Patrick Lencioni’s 6 Types of Working Genius categorizes the kind of work that gives us energy, in and out of work, while Cloverleaf’s Team Roles uses your behavioral tendencies, strengths, and motivations to share the easiest work for us.
How Each Working Genius Shows Up in Team Roles
Here’s a simple breakdown that shows how each Genius finds a home in one or more Cloverleaf Roles.
The Six Types of Working Genius
These describe the kind of work that gives someone energy and satisfaction:
Wonder: Reflecting and questioning the state of things; seeing possibilities others miss
Invention: Creating novel ideas and solutions; generating something from nothing
Discernment: Using intuition and instinct to evaluate ideas and decisions
Galvanizing: Rallying and mobilizing others to take action
Enablement: Offering timely, supportive help to others
Tenacity: Completing tasks with rigor; overcoming obstacles to get things done
The Eight Cloverleaf Team Roles
These define how individuals naturally contribute within a group:
Innovator: Creative problem-solvers who love fresh ideas and imaginative thinking
Resourcer: Tactical enablement: outgoing connectors who bring in people, ideas, and external opportunities
Coordinator: Organizers who make work clear, structured, and aligned across people and priorities
Driver: Action-oriented and goal-focused, keeping momentum high and results in sight
Monitor: Strategic evaluators with broad perspective and strong judgment
Teammate: Relational enablement: supportive and diplomatic collaborators who create a sense of unity
Implementer: Reliable executors who take plans and turn them into action
Finisher: Detail-focused perfectionists who polish work to the highest standards
On Your Team
Full-cycle Conversations
These are the most effective and energizing conversations, ensuring ideas are not just imagined, but activated and completed.
Designate someone for the project tasks that fall into each of the Team Roles.
Ideation without Activation
You generate ideas (Innovator) but don’t vet or rally people to act on them (missing Implementor or Coordinator).
Result: Exciting, but scattered or unrealistic.
Activation without Implementation
You make decisions and get people energized (Implementation), but don’t follow through effectively (missing Driver or Monitor).
Result: Plans made, but not executed.
Implementation without Ideation
You get things done (Teammate, Resourcer, Finisher), but without upstream creativity or strategic thinking (missing Innovation).
Result: busywork without impact or purpose.