer these promptings. 
• However, those ideas need Discernment, using instincts and gut feelings to determine whether the idea will even work. 
• From there, the work needs a Galvanizer to rally the team and get everyone moving. 
• They are met by those with Enablement, the people who step up to provide the specific support needed to turn a plan into reality. 
• Finally, there is Tenacity with the push through to the finish line, ensuring the job is done right. When we skip a step, we don’t just hurt the project; we skip the people God has specifically gifted to make that work flourish.

Each person, uniquely created, has two of these as their working geniuses. When we understand our particular combination and how it shows up alongside others, we grow in self-awareness and can step into the work at the right moments with greater clarity and purpose. Knowing what we bring to the work process frees us to focus primarily on the areas that bring us the most joy and fulfillment. It also gives us a shared language to recognize the geniuses we don’t have, but others do, helping us value those differences rather than default to unnecessary guilt or judgment.

Understanding the flow of work naturally shapes how we run our meetings. With a clear sense of where we are in the process, our conversations become more intentional and effective, rather than reactive or scattered. It helps us ask better questions, engage the right people, and focus on what actually needs to move forward by bringing the right genius to bear at the right time. Because our geniuses operate at different altitudes, bringing the right one at the right time lets us move the work forward without getting lost in the meeting. When we miss this, we end up in a meeting that feels turbulent, like an airplane being thrown around in the wind. 

Working Genius offers a simple but powerful way for you and your team to build a shared language around how work gets done. It helps you recognize where you naturally thrive, where you may need support, and how others contribute in ways you might not. 

If you’d like to learn more about how you and your team can benefit from the Working Genius, write us at llama@cru.org.