Career Leader Insights on the Working Genius Assessment

Monique Frost, a Consultant with The Collective, recently spoke with Trish Shafer, Executive Director of St. Joseph's University Career Center, and Erica Estes, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Executive Director of Career Connections at the University of Arkansas, about how their teams have leveraged the Working Genius to increase productivity and collaboration.

The University of Arkansas and St. Joseph's University recently engaged with The Career Leadership Collective to facilitate staff retreats leveraging the Working Genius assessment. The Career Leadership Collective has partnered with The Table Group to provide The Working Genius to higher education. The consulting team members at The Collective are Certified Working Genius Facilitators.

Arkansas and St. Joseph's have integrated the Working Genius framework into their regular practices to enhance productivity, strengthen trust, and boost team morale. In this article, Trish and Erica share how the Working Genius has helped their leaders and teams further their mission. 

Maximizing Team Impact with the Working Genius Framework

The Working Genius is a framework that helps transform how teams communicate and accomplish work. The assessment is practical and easy to understand. It goes beyond a personality assessment and focuses on team trust and morale. It helps teams maximize productivity through the effective use of resources and creates shared language that strengthens collaboration and leadership impact.

According to Trish at St. Joseph’s, the Working Genius goes deeper than other assessments, offering her lean team a way to be “smart about where we put our energy.” With so much shifting in higher education, she explained, it was important to ensure they weren’t just working hard but that they were working in the right way—serving students effectively while sustaining themselves as a team. 

Erica echoed a similar perspective from her implementation work at Arkansas, noting that she was drawn to the Working Genius because it is practical and easy to understand. She remarked that focusing on productivity rather than personality provides a shared language that can make a real impact on team projects.

Improved Project Management, Onboarding, and Meetings 

Integrating the Working Genius framework into projects, onboarding, and staff meetings strengthens collaboration, deepens team understanding, and boosts productivity by creating shared language and structures that enable everyone to contribute meaningfully.

At the University of Arkansas, career staff members incorporated Working Genius into the onboarding process, helping new team members understand their geniuses, competencies, and frustrations while providing insight into their working styles. The team also began using the Working Genius framework in staff meetings, a welcome shift after years of searching for a more engaging structure beyond simple report-outs that could just as easily be sent via email. 

At St. Joseph’s, Working Genius language has assisted with major projects such as rolling out career readiness competencies to faculty. The Working Genius project framework also extends beyond faculty engagement, connecting to work done with employers, student organizations, and direct student work, creating a shared project process that has sparked collaboration across her team.

The Power of the Team Map

As part of our retreat facilitation, the Collective Team discusses a Team Map that illustrates group working dynamics, fosters self-awareness, and enables more transparent communication around work progress. These maps leverage individual geniuses, align efforts more effectively, and reframe frustrations as opportunities for collaboration, ultimately enhancing both team productivity and personal fulfillment.

At St. Joseph’s, the Working Genius Team Map has been so valuable for the career services team that they mounted a whiteboard of it in the office collaboration space to keep it always visible. Its constant presence keeps the framework top of mind, offering language to describe both geniuses and challenges while sparking many “aha” moments. 

Similarly, Erica reflected on her profile listing Tenacity as a working frustration. While she had always thought of herself as someone who simply needed to “check things off,” the summary helped her realize that it isn’t the act of checking something off that brings joy. Instead, she finds fulfillment in what follows—having the space and freedom to use her Working Geniuses, which she truly enjoys. As Erica put it, “the framing of working frustrations was powerful: it’s not only about what we can do, but also about what actually brings us joy.”

From Insight to Action: How Leaders Leverage Their Working Genius

Research on Working Genius shows that the most effective leaders are self-aware. By understanding and leveraging their own Working Genius, leaders create a thoughtful space where team members can contribute more effectively, harness their geniuses, and make a greater productive impact. Both Erica and Trish delved deeper into their leadership self-awareness and how it has helped their team. 

Erica’s top “Geniuses” are Wonder and Discernment. “Wonder didn’t surprise me since I've always been someone who asks big-picture questions,” she observed. “What did surprise me was discernment. I don't usually see myself as someone who judges other people’s ideas—I see myself more as someone who tries to draw ideas out so we can build on them together. But this made me realize I need to pay closer attention to how I use discernment. Even if it's unintentional, I might sometimes shut down ideas simply because of how I respond. I want to be more mindful of this moving forward.”

Similarly, Trish stated that her excitement can induce team anxiety if she is not careful how she uses her Wonder and Invention. She has learned to pause and ask if team members want to hear her ideas or if they just need her to listen. “That small step helps me not flood people with solutions when they're not ready and instead respond more supportively.” 

Applying Working Genius for Lasting Impact

In summary, Trish shared advice she would give to leaders and career service teams: “If teams are interested in maximizing productivity, the language and framework of the Working Genius is invaluable. “Suddenly, things start to make sense, and from there, you can move forward with the best approach. Now I don't expect from someone what isn't natural for them. I’m moving projects forward with reality instead of my perception. That shift has made us more productive and built greater trust among the team. Also, the Collective's facilitation was incredibly helpful. Connecting dots and giving great examples helped the team process the framework together, making it easier to apply insights from the virtual retreat directly to our work.”

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The Collective provides virtual and in-person retreats that enhance productivity, self-awareness, and campus engagement by leveraging the Six Types of Working Genius, a model identifying the fundamental activities required in any work setting. Join us to unlock your team's potential and bring more energy and fulfillment into your work and life. For more information on how your team can participate in the Working Genius, visit our Working Genius website or email Sharon@careerleadershipcollective.com.