259 The One About The 6 Types of Working Genius

Long-time listeners of the podcast know that I enjoy learning about leadership and self-development. I have had many guests on the podcast that introduced me to tools and today’s guest has a tool which I know will help your team and all of your relationships.

My lab partner is Tim Cooper. He is a Principal Consultant at The Table Group and the founder and president of Cooper Consulting. Tim has over 15 years of Team Leadership experience in his partnership with The Table Group. His clients include executives from Renaissance Learning, Chick-fil-A, Southern New Hampshire University, and Ørsted. Tim describes his approach to consulting as relational, particularly in tackling difficult interpersonal dynamics with the teams he serves. His specialties include building healthier relationships within executive teams that cascade throughout the organization.

In this episode, Tim will talk about The 6 Types of Working Genius. These are 6 different types of gifts that are required of any group of people trying to get something done: The Genius of Wonder, The Genius of Invention, The Genius of Discernment, The Genius of Galvanizing, The Genius of Enablement, and The Genius of Tenacity. If you don’t know what the 6 Working Geniuses are, after this episode, you will learn what they are and how you can use this knowledge to lead, be part of a team successfully, and be a better version of yourself.

Tim loves talking about anything that has to do with Organization Health and the interplay between Smart and Healthy Organizations, and The 6 Types of Working Genius is the best tool he has come across that can help teams and individuals raise team morale, productivity, and organization health.

Bottom line: Tim will tell us what the 6 Types of Working Geniuses are and how knowing these Geniuses can create better organizational health.

Your roadside friend, as you travel from client to client.

-Trace

Timestamps:

Running a business, facilitating team meetings, and upcoming events [01:44]

Welcoming The Table Group’s Tim Cooper [09:53]

Introducing The 6 Types of Working Genius [14:28]

Preventing burnout by knowing your Working Genius [20:49]

Working together as a Team to create success in the three stages of a project: Ideation, Activation, Implementation [28:14]

Assessments are about awareness, not permission [31:55]

Understanding the Pain Points on a team and inviting the right people to the right meetings [37:05]

Hiring the best people for a role using the Working Genius [45:56]

Thinking On Water With James [1:01:01]

Thinking On Water With James:

In this week’s episode, we’re thinking about a salt bridge in a water softener system. What is a salt bridge? How do you know if you have one? What impact can it have on a water softener? How do you remove a salt bridge? How can it be prevented in the future? Take this week to think about salt bridges in water softener systems.

Quotes:

“Two of the big components of a healthy organization are high morale and high productivity, and the Working Genius is the tool that is best at raising both of those.” – Tim Cooper

“The Working Genius is 80% a production tool and 20% a personality tool.” – Tim Cooper

“The Wonder Genius are the people that ponder the possibilities of greater potential and opportunity.” – Tim Cooper

“The Invention Genius are the ones that create original and novel ideas and solutions.” – Tim Cooper

“The Discernment Genius are the ones that are using their intuition and their gut-feel.” – Tim Cooper

“The Galvanizing Genius are the people that get people moving.” – Tim Cooper

“The Genius of Enablement is the most relational of all Geniuses. They are the ones that ask, ‘How can I help?’” – Tim Cooper

“The Genius of Tenacity are the people that are all about execution.” – Tim Cooper

“If you get to spend most of your time focusing on the things that bring you energy and fulfillment, it hardly feels like work.” – Tim Cooper

“Burnout is not really too much work, it’s too much of the wrong kind of work.”- Tim Cooper

“The best leader is a self-aware leader.” – Tim Cooper

“We need to be really kind when operating in people’s competencies or frustrations. And we need to be really generous when giving people opportunities to lean into their geniuses.” – Tim Cooper

“We are breaking projects down into three stages: Ideation, Activation, Implementation.” – Tim Cooper

“When you skip over a project stage, you’re not only skipping a stage of work, you’re skipping over people who are trying to bring their best to the team.” – Tim Cooper

“Assessments are about awareness, not about permission. It is not permission for me to just be more of who I am, this is about awareness so that I can become a better version of myself.“ – Tim Cooper

“The Working Genius is a production tool. It is the art of getting work done, both individually and on a team.” – Tim Cooper

“An Assessment can’t tell you what brings you the most joy and fulfillment, it’s up to you to answer that.” – Tim Cooper

“Work doesn’t have to suck. Work can be fulfilling and bring you joy. Work does not have to be the thing that you dread.” – Tim Cooper

Connect with Tim Cooper:

Phone: 678.327.7460

Email: tim.cooper@tablegroupconsulting.com

Website: www.tablegroup.com

Facebook: @TableGroupInc

LinkedIn: in/tim-cooper-80bab0143

company/thetablegroup

Know your and your team’s Working Genius! – Buy the Assessment Now!

Pre-order The 6 Types of Working Genius: A Better Way to Understand Your Gifts, Your Frustrations, and Your Team by Patrick Lencioni