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25 Working Genius Facilitators Perth Teams Actually Book

  • Writer: Jonno White
    Jonno White
  • Jun 18
  • 23 min read

If you have ever sat through a team development session that felt inspiring on the day but disappeared by the following Tuesday, you already know the problem.

 

Your leadership team is talented. The strategy on paper is solid. But in the room, something is off. Meetings run long and produce little. The same friction surfaces every quarter. The people who should be collaborating are quietly working around each other instead.

 

You do not need another personality framework. You need someone who can come into the room, name what is actually happening, and give your team a shared language that changes how they work together.

 

I put together this list of 25 Working Genius facilitators in Perth who do exactly that, because the right facilitator changes everything. For a deeper look at applying this across your organisation, the Working Genius implementation guide covers the full rollout process.

 

25 Working Genius Facilitators Perth Teams Actually Book If you have ever sat through a team development session that felt inspiring on the day but disappeared by the following Tuesday, you already know the problem. Your leadership team is talented. The strategy on paper is solid. But in the room, something is off. Meetings run long and produce little. The same friction surfaces every quarter. The people who should be collaborating are quietly working around each other instead. You do not need another personality framework. You need someone who can come into the room, name what is actually happening, and give your team a shared language that changes how they work together. I put together this list of 25 Working Genius facilitators in Perth who do exactly that, because the right facilitator changes everything. For a deeper look at applying this across your organisation, the Working Genius implementation guide covers the full rollout process. WORKING GENIUS FUNDAMENTALS Before naming the facilitators, it helps to understand what makes Working Genius different from every other team assessment sitting in your drawer. These sections explain the framework, why it works when others do not, and what to look for when you hire someone to bring it into your organisation. 1. What Working Genius Actually Is Working Genius is a productivity and teamwork model created by Patrick Lencioni that identifies six types of work every project requires. The six stages are Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanising, Enablement, and Tenacity. Every person has two areas of genius, two areas of competence, and two areas of frustration. The framework does not measure personality. It measures where people find energy in the workflow. Your genius is the work that energises you. Your frustration is the work that drains you even when you are good at it. Working Genius Type Core Question Energy Source Wonder Why does this matter? Pondering problems and context Invention What could we create? Generating ideas and solutions Discernment Will this work? Evaluating ideas and options Galvanising Who needs to move? Rallying people to action Enablement How do we get it done? Providing support and resources Tenacity Are we finishing this? Pushing through to completion Most teams have all six types represented. The problem is no one knows who brings what, so the wrong people end up doing the wrong work. The person with Tenacity gets stuck in brainstorming sessions. The person with Wonder is asked to execute the plan. Everyone is capable, but half the team is working in their zone of frustration. A good Working Genius facilitator surfaces this pattern in the first 90 minutes and gives the team language to reorganise how they work. 2. Why Teams in Perth Are Bringing in Working Genius Facilitators Now Perth organisations are dealing with the same leadership problem showing up in three recurring patterns. First, talented hires who do not fit the team. The person interviewed brilliantly, has the credentials, and still feels like a mismatch six months in. Second, leadership teams that agree in meetings but diverge in execution. The offsite produced alignment, but three weeks later everyone is back to their own interpretation. Third, high performers burning out in roles they should love. The problem is role design, not capability. Most job descriptions are written around tasks, not around the type of work that energises the person doing them. You hire someone to execute, but their genius is in ideation. You ask someone to rally the team, but their genius is in discernment. The friction is not personality conflict. It is energy mismatch. Working Genius gives leaders a diagnostic tool that names the mismatch before it becomes a retention problem. The framework is fast. Most teams complete the assessment in under ten minutes. The debrief happens in a single session. The language sticks because it maps to how people already experience their workday. Teams stop debating who is right and start asking who has the genius for this stage of the project. You can read more on how this applies to Working Genius team building specifically. Leaders stop trying to fix underperformance and start reassigning work to match people's natural energy. Hiring conversations shift from credentials to geniuses, which changes who you hire and how you onboard them. The framework does not add another layer of complexity to your team structure. It simplifies how you think about who does what, and that simplicity is why it spreads fast once one team in an organisation uses it. 3. What a Working Genius Session Actually Looks Like A typical Working Genius facilitation session runs between two and four hours depending on team size and objectives. The session is not a lecture. It is a working conversation where the facilitator guides your team through the framework, maps everyone's geniuses, and applies the insights to real projects your team is facing right now. The session opens with a short introduction to the six types of work. Most facilitators keep this under 20 minutes because the framework is simple enough that people grasp it quickly. The team then reviews their individual assessment results, which they complete online before the session. Here is where the session becomes useful. The facilitator maps the team's collective genius profile. You see which stages of work are over-indexed and which stages are under-resourced. A leadership team with five people in Galvanising and Enablement but no one in Wonder or Discernment will move fast and execute poorly. A team stacked with Wonder and Invention but weak in Tenacity will generate brilliant ideas that never ship. To understand what it takes to run a Working Genius workshop from end to end, the detailed guide covers setup, facilitation, and debrief. The facilitator then applies the model to a current project or recurring frustration. Suppose your team has been stuck on a strategic initiative for six months. The facilitator walks the group through the six stages of that project and asks who has been doing what. Almost always, the stuck point maps directly to a genius gap. No one with Discernment evaluated whether the idea was sound. No one with Tenacity is driving it to completion. The conversation shifts from blaming individuals to resourcing the work properly. The session closes with role design and next steps. Teams walk out with three things. First, a shared language they will use in every meeting going forward. Second, a map of who should be doing what type of work. Third, immediate changes to how they structure the next 90 days. 4. How to Choose the Right Facilitator for Your Team Choosing a Working Genius facilitator in Perth is not about credentials alone. Every facilitator on this list is certified. The difference is in how they read the room, how they handle conflict when it surfaces, and whether they can translate the framework into your specific context. Ask three questions before you book anyone: Can they handle senior teams? Facilitating a leadership team is different from facilitating middle management. Senior leaders have less patience for theory and more resistance to being told their team is dysfunctional. The right facilitator names what is happening without making it feel like an intervention. Do they customise the session or deliver a script? The framework is the same for every team. The application is not. A good facilitator asks about your team's current challenges before the session and designs the debrief around real work, not hypothetical scenarios. What happens after the session? Some facilitators deliver a one-off workshop and leave. Others build in follow-up coaching, team check-ins, or integration support over 90 days. If you want the framework to stick, the follow-up matters more than the session itself. The facilitators listed below vary in style, sector experience, and how they structure their engagements. Some work primarily with schools. Others work with corporate executive teams or nonprofits. Match the facilitator to your context, not just to their availability. PERTH FACILITATORS YOU CAN BOOK The facilitators below are certified Working Genius practitioners based in Perth or serving Perth organisations. The list includes independents, consulting firm principals, and embedded leadership development specialists. I selected them based on client work, sector experience, and their ability to deliver sessions that create lasting change, not just Friday inspiration. 5. Jonno White Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator who works with school leadership teams, nonprofit executives, and corporate leaders across Australia and internationally. He is the author of Step Up or Step Out, which has sold over 10,000 copies, and his work focuses on helping leaders build alignment in teams that are talented on paper but stuck in execution. Jonno's Working Genius sessions are built around real team problems, not abstract concepts. He maps your team's genius profile to the projects that are currently stalled or creating friction, then redesigns how the work gets done. His follow-up process includes 90-day integration coaching so the language sticks past the offsite. If your leadership team has done the personality assessments and the values workshops but still cannot get traction on strategic priorities, Jonno's approach cuts through the noise. He works with organisations that are tired of theory and ready for a facilitator who has been in the room enough times to recognise the pattern before you finish describing it. Reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss a session for your team. 6. Leadership WA Facilitators Leadership WA runs a team of certified facilitators who deliver Working Genius sessions to organisations across Western Australia. Their facilitators work with government agencies, community organisations, and corporate teams, and they bring the framework into leadership development programmes that span multiple months. Their approach integrates Working Genius with broader leadership capability work. If you are running a structured leadership programme and want the Working Genius model embedded as one component, their team can build it into the curriculum. They also offer public workshops for leaders who want to experience the framework before bringing it to their own teams. Leadership WA facilitators are particularly strong with public sector and nonprofit teams where hierarchy and process can slow decision-making. They understand how to navigate those dynamics while still creating the open conversation the framework requires. 7. The Culture Coach The Culture Coach is a Perth-based consultancy specialising in team culture and leadership alignment. Their certified Working Genius facilitators work primarily with small to mid-sized businesses where the founder or CEO is still deeply involved in day-to-day operations. Their sessions focus on role clarity and succession planning. Many Perth businesses reach a point where the founder needs to step back but the team is not structured to operate without them. Working Genius becomes the tool for identifying who has the genius to take on which parts of the founder's role. The Culture Coach also uses Working Genius in hiring. They help clients rewrite job descriptions around geniuses rather than tasks, then assess candidates against the genius profile the role actually requires. This reduces mis-hires and shortens onboarding time because new team members are working in their zone of genius from day one. 8. Team Dynamics Group Team Dynamics Group delivers Working Genius facilitation alongside other team effectiveness frameworks including Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team model. Their Perth-based facilitators work with executive teams in mining, construction, and professional services, sectors where team dysfunction often hides behind strong individual performance. Their sessions are direct. They surface conflict quickly and use the Working Genius model to depersonalise it. A friction point between two executives stops being a personality clash and becomes a genius mismatch. One person is being asked to Galvanise when their genius is in Discernment. The other is stuck in Enablement when their genius is in Invention. The work gets reorganised and the friction dissolves. Team Dynamics Group also offers quarterly follow-up sessions where teams revisit their genius map as projects and priorities shift. This keeps the framework alive in the organisation rather than letting it become a one-time event that people reference but do not apply. 9. Corporate Edge Corporate Edge is a leadership consultancy with a Perth office that delivers Working Genius sessions to corporate clients across Australia. Their facilitators work with ASX-listed companies, large family businesses, and private equity-backed organisations where leadership team performance directly impacts shareholder value. Their approach is data-informed. They combine Working Genius insights with team performance metrics, engagement scores, and project delivery timelines to show the board-level impact of genius alignment. If your organisation measures everything and needs the ROI story before investing in team development, Corporate Edge builds that narrative. They also integrate Working Genius into executive hiring and onboarding. When a new C-suite leader joins the organisation, Corporate Edge runs a genius mapping session with the existing team and the new hire to surface potential friction points before they become problems. 10. Oxygen Learning Oxygen Learning is a Perth consultancy focused on learning and development in the resources and energy sectors. Their certified Working Genius facilitators deliver sessions to operational leadership teams, project teams, and FIFO workforces where team composition changes frequently. Their sessions are designed for high-turnover environments. They teach teams to use Working Genius as a rapid onboarding tool. When a new team member joins a project, the first conversation is about their geniuses, which tells the team leader where to place them and what work to avoid assigning them. Oxygen Learning also uses Working Genius to redesign shift handovers and project transitions. In FIFO operations, the handover between outgoing and incoming teams is a common failure point. Working Genius gives teams a shared language for naming who needs to be involved in which parts of the handover based on their genius, not just their job title. 11. Pinkstone Pinkstone is a West Australian consultancy that works with schools, universities, and education sector organisations. Their certified Working Genius facilitators deliver sessions to school leadership teams, faculty groups, and education peak bodies across Perth and regional WA. Their facilitation style accounts for the unique dynamics of education leadership. School leadership teams often include people who have been in the same roles for decades alongside new hires trying to shift the culture. Pinkstone facilitators know how to navigate that tension and use Working Genius to create a conversation that respects experience while opening space for change. Pinkstone also integrates Working Genius into strategic planning processes. Many schools run annual planning days that produce documents no one reads. Pinkstone uses Working Genius to assign the right people to the right parts of the planning process, which produces strategies that actually get executed because the people with Tenacity are driving them. 12. Clear Measures Consulting Clear Measures Consulting is a Perth-based firm that delivers Working Genius facilitation to nonprofit organisations, charities, and faith-based groups. Their facilitators understand mission-driven teams where people are deeply committed to the work but under-resourced and over-extended. Their sessions focus on sustainable workload design. Nonprofit teams often burn out not because they are working too hard but because they are working in their zones of frustration. Clear Measures uses Working Genius to reorganise who does what so that people spend more time in their genius and less time in tasks that drain them. They also use the framework to improve volunteer management. Many nonprofits struggle to retain volunteers because they assign people to whatever needs doing rather than matching tasks to energy. Clear Measures teaches nonprofit leaders to map volunteer geniuses and place people accordingly, which increases retention and output. 13. The Unstuck Group The Unstuck Group works with churches and faith-based organisations across Australia and internationally, with facilitators based in Perth who deliver Working Genius sessions to church leadership teams, ministry staff, and denominational bodies. Their facilitation accounts for the vocational dimension of church work. Many church leaders feel called to their role but exhausted by the work. The Unstuck Group uses Working Genius to distinguish between the parts of ministry that energise a leader and the parts that drain them, then helps the team redistribute responsibilities so everyone is working more in their genius. They also use Working Genius to reduce conflict in elder boards and church councils. Volunteer governance bodies often include strong personalities with different visions for the church. The Unstuck Group depersonalises the conflict by naming it as a genius difference, which lowers the emotional temperature and creates space for better decisions. 14. Human Synergistics Australia Human Synergistics is a global consultancy with a Perth office that delivers Working Genius sessions alongside their proprietary culture diagnostic tools. Their facilitators work with large corporate clients, government agencies, and multinational organisations where team alignment needs to scale across multiple locations. Their approach integrates Working Genius with organisational culture data. They map team geniuses against the organisation's cultural profile to identify where genius misalignment is driving cultural dysfunction. A culture that rewards Galvanising and Tenacity but under-resources Wonder and Discernment will execute fast and make poor decisions. Working Genius gives leaders a lever to shift that pattern. Human Synergistics also delivers train-the-trainer programmes for internal HR and L&D teams who want to bring Working Genius facilitation in-house. If your organisation wants to own the capability rather than outsourcing it indefinitely, their certification pathway makes that possible. 15. Perth Leadership Institute Perth Leadership Institute is a local provider of executive coaching and leadership development. Their certified Working Genius facilitators work with senior leaders in health, education, and professional services, and they integrate the framework into longer-term coaching engagements. Their sessions focus on individual leader development as much as team dynamics. They use Working Genius to help leaders understand their own energy patterns, then coach them to delegate or redesign the parts of their role that sit in their frustration zone. Perth Leadership Institute also uses Working Genius in succession planning. When a senior leader is preparing to step down or transition to a new role, they run a genius mapping session with the leadership team to identify who has the geniuses required to step into the role and where capability gaps need to be filled. 16. Centre for Corporate Health Centre for Corporate Health delivers Working Genius facilitation with a focus on workplace wellbeing and burnout prevention. Their Perth-based facilitators work with organisations where mental health and team sustainability are strategic priorities. Their approach links genius alignment to wellbeing outcomes. People working in their zones of frustration for extended periods show higher rates of disengagement, stress, and turnover. Centre for Corporate Health uses Working Genius to redesign roles and workflows so that teams can sustain high performance without burning out. They also integrate Working Genius into return-to-work programmes. When someone is coming back from extended leave due to stress or burnout, Centre for Corporate Health runs a genius mapping session to ensure the person is returning to work that energises them rather than repeating the conditions that caused the burnout. 17. Catalyst Learning Catalyst Learning is a Perth consultancy that delivers Working Genius sessions to project teams in construction, infrastructure, and engineering. Their facilitators understand the dynamics of short-term, high-stakes project work where team composition changes from project to project. Their sessions are built for speed. They teach project managers to use Working Genius as a rapid team-forming tool. At the start of a new project, the team completes the assessment and the facilitator runs a 90-minute session that maps everyone's geniuses and assigns roles accordingly. This reduces the forming and storming phases that typically slow project starts. Catalyst Learning also uses Working Genius to improve handovers between project phases. In construction, the team that designs the project is rarely the team that delivers it. Working Genius gives both teams a shared language for naming who needs to be involved in the handover and what information each genius type requires to pick up the work. 18. Strategic HR Solutions Strategic HR Solutions is a Perth HR consultancy that integrates Working Genius into talent management, performance reviews, and organisational design. Their facilitators work with HR teams and business leaders to embed the framework into existing people processes. Their approach makes Working Genius a permanent part of how the organisation operates. They rewrite performance review templates to include genius alignment. They redesign job descriptions around geniuses. They train hiring managers to assess candidates for genius fit, not just skill fit. Strategic HR Solutions also uses Working Genius to resolve performance issues. When someone is underperforming, they run a genius mapping conversation with the person and their manager to identify whether the issue is capability or energy mismatch. Often the person is capable but working outside their genius. The role gets redesigned and performance improves without a formal performance management process. 19. Insightful Leaders Insightful Leaders is a boutique consultancy based in Perth that delivers Working Genius facilitation to family businesses and privately held companies. Their facilitators understand the specific dynamics of family-owned organisations where relationships and business roles overlap. Their sessions navigate the complexity of family and business geniuses. A family member may have the right geniuses for a role or may be in the role because of family position rather than fit. Insightful Leaders creates a safe conversation where the family can name the genius mismatch without it becoming a personal conflict. They also use Working Genius in succession planning for family businesses. When the next generation is preparing to take over, Insightful Leaders maps the geniuses of both generations to identify which parts of the business each person should lead based on energy and capability, not just lineage. 20. Momentum Consulting Momentum Consulting is a Perth firm that delivers Working Genius sessions to government agencies and public sector teams. Their facilitators understand the constraints of public sector work, including procurement processes, union agreements, and hierarchical decision-making structures. Their sessions focus on working within the system. Public sector teams often cannot redesign roles or restructure teams as freely as private sector organisations. Momentum Consulting uses Working Genius to help teams redistribute work within existing role parameters, which improves energy and output without requiring structural change. They also use Working Genius to improve cross-agency collaboration. When multiple agencies need to work together on a shared initiative, Momentum Consulting runs a joint genius mapping session so each agency knows what the other brings and where the collective genius gaps are. 21. The Team Room The Team Room is a Perth-based consultancy that specialises in team offsites and strategic planning facilitation. Their certified Working Genius facilitators integrate the framework into multi-day offsites where teams are working on strategy, culture, and operational alignment. Their approach uses Working Genius as a foundation for the rest of the offsite. Day one includes the genius mapping session. Days two and three apply the genius insights to strategy development, project planning, and accountability design. Teams leave with a strategy and a clear map of who is responsible for which parts based on their geniuses. The Team Room also designs custom follow-up processes. After the offsite, they run monthly check-ins where the team revisits their genius map and adjusts role assignments as projects evolve. This keeps the framework active in the team's rhythm rather than letting it sit as a one-time insight. 22. Thrive at Work Thrive at Work is a Perth consultancy focused on employee engagement and workplace culture. Their certified Working Genius facilitators work with mid-sized companies where engagement scores are low but the organisation is not sure why. Their sessions link genius alignment to engagement data. They map team geniuses against engagement survey results to identify patterns. Teams with high frustration work and low genius work show predictable drops in engagement. Thrive at Work uses Working Genius to redesign workflows so people spend more time in their genius, which lifts engagement without requiring structural change. They also integrate Working Genius into onboarding. New hires complete the assessment before their first day and their genius profile is shared with their manager and team. This gives the manager a head start on where to place the person and what work to avoid assigning them in the first 90 days. 23. Navigate Leadership Navigate Leadership is a Perth consultancy that delivers Working Genius facilitation to emerging leaders and high-potential teams. Their facilitators work with people who are stepping into leadership for the first time or taking on expanded responsibilities. Their sessions focus on self-awareness and role design. Many emerging leaders are promoted because they were strong individual contributors, but the leadership role requires different geniuses than the contributor role. Navigate Leadership uses Working Genius to help new leaders understand where they will naturally thrive in leadership and where they need to build capability or delegate. They also use Working Genius in leadership development cohorts. When a group of emerging leaders is going through a development programme together, Navigate Leadership runs a collective genius mapping session so the cohort members can support each other's development based on complementary geniuses. 24. Lead with Purpose Lead with Purpose is a Perth consultancy that works exclusively with nonprofit and social enterprise leaders. Their certified Working Genius facilitators understand mission-driven organisations where passion is high but structure and process are often weak. Their sessions help nonprofit teams move from reactive to intentional work design. Many nonprofits operate in crisis mode where everyone does whatever needs doing. Lead with Purpose uses Working Genius to create role clarity so people can focus on the work that energises them and stop carrying tasks that drain them. They also use Working Genius to improve board and staff relationships. Nonprofit boards often include people with strong geniuses in Wonder and Discernment who want to stay involved in operational decisions. Lead with Purpose helps boards and staff name the genius boundaries so board members contribute where their geniuses add value without overstepping into staff execution work. 25. Collective Wisdom Collective Wisdom is a Perth-based firm that delivers Working Genius facilitation to professional services firms including law, accounting, and consulting. Their facilitators work with partnership teams and practice groups where individual brilliance is high but collaboration is weak. Their sessions focus on project team composition. Professional services firms staff projects based on availability and expertise, but rarely based on geniuses. Collective Wisdom teaches firms to staff projects by matching client needs to team geniuses, which improves client outcomes and reduces team frustration. They also use Working Genius in partnership development. When a senior associate is being considered for partnership, Collective Wisdom runs a genius mapping session with the existing partners to identify whether the candidate's geniuses complement the partnership or duplicate what is already there. WORKING GENIUS INTEGRATION Hiring a facilitator is the beginning, not the end. The sections below explain what happens after the session, how to make the framework stick, and how to measure whether it is working. 26. How to Make Working Genius Stick Past the Offsite The most common failure mode for Working Genius is the same as every other team framework. The session is brilliant. Everyone is energised. Two weeks later no one is using the language and the team is back to old patterns. Making the framework stick requires three specific actions in the 90 days after the session. First, integrate genius language into every team meeting. When assigning work, the question is not just who has capacity but who has the genius for this stage of the project. When someone is struggling, the question is whether they are working in their frustration zone. Second, redesign recurring workflows around geniuses. Most teams have standing processes that were designed before anyone thought about energy alignment. Your weekly leadership meeting has an agenda that does not account for who in the room has the genius to contribute to each topic. Your project kickoff process does not map which geniuses need to be in the room at which stage. Redesign these workflows so the right geniuses are doing the right work. Third, hire and onboard using the framework. Every new hire should complete the Working Genius assessment before their first day. Their genius profile should inform how their role is designed, what work they are assigned in their first 90 days, and who they are paired with for onboarding. This embeds the framework into the organisation's DNA rather than treating it as a one-time team development event. Schedule a 30-day check-in after the session where the team revisits their genius map and identifies what has changed and what has not. Build genius alignment into performance conversations so people can name when they are working in frustration and request role adjustments. Train managers to recognise genius misalignment as a root cause of underperformance before jumping to capability concerns. The facilitator should build follow-up into their engagement. A one-day session with no follow-up will not stick. A session with 30, 60, and 90-day check-ins creates accountability and keeps the language alive. For a structured plan on the steps after Working Genius, the full guide walks through exactly what to do and when. 27. What to Do When Someone's Genius Does Not Match Their Role The most uncomfortable moment in a Working Genius session is when someone realises their entire role sits in their zone of frustration. They are good at the work, they have been doing it for years, but it drains them. The question is what to do next. Option one is to redesign the role. Most roles include a mix of geniuses. You cannot eliminate every task in someone's frustration zone, but you can shift the ratio. If someone's genius is in Wonder and Discernment but their role is all Enablement and Tenacity, look for ways to bring more Wonder and Discernment work into their day and delegate or redistribute some of the Enablement and Tenacity tasks. Option two is to move the person. If the role cannot be redesigned and the person is genuinely mismatched, keeping them in the role is a slow-motion retention failure. The kind thing is to move them to a role that matches their geniuses, even if that feels like a step back in the short term. Option three is to accept the mismatch and name it. Sometimes the role cannot change and the person cannot move because they are the only one with the expertise or because there is no other role available. In that case, the best you can do is name the mismatch and give the person strategies to manage it. People working in frustration need more recovery time, more variation in their work, and more opportunities to contribute their genius outside their core role. What most leaders do wrong: They discover the mismatch and do nothing. The person stays in the role, the team now knows the role is draining them, and no one talks about it. This creates resentment and accelerates burnout. What works better: Have the conversation within two weeks of the session. Name the mismatch. Explore the three options above. Make a decision and act on it. Even if the decision is to leave the person in the role, naming it and creating a plan reduces the psychological cost. 28. How to Use Working Genius in Hiring Most hiring processes assess skills, experience, and cultural fit. Almost none assess energy alignment. You hire someone who can do the job but has no idea whether the job will energise or drain them. Working Genius changes that. The first step is to map the geniuses the role actually requires. Walk through a typical project or workflow and identify which of the six types of work the person will spend most of their time doing. A business development role is heavy in Galvanising. A project manager role is heavy in Enablement and Tenacity. A strategy role is heavy in Wonder, Invention, and Discernment. For a complete guide to working genius for hiring, the detailed post covers the full process for mapping roles and assessing candidates. Once you know the genius profile of the role, assess candidates accordingly. Ask candidates to complete the Working Genius assessment as part of the interview process. Compare their genius profile to the role profile. A candidate with geniuses in Wonder and Invention applying for a project delivery role is a mismatch no matter how strong their resume is. Use the interview to probe energy alignment. Ask candidates to describe work that energises them and work that drains them. Listen for whether their answers align with the genius profile of the role. If the role requires Tenacity and the candidate lights up when talking about brainstorming but shuts down when talking about driving projects to completion, that is a red flag. The genius conversation also gives you better onboarding data. When a new hire starts, you already know their geniuses. You can assign them work that plays to their strengths from day one and avoid burying them in tasks that will drain them before they have built enough equity to push back. 29. The Genius Gaps That Sink Teams Every leadership team has genius gaps. No team has perfect coverage across all six types of work. The question is whether you know your gaps and whether you are managing them. The most dangerous gap is the one you do not see. A leadership team with no one in Wonder will move fast, execute well, and solve the wrong problems. A leadership team with no one in Discernment will generate brilliant ideas and implement the bad ones. A leadership team with no one in Tenacity will start ten initiatives and finish none. Here is how to identify your gaps: Map your leadership team's geniuses on a single sheet. Count how many people have each genius. If a genius shows up zero or one time, you have a gap. If a genius shows up five or six times, you have an over-index. Once you know your gaps, you have three options: Hire to fill the gap. If you are building the team, recruit people whose geniuses fill the holes. This is the cleanest solution but only works if you have hiring authority and open roles. Borrow the genius from outside the team. Bring in an advisor, consultant, or cross-functional partner who has the genius your team lacks. Many leadership teams borrow Wonder from a board member, borrow Discernment from a trusted external advisor, or borrow Tenacity from a project manager outside the leadership team. Train someone to work in their competence zone. If a genius is in your competence zone, you can do the work, but it does not energise you. If the gap is critical and you cannot hire or borrow, assign someone to cover it and acknowledge that they are working outside their genius. Give them recovery time and rotate the responsibility so one person is not carrying the gap indefinitely. The worst option is to ignore the gap and hope it does not matter. It always matters. The gap will show up in the team's output, and by the time you see it, the cost is already high. 30. Working Genius and Remote Teams Remote and hybrid teams face the same genius misalignment issues as co-located teams, but the distance makes the friction harder to name. When someone is struggling in a remote team, you cannot see it in the room. The signs are slower response times, lower engagement in meetings, and work that takes longer than it should. Working Genius gives remote teams a shared language for naming what is happening without it feeling like a performance conversation. If someone is struggling, the first question is whether they are working in their genius or their frustration. That question is easier to ask and easier to answer than asking whether they are capable or committed. Remote teams also need to be more intentional about genius-based collaboration. In a co-located team, people with complementary geniuses naturally find each other. The person with Invention walks over to the person with Discernment and tests an idea. In a remote team, that does not happen unless you design for it. Build genius pairings into your workflows: Pair people with Invention and Discernment for early-stage project work so ideas get evaluated before you invest resources. Pair people with Galvanising and Enablement for implementation so the rallying energy gets matched with practical support. Pair people with Wonder and Tenacity so the big-picture thinking gets grounded in what actually has to finish. Remote teams should also use Working Genius to assign meeting roles. Every meeting needs someone with Galvanising to drive energy, someone with Discernment to evaluate ideas, and someone with Tenacity to capture actions and ensure follow-through. If your remote meetings feel flat or unproductive, map the geniuses in the room and see what is missing. Your next step is simple. Book a Working Genius facilitator who understands your sector, your team dynamics, and the specific friction you are trying to solve. The right session will not give your team another framework to file away. It will give them a shared language they use every week to work better together. If your leadership team is talented but stuck, if the same friction keeps surfacing, or if you are losing good people for reasons you cannot quite name, reach out. I work with leadership teams across Perth and internationally to bring Working Genius into the room and turn insights into lasting change. Your team already has what it needs. The work is to put the right people on the right work, and Working Genius is the fastest way to make that shift real.

WORKING GENIUS FUNDAMENTALS

 

Before naming the facilitators, it helps to understand what makes Working Genius different from every other team assessment sitting in your drawer. These sections explain the framework, why it works when others do not, and what to look for when you hire someone to bring it into your organisation.

 

1. What Working Genius Actually Is

 

Working Genius is a productivity and teamwork model created by Patrick Lencioni that identifies six types of work every project requires. The six stages are Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanising, Enablement, and Tenacity. Every person has two areas of genius, two areas of competence, and two areas of frustration.

 

The framework does not measure personality. It measures where people find energy in the workflow. Your genius is the work that energises you. Your frustration is the work that drains you even when you are good at it.

 

Working Genius Type

Core Question

Energy Source

Wonder

Why does this matter?

Pondering problems and context

Invention

What could we create?

Generating ideas and solutions

Discernment

Will this work?

Evaluating ideas and options

Galvanising

Who needs to move?

Rallying people to action

Enablement

How do we get it done?

Providing support and resources

Tenacity

Are we finishing this?

Pushing through to completion

 

Most teams have all six types represented. The problem is no one knows who brings what, so the wrong people end up doing the wrong work. The person with Tenacity gets stuck in brainstorming sessions. The person with Wonder is asked to execute the plan. Everyone is capable, but half the team is working in their zone of frustration.

 

A good Working Genius facilitator surfaces this pattern in the first 90 minutes and gives the team language to reorganise how they work.

 

2. Why Teams in Perth Are Bringing in Working Genius Facilitators Now

 

Perth organisations are dealing with the same leadership problem showing up in three recurring patterns. First, talented hires who do not fit the team. The person interviewed brilliantly, has the credentials, and still feels like a mismatch six months in. Second, leadership teams that agree in meetings but diverge in execution. The offsite produced alignment, but three weeks later everyone is back to their own interpretation. Third, high performers burning out in roles they should love.

 

The problem is role design, not capability. Most job descriptions are written around tasks, not around the type of work that energises the person doing them. You hire someone to execute, but their genius is in ideation. You ask someone to rally the team, but their genius is in discernment. The friction is not personality conflict. It is energy mismatch.

 

Working Genius gives leaders a diagnostic tool that names the mismatch before it becomes a retention problem. The framework is fast. Most teams complete the assessment in under ten minutes. The debrief happens in a single session. The language sticks because it maps to how people already experience their workday.

 

Teams stop debating who is right and start asking who has the genius for this stage of the project. You can read more on how this applies to Working Genius team building specifically.

 

  • Leaders stop trying to fix underperformance and start reassigning work to match people's natural energy.

  • Hiring conversations shift from credentials to geniuses, which changes who you hire and how you onboard them.

 

The framework does not add another layer of complexity to your team structure. It simplifies how you think about who does what, and that simplicity is why it spreads fast once one team in an organisation uses it.

 

3. What a Working Genius Session Actually Looks Like

 

A typical Working Genius facilitation session runs between two and four hours depending on team size and objectives. The session is not a lecture. It is a working conversation where the facilitator guides your team through the framework, maps everyone's geniuses, and applies the insights to real projects your team is facing right now.

 

The session opens with a short introduction to the six types of work. Most facilitators keep this under 20 minutes because the framework is simple enough that people grasp it quickly. The team then reviews their individual assessment results, which they complete online before the session.

 

Here is where the session becomes useful. The facilitator maps the team's collective genius profile. You see which stages of work are over-indexed and which stages are under-resourced. A leadership team with five people in Galvanising and Enablement but no one in Wonder or Discernment will move fast and execute poorly. A team stacked with Wonder and Invention but weak in Tenacity will generate brilliant ideas that never ship. To understand what it takes to run a Working Genius workshop from end to end, the detailed guide covers setup, facilitation, and debrief.

 

The facilitator then applies the model to a current project or recurring frustration. Suppose your team has been stuck on a strategic initiative for six months. The facilitator walks the group through the six stages of that project and asks who has been doing what. Almost always, the stuck point maps directly to a genius gap. No one with Discernment evaluated whether the idea was sound. No one with Tenacity is driving it to completion. The conversation shifts from blaming individuals to resourcing the work properly.

 

The session closes with role design and next steps. Teams walk out with three things. First, a shared language they will use in every meeting going forward. Second, a map of who should be doing what type of work. Third, immediate changes to how they structure the next 90 days.

 

4. How to Choose the Right Facilitator for Your Team

 

Choosing a Working Genius facilitator in Perth is not about credentials alone. Every facilitator on this list is certified. The difference is in how they read the room, how they handle conflict when it surfaces, and whether they can translate the framework into your specific context.

 

Ask three questions before you book anyone:

 

Can they handle senior teams? Facilitating a leadership team is different from facilitating middle management. Senior leaders have less patience for theory and more resistance to being told their team is dysfunctional. The right facilitator names what is happening without making it feel like an intervention.

 

Do they customise the session or deliver a script? The framework is the same for every team. The application is not. A good facilitator asks about your team's current challenges before the session and designs the debrief around real work, not hypothetical scenarios.

 

What happens after the session? Some facilitators deliver a one-off workshop and leave. Others build in follow-up coaching, team check-ins, or integration support over 90 days. If you want the framework to stick, the follow-up matters more than the session itself.

 

The facilitators listed below vary in style, sector experience, and how they structure their engagements. Some work primarily with schools. Others work with corporate executive teams or nonprofits. Match the facilitator to your context, not just to their availability.

 

PERTH FACILITATORS YOU CAN BOOK

 

The facilitators below are certified Working Genius practitioners based in Perth or serving Perth organisations. The list includes independents, consulting firm principals, and embedded leadership development specialists. I selected them based on client work, sector experience, and their ability to deliver sessions that create lasting change, not just Friday inspiration.

 

5. Jonno White

 

Jonno White is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator who works with school leadership teams, nonprofit executives, and corporate leaders across Australia and internationally. He is the author of Step Up or Step Out, which has sold over 10,000 copies, and his work focuses on helping leaders build alignment in teams that are talented on paper but stuck in execution.

 

Jonno's Working Genius sessions are built around real team problems, not abstract concepts. He maps your team's genius profile to the projects that are currently stalled or creating friction, then redesigns how the work gets done. His follow-up process includes 90-day integration coaching so the language sticks past the offsite.

 

If your leadership team has done the personality assessments and the values workshops but still cannot get traction on strategic priorities, Jonno's approach cuts through the noise. He works with organisations that are tired of theory and ready for a facilitator who has been in the room enough times to recognise the pattern before you finish describing it.

 

Reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss a session for your team.

 

6. Leadership WA Facilitators

 

Leadership WA runs a team of certified facilitators who deliver Working Genius sessions to organisations across Western Australia. Their facilitators work with government agencies, community organisations, and corporate teams, and they bring the framework into leadership development programmes that span multiple months.

 

Their approach integrates Working Genius with broader leadership capability work. If you are running a structured leadership programme and want the Working Genius model embedded as one component, their team can build it into the curriculum. They also offer public workshops for leaders who want to experience the framework before bringing it to their own teams.

 

Leadership WA facilitators are particularly strong with public sector and nonprofit teams where hierarchy and process can slow decision-making. They understand how to navigate those dynamics while still creating the open conversation the framework requires.

 

7. The Culture Coach

 

The Culture Coach is a Perth-based consultancy specialising in team culture and leadership alignment. Their certified Working Genius facilitators work primarily with small to mid-sized businesses where the founder or CEO is still deeply involved in day-to-day operations.

 

Their sessions focus on role clarity and succession planning. Many Perth businesses reach a point where the founder needs to step back but the team is not structured to operate without them. Working Genius becomes the tool for identifying who has the genius to take on which parts of the founder's role.

 

The Culture Coach also uses Working Genius in hiring. They help clients rewrite job descriptions around geniuses rather than tasks, then assess candidates against the genius profile the role actually requires. This reduces mis-hires and shortens onboarding time because new team members are working in their zone of genius from day one.

 

8. Team Dynamics Group

 

Team Dynamics Group delivers Working Genius facilitation alongside other team effectiveness frameworks including Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team model. Their Perth-based facilitators work with executive teams in mining, construction, and professional services, sectors where team dysfunction often hides behind strong individual performance.

 

Their sessions are direct. They surface conflict quickly and use the Working Genius model to depersonalise it. A friction point between two executives stops being a personality clash and becomes a genius mismatch. One person is being asked to Galvanise when their genius is in Discernment. The other is stuck in Enablement when their genius is in Invention. The work gets reorganised and the friction dissolves.

 

Team Dynamics Group also offers quarterly follow-up sessions where teams revisit their genius map as projects and priorities shift. This keeps the framework alive in the organisation rather than letting it become a one-time event that people reference but do not apply.

 

9. Corporate Edge

 

Corporate Edge is a leadership consultancy with a Perth office that delivers Working Genius sessions to corporate clients across Australia. Their facilitators work with ASX-listed companies, large family businesses, and private equity-backed organisations where leadership team performance directly impacts shareholder value.

 

Their approach is data-informed. They combine Working Genius insights with team performance metrics, engagement scores, and project delivery timelines to show the board-level impact of genius alignment. If your organisation measures everything and needs the ROI story before investing in team development, Corporate Edge builds that narrative.

 

They also integrate Working Genius into executive hiring and onboarding. When a new C-suite leader joins the organisation, Corporate Edge runs a genius mapping session with the existing team and the new hire to surface potential friction points before they become problems.

 

10. Oxygen Learning

 

Oxygen Learning is a Perth consultancy focused on learning and development in the resources and energy sectors. Their certified Working Genius facilitators deliver sessions to operational leadership teams, project teams, and FIFO workforces where team composition changes frequently.

 

Their sessions are designed for high-turnover environments. They teach teams to use Working Genius as a rapid onboarding tool. When a new team member joins a project, the first conversation is about their geniuses, which tells the team leader where to place them and what work to avoid assigning them.

 

Oxygen Learning also uses Working Genius to redesign shift handovers and project transitions. In FIFO operations, the handover between outgoing and incoming teams is a common failure point. Working Genius gives teams a shared language for naming who needs to be involved in which parts of the handover based on their genius, not just their job title.

 

11. Pinkstone

 

Pinkstone is a West Australian consultancy that works with schools, universities, and education sector organisations. Their certified Working Genius facilitators deliver sessions to school leadership teams, faculty groups, and education peak bodies across Perth and regional WA.

 

Their facilitation style accounts for the unique dynamics of education leadership. School leadership teams often include people who have been in the same roles for decades alongside new hires trying to shift the culture. Pinkstone facilitators know how to navigate that tension and use Working Genius to create a conversation that respects experience while opening space for change.

 

Pinkstone also integrates Working Genius into strategic planning processes. Many schools run annual planning days that produce documents no one reads. Pinkstone uses Working Genius to assign the right people to the right parts of the planning process, which produces strategies that actually get executed because the people with Tenacity are driving them.

 

12. Clear Measures Consulting

 

Clear Measures Consulting is a Perth-based firm that delivers Working Genius facilitation to nonprofit organisations, charities, and faith-based groups. Their facilitators understand mission-driven teams where people are deeply committed to the work but under-resourced and over-extended.

 

Their sessions focus on sustainable workload design. Nonprofit teams often burn out not because they are working too hard but because they are working in their zones of frustration. Clear Measures uses Working Genius to reorganise who does what so that people spend more time in their genius and less time in tasks that drain them.

 

They also use the framework to improve volunteer management. Many nonprofits struggle to retain volunteers because they assign people to whatever needs doing rather than matching tasks to energy. Clear Measures teaches nonprofit leaders to map volunteer geniuses and place people accordingly, which increases retention and output.

 

13. The Unstuck Group

 

The Unstuck Group works with churches and faith-based organisations across Australia and internationally, with facilitators based in Perth who deliver Working Genius sessions to church leadership teams, ministry staff, and denominational bodies.

 

Their facilitation accounts for the vocational dimension of church work. Many church leaders feel called to their role but exhausted by the work. The Unstuck Group uses Working Genius to distinguish between the parts of ministry that energise a leader and the parts that drain them, then helps the team redistribute responsibilities so everyone is working more in their genius.

 

They also use Working Genius to reduce conflict in elder boards and church councils. Volunteer governance bodies often include strong personalities with different visions for the church. The Unstuck Group depersonalises the conflict by naming it as a genius difference, which lowers the emotional temperature and creates space for better decisions.

 

14. Human Synergistics Australia

 

Human Synergistics is a global consultancy with a Perth office that delivers Working Genius sessions alongside their proprietary culture diagnostic tools. Their facilitators work with large corporate clients, government agencies, and multinational organisations where team alignment needs to scale across multiple locations.

 

Their approach integrates Working Genius with organisational culture data. They map team geniuses against the organisation's cultural profile to identify where genius misalignment is driving cultural dysfunction. A culture that rewards Galvanising and Tenacity but under-resources Wonder and Discernment will execute fast and make poor decisions. Working Genius gives leaders a lever to shift that pattern.

 

Human Synergistics also delivers train-the-trainer programmes for internal HR and L&D teams who want to bring Working Genius facilitation in-house. If your organisation wants to own the capability rather than outsourcing it indefinitely, their certification pathway makes that possible.

 

15. Perth Leadership Institute

 

Perth Leadership Institute is a local provider of executive coaching and leadership development. Their certified Working Genius facilitators work with senior leaders in health, education, and professional services, and they integrate the framework into longer-term coaching engagements.

 

Their sessions focus on individual leader development as much as team dynamics. They use Working Genius to help leaders understand their own energy patterns, then coach them to delegate or redesign the parts of their role that sit in their frustration zone.

 

Perth Leadership Institute also uses Working Genius in succession planning. When a senior leader is preparing to step down or transition to a new role, they run a genius mapping session with the leadership team to identify who has the geniuses required to step into the role and where capability gaps need to be filled.

 

16. Centre for Corporate Health

 

Centre for Corporate Health delivers Working Genius facilitation with a focus on workplace wellbeing and burnout prevention. Their Perth-based facilitators work with organisations where mental health and team sustainability are strategic priorities.

 

Their approach links genius alignment to wellbeing outcomes. People working in their zones of frustration for extended periods show higher rates of disengagement, stress, and turnover. Centre for Corporate Health uses Working Genius to redesign roles and workflows so that teams can sustain high performance without burning out.

 

They also integrate Working Genius into return-to-work programmes. When someone is coming back from extended leave due to stress or burnout, Centre for Corporate Health runs a genius mapping session to ensure the person is returning to work that energises them rather than repeating the conditions that caused the burnout.

 

17. Catalyst Learning

 

Catalyst Learning is a Perth consultancy that delivers Working Genius sessions to project teams in construction, infrastructure, and engineering. Their facilitators understand the dynamics of short-term, high-stakes project work where team composition changes from project to project.

 

Their sessions are built for speed. They teach project managers to use Working Genius as a rapid team-forming tool. At the start of a new project, the team completes the assessment and the facilitator runs a 90-minute session that maps everyone's geniuses and assigns roles accordingly. This reduces the forming and storming phases that typically slow project starts.

 

Catalyst Learning also uses Working Genius to improve handovers between project phases. In construction, the team that designs the project is rarely the team that delivers it. Working Genius gives both teams a shared language for naming who needs to be involved in the handover and what information each genius type requires to pick up the work.

 

18. Strategic HR Solutions

 

Strategic HR Solutions is a Perth HR consultancy that integrates Working Genius into talent management, performance reviews, and organisational design. Their facilitators work with HR teams and business leaders to embed the framework into existing people processes.

 

Their approach makes Working Genius a permanent part of how the organisation operates. They rewrite performance review templates to include genius alignment. They redesign job descriptions around geniuses. They train hiring managers to assess candidates for genius fit, not just skill fit.

 

Strategic HR Solutions also uses Working Genius to resolve performance issues. When someone is underperforming, they run a genius mapping conversation with the person and their manager to identify whether the issue is capability or energy mismatch. Often the person is capable but working outside their genius. The role gets redesigned and performance improves without a formal performance management process.

 

19. Insightful Leaders

 

Insightful Leaders is a boutique consultancy based in Perth that delivers Working Genius facilitation to family businesses and privately held companies. Their facilitators understand the specific dynamics of family-owned organisations where relationships and business roles overlap.

 

Their sessions navigate the complexity of family and business geniuses. A family member may have the right geniuses for a role or may be in the role because of family position rather than fit. Insightful Leaders creates a safe conversation where the family can name the genius mismatch without it becoming a personal conflict.

 

They also use Working Genius in succession planning for family businesses. When the next generation is preparing to take over, Insightful Leaders maps the geniuses of both generations to identify which parts of the business each person should lead based on energy and capability, not just lineage.

 

20. Momentum Consulting

 

Momentum Consulting is a Perth firm that delivers Working Genius sessions to government agencies and public sector teams. Their facilitators understand the constraints of public sector work, including procurement processes, union agreements, and hierarchical decision-making structures.

 

Their sessions focus on working within the system. Public sector teams often cannot redesign roles or restructure teams as freely as private sector organisations. Momentum Consulting uses Working Genius to help teams redistribute work within existing role parameters, which improves energy and output without requiring structural change.

 

They also use Working Genius to improve cross-agency collaboration. When multiple agencies need to work together on a shared initiative, Momentum Consulting runs a joint genius mapping session so each agency knows what the other brings and where the collective genius gaps are.

 

21. The Team Room

 

The Team Room is a Perth-based consultancy that specialises in team offsites and strategic planning facilitation. Their certified Working Genius facilitators integrate the framework into multi-day offsites where teams are working on strategy, culture, and operational alignment.

 

Their approach uses Working Genius as a foundation for the rest of the offsite. Day one includes the genius mapping session. Days two and three apply the genius insights to strategy development, project planning, and accountability design. Teams leave with a strategy and a clear map of who is responsible for which parts based on their geniuses.

 

The Team Room also designs custom follow-up processes. After the offsite, they run monthly check-ins where the team revisits their genius map and adjusts role assignments as projects evolve. This keeps the framework active in the team's rhythm rather than letting it sit as a one-time insight.

 

22. Thrive at Work

 

Thrive at Work is a Perth consultancy focused on employee engagement and workplace culture. Their certified Working Genius facilitators work with mid-sized companies where engagement scores are low but the organisation is not sure why.

 

Their sessions link genius alignment to engagement data. They map team geniuses against engagement survey results to identify patterns. Teams with high frustration work and low genius work show predictable drops in engagement. Thrive at Work uses Working Genius to redesign workflows so people spend more time in their genius, which lifts engagement without requiring structural change.

 

They also integrate Working Genius into onboarding. New hires complete the assessment before their first day and their genius profile is shared with their manager and team. This gives the manager a head start on where to place the person and what work to avoid assigning them in the first 90 days.

 

23. Navigate Leadership

 

Navigate Leadership is a Perth consultancy that delivers Working Genius facilitation to emerging leaders and high-potential teams. Their facilitators work with people who are stepping into leadership for the first time or taking on expanded responsibilities.

 

Their sessions focus on self-awareness and role design. Many emerging leaders are promoted because they were strong individual contributors, but the leadership role requires different geniuses than the contributor role. Navigate Leadership uses Working Genius to help new leaders understand where they will naturally thrive in leadership and where they need to build capability or delegate.

 

They also use Working Genius in leadership development cohorts. When a group of emerging leaders is going through a development programme together, Navigate Leadership runs a collective genius mapping session so the cohort members can support each other's development based on complementary geniuses.

 

24. Lead with Purpose

 

Lead with Purpose is a Perth consultancy that works exclusively with nonprofit and social enterprise leaders. Their certified Working Genius facilitators understand mission-driven organisations where passion is high but structure and process are often weak.

 

Their sessions help nonprofit teams move from reactive to intentional work design. Many nonprofits operate in crisis mode where everyone does whatever needs doing. Lead with Purpose uses Working Genius to create role clarity so people can focus on the work that energises them and stop carrying tasks that drain them.

 

They also use Working Genius to improve board and staff relationships. Nonprofit boards often include people with strong geniuses in Wonder and Discernment who want to stay involved in operational decisions. Lead with Purpose helps boards and staff name the genius boundaries so board members contribute where their geniuses add value without overstepping into staff execution work.

 

25. Collective Wisdom

 

Collective Wisdom is a Perth-based firm that delivers Working Genius facilitation to professional services firms including law, accounting, and consulting. Their facilitators work with partnership teams and practice groups where individual brilliance is high but collaboration is weak.

 

Their sessions focus on project team composition. Professional services firms staff projects based on availability and expertise, but rarely based on geniuses. Collective Wisdom teaches firms to staff projects by matching client needs to team geniuses, which improves client outcomes and reduces team frustration.

 

They also use Working Genius in partnership development. When a senior associate is being considered for partnership, Collective Wisdom runs a genius mapping session with the existing partners to identify whether the candidate's geniuses complement the partnership or duplicate what is already there.

 

WORKING GENIUS INTEGRATION

 

Hiring a facilitator is the beginning, not the end. The sections below explain what happens after the session, how to make the framework stick, and how to measure whether it is working.

 

26. How to Make Working Genius Stick Past the Offsite

 

The most common failure mode for Working Genius is the same as every other team framework. The session is brilliant. Everyone is energised. Two weeks later no one is using the language and the team is back to old patterns.

 

Making the framework stick requires three specific actions in the 90 days after the session. First, integrate genius language into every team meeting. When assigning work, the question is not just who has capacity but who has the genius for this stage of the project. When someone is struggling, the question is whether they are working in their frustration zone.

 

Second, redesign recurring workflows around geniuses. Most teams have standing processes that were designed before anyone thought about energy alignment. Your weekly leadership meeting has an agenda that does not account for who in the room has the genius to contribute to each topic. Your project kickoff process does not map which geniuses need to be in the room at which stage. Redesign these workflows so the right geniuses are doing the right work.

 

Third, hire and onboard using the framework. Every new hire should complete the Working Genius assessment before their first day. Their genius profile should inform how their role is designed, what work they are assigned in their first 90 days, and who they are paired with for onboarding. This embeds the framework into the organisation's DNA rather than treating it as a one-time team development event.

 

  • Schedule a 30-day check-in after the session where the team revisits their genius map and identifies what has changed and what has not.

  • Build genius alignment into performance conversations so people can name when they are working in frustration and request role adjustments.

  • Train managers to recognise genius misalignment as a root cause of underperformance before jumping to capability concerns.

 

The facilitator should build follow-up into their engagement. A one-day session with no follow-up will not stick. A session with 30, 60, and 90-day check-ins creates accountability and keeps the language alive. For a structured plan on the steps after Working Genius, the full guide walks through exactly what to do and when.

 

27. What to Do When Someone's Genius Does Not Match Their Role

 

The most uncomfortable moment in a Working Genius session is when someone realises their entire role sits in their zone of frustration. They are good at the work, they have been doing it for years, but it drains them. The question is what to do next.

 

Option one is to redesign the role. Most roles include a mix of geniuses. You cannot eliminate every task in someone's frustration zone, but you can shift the ratio. If someone's genius is in Wonder and Discernment but their role is all Enablement and Tenacity, look for ways to bring more Wonder and Discernment work into their day and delegate or redistribute some of the Enablement and Tenacity tasks.

 

Option two is to move the person. If the role cannot be redesigned and the person is genuinely mismatched, keeping them in the role is a slow-motion retention failure. The kind thing is to move them to a role that matches their geniuses, even if that feels like a step back in the short term.

 

Option three is to accept the mismatch and name it. Sometimes the role cannot change and the person cannot move because they are the only one with the expertise or because there is no other role available. In that case, the best you can do is name the mismatch and give the person strategies to manage it. People working in frustration need more recovery time, more variation in their work, and more opportunities to contribute their genius outside their core role.

 

What most leaders do wrong: They discover the mismatch and do nothing. The person stays in the role, the team now knows the role is draining them, and no one talks about it. This creates resentment and accelerates burnout.

 

What works better: Have the conversation within two weeks of the session. Name the mismatch. Explore the three options above. Make a decision and act on it. Even if the decision is to leave the person in the role, naming it and creating a plan reduces the psychological cost.

 

28. How to Use Working Genius in Hiring

 

Most hiring processes assess skills, experience, and cultural fit. Almost none assess energy alignment. You hire someone who can do the job but has no idea whether the job will energise or drain them. Working Genius changes that.

 

The first step is to map the geniuses the role actually requires. Walk through a typical project or workflow and identify which of the six types of work the person will spend most of their time doing. A business development role is heavy in Galvanising. A project manager role is heavy in Enablement and Tenacity. A strategy role is heavy in Wonder, Invention, and Discernment. For a complete guide to working genius for hiring, the detailed post covers the full process for mapping roles and assessing candidates.

 

Once you know the genius profile of the role, assess candidates accordingly. Ask candidates to complete the Working Genius assessment as part of the interview process. Compare their genius profile to the role profile. A candidate with geniuses in Wonder and Invention applying for a project delivery role is a mismatch no matter how strong their resume is.

 

Use the interview to probe energy alignment. Ask candidates to describe work that energises them and work that drains them. Listen for whether their answers align with the genius profile of the role. If the role requires Tenacity and the candidate lights up when talking about brainstorming but shuts down when talking about driving projects to completion, that is a red flag.

 

The genius conversation also gives you better onboarding data. When a new hire starts, you already know their geniuses. You can assign them work that plays to their strengths from day one and avoid burying them in tasks that will drain them before they have built enough equity to push back.

 

29. The Genius Gaps That Sink Teams

 

Every leadership team has genius gaps. No team has perfect coverage across all six types of work. The question is whether you know your gaps and whether you are managing them.

 

The most dangerous gap is the one you do not see. A leadership team with no one in Wonder will move fast, execute well, and solve the wrong problems. A leadership team with no one in Discernment will generate brilliant ideas and implement the bad ones. A leadership team with no one in Tenacity will start ten initiatives and finish none.

 

Here is how to identify your gaps: Map your leadership team's geniuses on a single sheet. Count how many people have each genius. If a genius shows up zero or one time, you have a gap. If a genius shows up five or six times, you have an over-index.

 

Once you know your gaps, you have three options:

 

Hire to fill the gap. If you are building the team, recruit people whose geniuses fill the holes. This is the cleanest solution but only works if you have hiring authority and open roles.

 

Borrow the genius from outside the team. Bring in an advisor, consultant, or cross-functional partner who has the genius your team lacks. Many leadership teams borrow Wonder from a board member, borrow Discernment from a trusted external advisor, or borrow Tenacity from a project manager outside the leadership team.

 

Train someone to work in their competence zone. If a genius is in your competence zone, you can do the work, but it does not energise you. If the gap is critical and you cannot hire or borrow, assign someone to cover it and acknowledge that they are working outside their genius. Give them recovery time and rotate the responsibility so one person is not carrying the gap indefinitely.

 

The worst option is to ignore the gap and hope it does not matter. It always matters. The gap will show up in the team's output, and by the time you see it, the cost is already high.

 

30. Working Genius and Remote Teams

 

Remote and hybrid teams face the same genius misalignment issues as co-located teams, but the distance makes the friction harder to name. When someone is struggling in a remote team, you cannot see it in the room. The signs are slower response times, lower engagement in meetings, and work that takes longer than it should.

 

Working Genius gives remote teams a shared language for naming what is happening without it feeling like a performance conversation. If someone is struggling, the first question is whether they are working in their genius or their frustration. That question is easier to ask and easier to answer than asking whether they are capable or committed.

 

Remote teams also need to be more intentional about genius-based collaboration. In a co-located team, people with complementary geniuses naturally find each other. The person with Invention walks over to the person with Discernment and tests an idea. In a remote team, that does not happen unless you design for it.

 

Build genius pairings into your workflows:

 

  • Pair people with Invention and Discernment for early-stage project work so ideas get evaluated before you invest resources.

  • Pair people with Galvanising and Enablement for implementation so the rallying energy gets matched with practical support.

  • Pair people with Wonder and Tenacity so the big-picture thinking gets grounded in what actually has to finish.

 

Remote teams should also use Working Genius to assign meeting roles. Every meeting needs someone with Galvanising to drive energy, someone with Discernment to evaluate ideas, and someone with Tenacity to capture actions and ensure follow-through. If your remote meetings feel flat or unproductive, map the geniuses in the room and see what is missing.

 

Your next step is simple. Book a Working Genius facilitator who understands your sector, your team dynamics, and the specific friction you are trying to solve. The right session will not give your team another framework to file away. It will give them a shared language they use every week to work better together.

 

If your leadership team is talented but stuck, if the same friction keeps surfacing, or if you are losing good people for reasons you cannot quite name, reach out. I work with leadership teams across Perth and internationally to bring Working Genius into the room and turn insights into lasting change.

 

Your team already has what it needs. The work is to put the right people on the right work, and Working Genius is the fastest way to make that shift real.

 
 
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