WORKING GENIUS TEAM WORKSHOPS
Help Your Team Work Better — Without Asking Everyone to Work the Same Way
A customized Working Genius workshop helps your team understand how work gets done, why certain tasks energize some people and drain others, and how to collaborate with greater clarity, productivity, and empathy.
For businesses, nonprofits, churches, leadership teams, and organizations that want fewer frustrating meetings, fewer stalled projects, and better use of every person’s natural strengths.
Led by Lara Allen, Certified Working Genius Facilitator
WHY GOOD TEAMS STILL GET STUCK
The Problem May Not Be Your People. It May Be How the Work Is Getting Done.
Most teams are full of capable people who care about the mission and want to do good work. But even strong teams can find themselves repeating the same frustrations: meetings that go nowhere, projects that lose momentum, or people who seem disengaged from work they once cared about.
Often, the issue is not effort or attitude. It is that different stages of work are being missed, misunderstood, or consistently handed to people who are drained by them.
Frustrating Meetings
Ideas are flying, everyone is talking — but nothing actually lands.
Stalled Projects
There is energy at the beginning, but momentum disappears somewhere between the idea and execution.
Disengaged Team Members
Capable people grow quiet, stop contributing, or burn out because too much of their work lives in areas that continually drain them.
The Common Thread
Every kind of work requires different kinds of contribution.
When a team understands who naturally brings energy to each stage — and where gaps exist — it becomes much easier to stop blaming people and start fixing the way the work moves through the team.
Different does not mean deficient. It means differently wired for work.
UNDERSTAND HOW YOUR TEAM IS WIRED TO WORK
Not All Work Feels the Same to Everyone
The Working Genius model helps people understand which kinds of work naturally give them energy, which they can do well but only for so long, and which consistently drain them.
That language gives teams a practical way to understand differences without turning them into character judgments.
Working Genius
The work that energizes you and brings joy.
This is where you naturally contribute with energy, instinct, and momentum.
Working Competency
The work you can do well — but too much of it drains you over time.
You may be capable here, but it's not where you're at your best for long.
Working Frustration
The work that feels unnatural and depleting.
You can still do it when necessary, but sustained time here often leads to frustration, fatigue, or disengagement.
Why This Matters for a Team
When people understand their own Geniuses, Competencies, and Frustrations, they gain language for why certain work feels easy and energizing while other work takes much more effort.
And when they understand one another, the conversation can begin to shift from:
“Why don’t they just do it the way I do?”
to:
“How can we use each person where they naturally contribute best?”
When teams understand how each person is uniquely wired to contribute, they can delegate more intentionally, collaborate with greater empathy, and build a workflow that uses everyone’s strengths more effectively.
THE SIX TYPES OF WORKING GENIUS
Every Kind of Work Requires Six Essential Types of Contribution
Working Genius identifies six different kinds of contribution that are necessary to move work from the first spark of an idea all the way through completion.
No one person is naturally energized by all six. That is why healthy teams need different people contributing at different points in the process.
The six are:
Wonder
Asks the big questions.
Wonder notices what is missing, what could be better, and whether an idea or opportunity is worth exploring.
Invention
Creates new ideas and solutions.
Invention loves starting with a blank page and imagining new possibilities.
Discernment
Uses instinct and judgment to evaluate ideas.
Discernment senses what is likely to work, what needs adjustment, and what may not be ready yet.
Galvanizing
Rallies people into action.
Galvanizing brings energy to an idea and gets others moving toward a goal.
Enablement
Responds to the needs of others.
Enablement provides support, encouragement, and practical help so the work can keep moving.
Tenacity
Pushes the work across the finish line.
Tenacity loves completion, follow-through, and making sure results actually happen.
The Six Geniuses Work in Three Natural Stages
IDEATION
Wonder + Invention
Is there a need — and what could we do about it?
ACTIVATION
Discernment + Galvanizing
Is this the right idea — and how do we get people moving?
IMPLEMENTATION
Enablement + Tenacity
How do we support the work — and make sure it gets finished?
Problems often appear when one of these stages is skipped, under-supported, or continually assigned to someone who is working outside their natural Geniuses.
WHAT TO EXPECT
A Customized Workshop Built Around Your Team
This is not a generic presentation dropped into your organization.
Before the workshop, Lara meets with the team leader to understand current pain points, goals, and team dynamics. Each participant then completes the Working Genius assessment, giving Lara the information she needs to build a workshop around your actual team.
1. Before the Workshop
The work begins before the workshop itself. Your team will start with:
- Leadership conversation about goals, challenges, and current team dynamics
- Personalized Working Genius assessment link for each participant
- Lara reviews the results and prepares a customized Team Genius Map and workshop plan Â
2. During the Workshop
With 4 hours of facilitated, interactive training, your team will:
- Learn the six types of Working Genius
- Review individual results
- See how the team’s Geniuses, Competencies, and Frustrations fit together
- Examine the Team Genius Map
- Identify where work gets stalled or mismatched
- Work through practical exercises and team discussion
3. After the Workshop
The learning does not end when the session does.
Lara provides:
- A written summary of key takeaways and recommended next steps
- Up to one hour of follow-up with the team leader and/or participants
The goal is not simply to learn your Working Genius results. It is to change how your team works together.
WHAT YOUR TEAM GAINS
More Clarity. Better Collaboration. Less Friction.
The goal of a Working Genius workshop is not simply to give everyone a label. It is to give your team a shared language for understanding how each person contributes, where work tends to get stuck, and how to work together more intentionally.
Clearer Roles
Better understand where each person naturally contributes energy and value.
Better Delegation
Assign work more intentionally instead of assuming everyone should approach it the same way.
Stronger Collaboration
Understand why teammates think, respond, and contribute differently — without turning those differences into judgment.
More Productive Meetings
Recognize which types of contribution are needed at different stages so conversations are more focused and useful.
Fewer Stalled Projects
Identify missing stages of work and gaps in the team’s natural strengths before momentum disappears.
Greater Energy + Morale
Help people spend more time in work that energizes them while becoming more aware of the work that consistently drains them.
The goal is not to eliminate hard work. It is to help your team understand where each person can contribute their best work — and how those contributions fit together.
MEET YOUR FACILITATOR
A Practical Guide for Helping Teams Work Better Together
Lara Allen is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator who helps teams understand how work actually gets done — and how each person can contribute with greater clarity, energy, and effectiveness.
Her workshops are designed to go beyond simply explaining assessment results. Lara works with leaders ahead of time to understand the team’s real challenges, reviews each participant’s Working Genius results, and builds the session around the people in the room.
The result is a highly practical conversation about strengths, communication, collaboration, workflow, and how to use every person’s contribution more intentionally.
The goal is not to make everyone work alike. It is to help people understand how they work differently — and use those differences well.
BRING WORKING GENIUS TO YOUR TEAM
A Customized Working Genius Team Workshop
Next Step
Book a Discovery Call
A live, interactive workshop includes
READY TO HELP YOUR TEAM WORK BETTER?
Your Team Already Has the Talent.
Working Genius Helps You Use It Better.
You do not need everyone on your team to think alike, communicate alike, or contribute in the same way.
You need to understand where each person naturally brings energy, where they can contribute when needed, and where the work begins to drain them.
A Working Genius workshop gives your team a shared language for those differences — and a practical way to turn that understanding into better collaboration, stronger workflows, and more productive work together.
Let’s talk about your team, your current challenges, and whether a Working Genius workshop is the right fit
