50 Practical Tips for Understanding Tenacity

Tenacity is the genius that finishes what everyone else starts. In Patrick Lencioni's Working Genius model, it sits at the end of the workflow for a reason: without Tenacity, creative ideas remain theoretical, decisions stay provisional, and teams lose credibility one missed deadline at a time.

Here is the profound insight most resources miss: Tenacity is not about being responsible, disciplined, or conscientious. Those are character traits. Tenacity is an energy source. Some people feel genuinely fuelled by pushing work across the finish line. Others can do it competently but feel drained by the process. That distinction explains why your most reliable team member might be burning out while appearing successful.

After facilitating Working Genius sessions with executive teams across education, corporate, and nonprofit sectors, I have watched this single reframe transform how business leaders design roles, delegate work, and protect their closers from exhaustion. The Working Genius assessment reveals this pattern instantly, but understanding how to apply Tenacity insights is where real value emerges.

If your team keeps starting initiatives without completing them, or if you are carrying more finishing work than feels sustainable, I would welcome a conversation about how the Working Genius framework might help. Reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org to explore what a facilitated session could look like for your organisation.

Understanding What Tenacity Actually Is

1. Tenacity is the drive to push work to completion when novelty disappears

The defining moment for Tenacity occurs when a project is seventy percent done and the final thirty percent becomes tedious, political, or repetitive. Tenacity people still care. They still push. That sustained energy when approaching the finish line separates this genius from mere competence at finishing tasks.

2. Tenacity sits at the end of the Working Genius workflow intentionally

In the full chain, the genius of Wonder and the genius of Invention spark new possibilities, Discernment refines, Galvanizing mobilises, Enablement supports, and Tenacity finishes. Each genius depends on the others. Tenacity is not meant to compensate for upstream failures but to protect the final phase of work when obstacles appear.

3. The Working Genius model frames Tenacity as energy, not morality

Patrick Lencioni's framework insists that all six types of work exist on every project regardless of whether someone has that genius. Tenacity work must happen. The question is whether it drains or energises the person doing it. That reframe removes judgement and creates permission for honest team dynamics conversation.

4. Tenacity is one of the three disruptive geniuses in the model

The Working Genius framework categorises geniuses as either responsive or disruptive. Tenacity joins Invention and Galvanizing as disruptive geniuses because it imposes will and initiates movement rather than merely responding to the needs of others. Tenacity people naturally create deadlines and push for resolution.

5. Each person has two geniuses, two competencies, and two frustrations

The Working Genius assessment reveals this distribution for every team member. Tenacity as a genius means finishing energises you. Tenacity as a competency means you can do it without significant drain. Tenacity as a frustration means completing work depletes you even when you do it well. Understanding your person's areas unlocks job satisfaction.

6. Competence at finishing does not equal energy for finishing

This distinction is the source of most misassignment and burnout. Leaders assume that because someone is reliable, Tenacity must be their genius. Reliability can come from training, fear of consequences, or sheer discipline. A serious team map conversation must separate what people can do from what gives them joy.

Recognising Tenacity Behaviours in Real Work

7. Tenacity shows up as closing loops explicitly and reliably

The day to day expression of Tenacity includes tracking commitments, following up on deadlines, completing quality checks, pushing through obstacles, and maintaining high standards. Tenacity people convert verbal agreements into documented actions with owners, due dates, and clear definitions of done that create immediate impact.

8. Tenacity people often ask the uncomfortable clarifying questions

In meetings, the Tenacity contribution sounds like: What is the next step? Who owns it? When is it due? What does done look like? That language is a gift to the team, not a vibe kill. Without those questions, conversations create an illusion of progress without actual movement toward the right direction.

9. Tenacity energy is easiest to observe when work becomes boring

Watch what happens when the exciting stage of work ends. Tenacity people remain engaged and energised. Non Tenacity people push through with gritted teeth. The difference is visible in body language, tone, and the quality of attention they bring to closing tasks in a productive work environment.

10. Healthy Tenacity is persistent without becoming controlling

The distinction matters for every team leader. Healthy Tenacity ensures accountability through clarity, rhythm, and follow through. Unhealthy Tenacity becomes policing, micromanaging, and taking over tasks that others should complete. The line sits at ownership versus overfunctioning. Finding a better way requires self awareness.

11. Tenacity people often build informal tracking systems to survive

When organisations lack explicit commitment tracking, Tenacity people create their own spreadsheets, lists, and follow up rhythms. This keeps work moving but makes the system dependent on individual heroics. Mature teams formalise minimum viable tracking so it becomes infrastructure, not personality dependent.

12. Tenacity people feel lighter when things are finished

If completing a task gives you genuine satisfaction and restored energy, Tenacity is likely your genius. If completing a task gives you relief but also a sense of emptiness or resentment about the path, Tenacity may be your competency or frustration. Track this pattern across a few weeks for instant understanding.

Diagnosing When Tenacity Is Missing from Your Team

13. Recurring conversations signal missing Tenacity

When the same issues reappear on meeting agendas week after week, closure never happened. Someone may have discussed the topic, even made a decision, but nobody owned the finish. The issue returns because the loop stayed open. This is one of the best ways to diagnose team dysfunction quickly.

14. Last minute chaos reveals delayed Tenacity work

Tenacity work does not disappear when you ignore it. It accumulates and becomes urgent. If your team regularly scrambles near deadlines, the diagnosis is not poor planning. The diagnosis is that Tenacity work was not owned earlier in the cycle. The world of work rewards those who close loops early.

15. Teams without Tenacity often look strategic and busy but erode trust

They start initiatives with enthusiasm, generate new ideas, hold productive meetings, and quietly fail to deliver. Over time, people stop believing that announcements lead to outcomes. That credibility gap is expensive to rebuild and damages your ability to reach full potential as an organisation.

16. Scope creep accelerates when Tenacity is absent

Without someone enforcing boundaries, new requests accumulate without trade offs. The project expands until finishing becomes impossible within the original timeline. Tenacity people naturally ask what moves or drops when scope changes. This discipline protects actionable plans from becoming wish lists.

17. Dependency stacking signals missing Tenacity ownership

Work gets blocked because nobody pushes for resolution. Each dependency waits for the next. Progress slows not from lack of capacity but from lack of someone who feels responsible for unblocking the chain. A staff member with Tenacity would never allow this kind of work paralysis.

18. Pet projects multiply without Tenacity discipline

Every pet project steals finishing capacity from committed priorities. Tenacity people often become the ones who say no or force the trade off conversation. Without that pressure, organisations scatter energy across too many fronts. Creative solutions require focus, not endless expansion of scope.

Managing When Tenacity Is Overloaded

19. Tenacity as rescue teaches the team not to change

When the Tenacity person swoops in at the end to save the project, it feels heroic. It is also destructive. The team learns that they do not need to finish because someone will always clean up. Learned helplessness becomes the culture. This pattern undermines positive impact over time.

20. Single point Tenacity creates exhaustion and resentment

If all finishing work flows to one team member, they carry disproportionate stress. That person often becomes irritable, controlling, or cynical. This is not personality. This is boundary failure and role design failure. Business leaders must recognise this pattern before losing their best closers.

21. Tenacity people often carry the relational weight of finishing

The last ten percent is not just tasks. It includes stakeholder management, conflict absorption, and risk ownership. Tenacity people often bear consequences when things go wrong because they are the last ones touching the work. Their tenacious spirit deserves protection, not exploitation.

22. Protect Tenacity people from becoming the default rescuer

Rescue should be an emergency response, not a structural role. If someone consistently rescues, redesign ownership so that rescue becomes unnecessary. This requires leadership courage because it means holding others accountable. Reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org if your team needs help with this redesign.

Understanding the Shadow Side of Tenacity

23. Tenacity's shadow is stubbornness and tunnel vision

When Tenacity becomes rigid, the project becomes a train that cannot change direction even when new information arrives. The to do list replaces thinking. Completion becomes the goal regardless of whether the original objective still makes sense. Natural talents become liabilities without self awareness.

24. Tenacity can become weaponised in unhealthy cultures

In pressured environments, just get it done becomes a way to suppress the genius of Wonder, Discernment, or legitimate concerns. People stop asking big questions because finishing is all that matters. Quality and innovation suffer when Tenacity overrides every other kind of work.

25. Tenacity applied too early creates premature execution

If Tenacity energy enters before the idea is clarified and refined, you build the wrong thing faster. The result is efficient delivery of outcomes nobody needed. Sequencing matters. Original ideas need space to develop before Tenacity drives execution toward completion.

26. Tenacity without flexibility prevents learning

When Tenacity people ignore new information to keep moving, they miss opportunities to adjust. The practice of periodic check ins asking whether the original problem is still the right problem protects against this pattern. Novel approaches sometimes emerge from pausing Tenacity temporarily.

27. False Tenacity means finishing the wrong thing

Completion for its own sake is not valuable. True Tenacity includes the discipline to stop when outcomes no longer justify effort. Sunk cost bias can masquerade as Tenacity. This is a quick note that many teams miss until they have wasted months on irrelevant deliverables.

Designing Roles and Delegation Around Tenacity

28. Match finishing responsibilities to people energised by finishing

Role design should place Tenacity work with people who have Tenacity as a genius or strong competency in their current role. When the work cannot be moved, provide support structures so that low Tenacity people are not set up to fail. This is foundational to the Working Genius framework.

29. Never assign Tenacity accountability without matching authority

Responsibility without authority creates frustration. The Tenacity person must be able to set deadlines, enforce trade offs, hold owners accountable, and escalate blockers. Without that authority, they become a nag rather than a closer. This principle applies to every type of work.

30. Delegation fails without explicit standards

Most delegation breakdowns are standards failures. If you delegate but keep the definition of done in your head, Tenacity will show up as rework, frustration, and silent judgement. Document criteria before handing off work. This one change creates instant understanding across teams.

31. Create clear handoff moments between Enablement and Tenacity

Enablement supports through responding to the needs of others. Tenacity closes. At the moment ownership shifts, make it explicit. Without that handoff, Enablers become accidental Tenacity because nobody else is finishing. Understanding Working Genius pairings prevents this common mismatch.

32. Rotate finishing ownership to build team capability

When Tenacity people always finish, the team never learns. Rotate closer responsibility on lower stakes work with support and checklists so that non Tenacity people develop finishing muscles. This builds organisational resilience and distributes the load more sustainably over time.

Applying Tenacity to Meeting Design

33. The last ten minutes of every meeting should be sacred for commitments

Do not end meetings with discussion. End with owner, due date, next step, and definition of done. This requires discipline because the natural tendency is to run long on conversation and short on closure. A team leader who enforces this creates immediate impact.

34. Separate ideation meetings from execution meetings

Tenacity people do not need to be in every brainstorm where new ideas emerge. They drain in ambiguity and shine in commitment. Invite them for the portion where decisions become actionable. Protect their energy for where it matters most in the right times of the project.

35. Use a visible commitment log in the room

People behave differently when commitments are captured publicly. A shared document or board where actions are recorded in real time creates accountability without policing. Visibility changes behaviour. This simple practice transforms team dynamics without requiring personality tests.

36. Do a commitment read back at the close of every meeting

Before ending, read owner, deliverable, and due date out loud for each action. This reduces later denial and ensures everyone leaves with the same understanding. It takes two minutes and prevents weeks of confusion. Consider this your Monday morning meeting minute essential practice.

37. Challenge scope creep in the meeting rather than absorbing it silently

When new requests appear, immediately ask what moves or drops. This is where facilitators add enormous value because leaders often avoid the trade off conversation. Making trade offs explicit protects finishing capacity. For facilitation support, reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org.

Building Tenacity Systems and Rhythms

38. If your team refuses tracking, you are forcing Tenacity into heroics

Tracking is not overhead. It is infrastructure that protects finishers. The alternative is invisible mental load carried by whoever cares most. Minimum viable tracking includes a shared list of commitments, owners, due dates, and a weekly review. This gives every working genius clarity.

39. Limit work in progress to protect finishing capacity

This is a Tenacity principle disguised as operations. When too many projects run simultaneously, nothing finishes. Tenacity requires prioritisation discipline and ruthless initiative hygiene. Unique perspectives on capacity management often come from your Tenacity people if you listen.

40. Build close before you start as a cultural norm

Do not open a new loop until you close an old one unless you intentionally choose the trade off. This prevents accumulation of unfinished work and keeps the team focused on completion rather than initiation. Inspiring others to finish requires leaders who model this discipline.

41. Create a stop list and make it visible

Maintain a public list of what you are not doing this quarter. This protects finishing capacity by making trade offs explicit. The stop list is as important as the priority list. Business leaders who create stop lists give their teams permission to focus.

42. Establish decision freeze points

After a certain date, changes require explicit trade offs. This protects Tenacity people from the constant churn of shifting priorities and allows them to actually finish rather than perpetually restart. The genius benefit here is clarity about when the phase of work truly begins.

Pairing Tenacity with Other Working Geniuses

43. Tenacity plus Discernment creates high standards but risks endless refinement

This pairing can produce excellent quality or paralyzing perfectionism. The practical guardrail is agreeing on what good enough means before execution begins. Without that agreement, Discernment keeps refining while Tenacity cannot close. Both working geniuses need boundaries to thrive.

44. Tenacity plus Galvanizing converts momentum into delivery

Galvanizing creates enthusiasm and new possibilities. Tenacity sustains execution through the mid project dip when excitement fades. Without this pairing, you get enthusiastic starts and disappointing finishes. With it, you get reliable completion. This is one of the most powerful Working Genius pairings.

45. Tenacity plus Invention requires deliberate freeze points

The genius of Invention keeps generating new ideas. Tenacity keeps trying to finish. Decide on freeze points where changes stop and completion begins. Without those boundaries, the project never stabilises long enough to ship. Creative ideas need deadlines to become deliverables.

Preventing and Addressing Tenacity Burnout

46. Tenacity burnout comes from cleaning up upstream ambiguity

When decisions are unclear, priorities shift, and authority is missing, Tenacity people absorb the consequences. They do not burn out from work volume alone. They burn out from carrying structural failures. As a certified facilitator, I have seen this pattern destroy talented closers unnecessarily.

47. Monitor for warning signs of Tenacity overload

Irritability, cynicism, controlling behaviour, inability to relax, checking and rechecking, resentment toward idea people, and escalating urgency all indicate a Tenacity person carrying too much. These are not character flaws. They are system warnings. Address the system, not just the family member struggling.

48. Low Tenacity leaders can unintentionally create burnout in others

When leaders make vague commitments, avoid follow through, and resist tracking, they offload Tenacity work onto whoever cares enough to finish. That person often burns out while the leader appears strategic. Personal experience confirms this is one of the most damaging leadership patterns.

Applying Tenacity in Specific Contexts

49. Tenacity in schools must align with term cycles and calendar realities

Educational environments have fixed rhythms. Initiatives that cannot show progress within one term lose momentum regardless of merit. Tie commitments to term milestones and protect teacher capacity by limiting concurrent priorities. The Table Group resources adapted for schools address this stage of work effectively.

50. Tenacity in founder led organisations addresses the scale gap

Founders often have high Invention and Galvanizing but lower Tenacity. The business stalls at scale without a closer. The founder mode myth often hides a Tenacity gap that requires hiring or partnering to solve. Taking the Working Genius assessment reveals whether this applies to your situation.

Conclusion

Tenacity is not about pushing harder or working longer. It is about designing teams, roles, meetings, and systems so that finishing happens reliably without burning out the people who care most. The Working Genius model gives you vocabulary for this conversation, but vocabulary without application is just theory.

The practical work is using that language to redistribute finishing responsibilities, protect boundaries, create tracking rhythms, and match energy to work. When Tenacity is honoured rather than exploited, teams reach their full potential and people experience the dignity of seeing their effort matter.

If your team recognises itself in these patterns, a facilitated Working Genius session can accelerate the shift from insight to action. As a Certified Working Genius Facilitator who has guided executive teams through this process across schools, corporates, and nonprofits globally, I have seen how quickly the right conversation can unlock better delegation, healthier team dynamics, and reliable execution.

Reach out at jonno@consultclarity.org to discuss what a Working Genius session might look like for your team, or to explore broader leadership consulting, executive coaching, or keynote speaking for your next event.