What’s your working genius? | Issue #180
Why knowing your team’s ‘Working Genius’ will lead your business to growth
Every human being is unique, with their natural gifts. The way we think, act and feel are individual to each of us. And yet, when it comes to our relationships, we expect people to react the same way as we do.
Nowhere is this more evident than at work. We get up in the morning, look in the mirror and think everyone’s the same as us. By lunchtime, we feel we’re surrounded by an office full of idiots! Because we expect people to think, say and do as we do.
The fact is, business is a team sport. There are different roles – goalkeeper, left-back, centre forward or coach. So you need a diverse blend of skills.
So far, so obvious. It may be easy to measure the hard skills or experience people bring, but how do you measure each person’s natural gifts? Maybe you’ve used Myers-Briggs in the past. This can be helpful to give you a handle on types of personality, but once you have this information, how do you use it?
Our suggestion is a new tool, ‘Working Genius’, that we’ve used consistently since its launch. We were the first coaching business to gain this certification in the world. It’s perfect for growing companies.
How Purpose Can Help You Understand And Overcome Your Struggle with Bobby Herrera
Is your business founded on a clear purpose? Bobby Herrera, author of The Gift of Struggle, founded Populus Group in 2002, a company set up to help organisations manage their non-permanent employees. But what does purpose have to do with HR?
Bobby is a firm believer that by aligning yourself and your company around your purpose can have a profound impact on you, the people around you, and the people your organisation touches. He’s so driven by his purpose, that even though he didn’t share his origin story with his employees for over 10 years, he was so inspirational the business still reached $100 million turnover in those first 10 years. However, after sharing his origin story, they added another $500 million in the next 10 years.
That’s the power of purpose right there.
So what is Bobby’s origin story? You’ll have to listen to find out.
Recommended Podcasts
Knowledge@Wharton is the online business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The site, which is free, captures relevant knowledge generated at Wharton and beyond by offering articles and videos based on research, conferences, speakers, books and interviews with faculty and other experts on global business topics.
Recommended Articles
What you can learn from your employee networks
Many companies support resource groups that bring people together, but stop short of assessing their value.
Teaming is hard because you’re probably not really on a team
As more companies release formal policies around hybrid and remote work, leaders are telling us that remote work has made working together, or teaming, difficult and has frayed the culture of their organizations. Of course, many companies, including ours, have long embraced remote work, with great success. And if we listen carefully to the types of problems leaders and workers say they’re encountering with teaming, the reality is that most of these issues existed prior to the pandemic.
What is the purpose of your purpose?
Today’s business leaders are under pressure to come up with a corporate purpose, much as they were challenged to develop vision and mission statements in the 1980s and 1990s. Although this focus on the role of corporations in the economy and broader society has many positive aspects, a risk is that speed, shortcuts, and spin may take precedence over authentic action.
Recommended Reads
Competitive Advantage by Michael E. Porter
Based on research in ten leading trading nations, The Competitive Advantage of Nations offers the first theory of competitiveness based on the causes of the productivity with which companies compete. Porter shows how traditional comparative advantages such as natural resources and pools of labor have been superseded as sources of prosperity, and how broad macroeconomic accounts of competitiveness are insufficient. The book introduces Porter’s “diamond,” a whole new way to understand the competitive position of a nation (or other locations) in global competition that is now an integral part of international business thinking. Porter’s concept of “clusters,” or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and institutions that arise in particular locations, has become a new way for companies and governments to think about economies, assess the competitive advantage of locations, and set public policy.
The 4 stages of psychological safety by Timothy R. Clark
This book is the first practical, hands-on guide that shows how leaders can build psychological safety in their organizations, creating an environment where employees feel included, fully engaged, and encouraged to contribute their best efforts and ideas. Perhaps the leader’s most challenging task is to increase intellectual friction while decreasing social friction. When this doesn’t happen and it becomes emotionally expensive to say what you truly think and feel, that lack of psychological safety triggers the self-censoring instinct, shuts down learning, and blocks collaboration and creativity. Timothy R. Clark, a former CEO, Oxford-trained social scientist, and organizational consultant, provides a research-based framework to help leaders transform their organizations into sanctuaries of inclusion and incubators of innovation.
News from the farm
CEO Bootcamp with Verne Harnish and Dominic Monkhouse
We’ve joined forces with Verne Harnish, author of Scaling Up, to bring you the first Scaling Up CEO Bootcamp in Europe.
A reinvigorating 4-day Bootcamp where you and nine other CEOs and their #2’s will spend small group and one-on-one time with Verne addressing your specific opportunities and challenges – in a setting that promotes deep thinking and relaxation.
Register today to join Verne and Dominic from Monday 12th, September – Thursday 15th, September at Lucknam Park Hotel & Spa, near Bath (UK).
MEANINGFUL ACTION FOR MONDAY
Find out what your Working Genius is
Last week, we had a client CFO who came out as a strategic thinker when we did his Working Genius – the tool by Patrick Lencioni. He left his last job because they wanted someone to count the money, not think strategically. That was a massive mismatch.
If you’re a leader in your business, do you know what your genius is? Is it in execution or strategic thought? Do the Working Genius for yourself to find where your strengths are. Then do it with all your team to see if it helps you understand why you’re not achieving the results that you would like.
Upcoming events
Like Minds Nudge Ideas Festival, Exeter (UK) – 25th March
The Like Minds Nudge Ideas Festival is back in person. Join 200+ entrepreneurs and business leaders at the South West business event of the year. It takes place at the impressive Winslade Manor, just outside Exeter on March 25th. They’ve curated an amazing group of speakers and workshop leaders for you this year.
Early Bird tickets are on sale now and include all your tea/coffee during the breaks and lunch in the Georgian Manor House itself.
Very limited on numbers so don’t miss out.
Monkhouse & Company Scaling Up Workshop – New Forest – 23rd June
The workshop is your first step in the process of identifying and addressing the real challenges confronting your business. You will receive practical guidance in the essential skills that underpin manageable and sustained growth. Join five other business leaders on a half-day session with Dominic Monkhouse, away from the uproar of the everyday commercial world and look at your business afresh – to recognise your strengths, your weaknesses and your opportunities.
Quote of the week
“If you want to be successful and fulfilled in your work, you must tap into your gifts. That can’t happen if you don’t know what those gifts are.”
Patrick Lencioni
Dominic Monkhouse
Dominic offers business coaching and management development, strategy planning and organisational change, using tried and tested methods to launch your organisation onto an unparalleled growth trajectory. His programme is a function of his broad experience, his deep expertise and a proven process used by over 2,700 firms worldwide.