Patrick Lencioni's The 6 Types of Working Genius (2022) says any piece of work needs six activities, and their initials spell WIDGET. This check estimates which two kinds of work energize you, which two you can manage, and which two drain you.
Want a version that doesn't name the types as you go? Try the story version: 15 everyday scenarios.
According to the Table Group, everyone has exactly two of each.
Energizing. Work that gives you energy and joy and comes naturally. Lencioni calls these Working Geniuses.
Manageable. Work you can handle, but that doesn't energize you. Lencioni's term: Working Competencies.
Draining. Work that wears you down. Lencioni's term: Working Frustrations.
Rate 36 statements, six per type, in mixed order. Picture spending a full afternoon on each activity and say how energizing or draining it would be. Don't rate how good you are at it. The Table Group says its assessment is based first on energy and joy rather than skill, though the two usually go together.
Break any ties that matter with a few either-or questions.
Read your results: your energizing, manageable and draining types, with what each means. Your answers stay in this browser and are never sent anywhere.
This is not the official Working Genius assessment, and it is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Table Group. The statements are original and have not been validated. For the official assessment and report, go to workinggenius.com.
Patrick Lencioni founded the Table Group in 1997 and wrote The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and other books on teams. The Working Genius site says that in 2020 he began asking why he sometimes felt drained and frustrated in his own job, and the model grew out of that. The book came out in 2022. It opens with a business fable and then explains the model.
The official assessment takes about 10 minutes and costs $25 per person (prices as of October 2026). Its report names your two Working Geniuses, two Working Competencies and two Working Frustrations, describes your pairing (one of 15 combinations), and includes a team map. One practitioner guide puts it at 42 statements. The Table Group says it added tie-breaker questions after early versions produced ties.
On research, the Table Group says it beta-tested the assessment with more than 1,000 people between August and October 2020, then hired a team from Concordia University Irvine for peer-reviewed research. That work covered outcomes, a Net Promoter Score and a reliability rating, and the Table Group shares an outcomes survey report. It says the validity research has not been published yet.
The model also sorts the types by how they start. According to Shortform's summary of the book, Lencioni treats responsive types (Wonder, Discernment, Enablement) as reacting to something outside themselves, and disruptive types (Invention, Galvanizing, Tenacity) as starting change on their own. The same summary reports that he sees Activation as the most neglected of the three stages.