Using Patrick Lencioni's The 6 Types of Working Genius to Organize the Staff in a Way That Maximizes Gifting and Produces the Best Results.

Patrick Lencioni has long been a trusted voice for leaders who want to build healthier, more effective organizations. His book, The 6 Types of Working Genius, might be one of his most practical tools yet. Instead of offering abstract leadership theory, Lencioni provides a framework that helps leaders and teams understand not just what they do, but how they do their best work.

For executive pastors—who carry the responsibility of aligning people, systems, and vision—this book is especially valuable. It answers one of our most pressing questions: How do I organize the staff in a way that maximizes each person’s gifts and produces the best results?

The Six Types of Working Genius

Lencioni identifies six types of “working genius,” or natural areas of energy and gifting that people bring to their work:

1. Wonder – the ability to ask big questions and imagine possibilities.

2. Invention – the creativity to generate original solutions and ideas.

3. Discernment – the intuition to evaluate ideas and sense what will work.

4. Galvanizing – the enthusiasm to rally people and spur them into action.

5. Enablement – the responsiveness to help, support, and assist others.

6. Tenacity – the determination to push work across the finish line.

Each of us has two “genius” areas where we thrive, two “competencies” we can perform but don’t love, and two “frustrations” that drain us. The beauty of Lencioni’s model is that it affirms both strengths and weaknesses as normal. No leader or team member has all six; the key is to build a team that covers them collectively.

Leadership and Organizational Health

Healthy churches depend on healthy teams. One of the executive pastor’s primary responsibilities is cultivating organizational health—ensuring that staff roles, responsibilities, and relationships are aligned with the mission of the church.

This is where The 6 Types of Working Genius comes in. By helping staff discover their geniuses, the executive pastor can:

• Improve role alignment. When someone spends most of their time working in their frustrations, burnout is inevitable. A children’s director with Tenacity as a frustration will not thrive if their job is structured around constant follow-up and detail management. But if Enablement is their genius, they will excel in relational support and volunteer care.

• Balance the team. Churches often overvalue certain geniuses—Galvanizing and Tenacity tend to dominate—while underrepresenting others like Wonder and Discernment. The executive pastor can ensure that all six areas are represented on the leadership team, creating healthier decision-making and execution.

• Resolve conflict. Staff conflicts often come down to different working styles. Recognizing that a disagreement may not be about personality or commitment but simply about working genius can defuse tension and build empathy.

Organizing the Staff for Best Results

So, how does the executive pastor use this framework to structure the team for maximum effectiveness? Here are three practical steps:

1. Assess the Team’s Working Genius Profiles

Start by having each staff member take the Working Genius assessment. The results create a map of where your team’s natural energy lies. You’ll likely discover clusters of similar geniuses and some gaps.

For example, your pastoral team may be strong in Wonder and Invention but weak in Tenacity. That means vision and creativity are abundant, but follow-through may suffer. Knowing this allows you to staff accordingly—perhaps hiring or empowering someone with Tenacity to ensure execution doesn’t lag.

2. Align Roles with Genius

Next, look at job descriptions and responsibilities. Are staff members working in their zones of genius most of the time? An executive pastor with Discernment and Galvanizing may thrive in evaluating ideas and rallying people to action, but struggle if buried in administrative tasks that demand Tenacity. Adjusting responsibilities—even small shifts—can dramatically increase effectiveness and morale.

3. Build Cross-Functional Teams with Balance

Finally, when forming teams for projects or ministries, ensure a balance of geniuses. Launching a new ministry, for instance, requires Wonder (what could be?), Invention (how might we do it?), Discernment (should we do it?), Galvanizing (let’s go!), Enablement (I’ll help), and Tenacity (we’ll finish). Without all six represented, the project will stall at some point in the cycle.

Why This Matters for the Church

The mission of the church is too important to be hindered by misaligned teams. When staff work outside their geniuses, frustration, burnout, and inefficiency follow. But when each person is operating in their God-given strengths, the church flourishes.

Lencioni’s framework is not just a leadership tool—it is a discipleship tool. Helping staff and key volunteers identify their working genius affirms how God has uniquely wired them for service. It allows the executive pastor to say, “You don’t have to be great at everything. You just need to be faithful in the areas God has gifted you—and together we’ll cover the rest.”

Conclusion

Patrick Lencioni’s The 6 Types of Working Genius provides executive pastors with a simple yet profound way to organize the church staff for greater health and effectiveness. By assessing the team’s geniuses, aligning roles accordingly, and ensuring balance across ministries, the executive pastor can unlock the full potential of the staff.

The result is not just efficiency but flourishing—staff who are energized rather than drained, teams that work in harmony, and a church that is better equipped to carry out its mission.

In short, the executive pastor uses The 6 Types of Working Genius to do what every church leader longs to see: people working where they thrive, the church functioning with health, and the mission of God advancing with clarity and joy.