Genius to Role Map

Use When

This tool is particularly useful when:

• You're assigning new roles or responsibilities and want to match people to work they'll excel at
• Team members feel misaligned with their work or aren't performing at their potential
• You're building a context-not-control culture and want to set people up for success
• You want to optimize team performance by leveraging natural strengths

Steps

The Genius to Role Map uses the Working Genius framework to match people's natural strengths to their roles. Here's how to use it:

1. Each team member completes Working Genius assessment. This identifies the two "geniuses" (areas of natural strength) and two "frustrations" (areas of natural weakness) for each person.

2. Map each person's geniuses to their current role. What does their role require? Does it leverage their geniuses or force them to work in areas of frustration?

3. Identify gaps where the role requires geniuses the person doesn't have. These are areas where they'll struggle no matter how hard they try.

4. Identify opportunities where the person's geniuses aren't being used. These are untapped strengths that could drive better performance.

5. Redesign roles or responsibilities to better match geniuses. Sometimes this means shifting responsibilities within the team. Sometimes it means changing how work gets done.

6. Set up systems to leverage each person's natural strengths. When people work in their genius, they perform better, enjoy work more, and need less management.

Downloads & Links

The Working Genius assessment is available online. Use the mapping template to document your team's geniuses and redesign roles accordingly.