WIDGET Flow of Work
Move ideas through six complementary modes from question to completion
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 99%
WIDGET describes the complete flow of work through six complementary modes. Wonder asks the consequential question; Invention creates a new answer; Discernment evaluates and improves it; Galvanizing rallies people behind it; Enablement responds to the help execution requires; and Tenacity drives the work to closure. These modes group into three broad stages: ideation, activation, and implementation. Teams fail when they skip the middle activation stage: implementers receive poorly refined ideas, while ideators blame execution for weak results. To apply the model, identify the current stage, invite the people energized by its work, label the purpose of meetings, and make transitions explicit. The sequence is directional rather than perfectly linear, allowing teams to revisit earlier work while keeping everyone clear about whether they are questioning, deciding, rallying, helping, or finishing.
Origin
Lencioni noticed six distinct kinds of work while mapping his own frustration. Their initials happened to spell WIDGET: Wonder, Invention, Discernment, Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity. Conversations with Nike later illustrated how skipping activation damaged the handoff from product ideation to implementation.
Core principles
- 01Every completed project needs all six kinds of work
- 02Wonder and Invention generate possibilities
- 03Discernment and Galvanizing turn an idea into coordinated action
- 04Enablement and Tenacity carry action through completion
- 05Skipping activation creates conflict between ideators and implementers
- 06The stages guide work without making it perfectly linear
How to run it
- 1
Wonder About the Need
Pause at high altitude and ask why the current situation exists, whether customers are satisfied, or whether a better solution is possible. Let the question establish the work worth doing.
Pro tip Allow important questions to remain open long enough to reveal the real need.
Watch out Do not suppress Wonder simply because it does not produce an immediate answer.
- 2
Invent a Solution
Create possible answers without premature implementation constraints. Turn the open question into a new concept, product, or approach.
Pro tip Use a whiteboard or other unconstrained medium to generate from nothing.
Watch out Do not mistake an interesting idea for a decision to execute.
- 3
Discern What Works
Apply instinct, pattern recognition, and judgment to evaluate the idea. Refine weak parts and decide whether the concept is ready to advance.
Pro tip Ask a trusted discerner to identify which ideas deserve pursuit.
Watch out Do not send an untested idea directly to implementation.
- 4
Galvanize Commitment
Communicate the selected direction, inspire action, and rally the people whose participation is needed. Make clear that the work has moved from ideation into activation.
Pro tip Explicitly distinguish when you are sharing an idea from when you are asking people to act.
Watch out Ambiguous enthusiasm can cause implementers to start before a decision exists.
- 5
Enable the Execution
Come alongside the people doing the work and provide the help they actually request. Keep execution moving through responsive support rather than advice alone.
Pro tip Match assistance to the implementer's need instead of the helper's preferred contribution.
Watch out Support without accountability can become over-accommodation.
- 6
Drive to Completion
Track the target, push through the final details, and close the work. Confirm that the agreed outcome is delivered rather than merely started.
Pro tip Give a tenacious finisher ownership of the final mile and its measurable endpoint.
Watch out Do not reopen ideation casually when the team is close to launch.
In the wild
Nike's product ideators generated concepts and handed them directly to implementation. Ideators wondered why execution was poor, while implementers asked why they received weak ideas. The missing Discernment and Galvanizing work had left concepts untuned and people unrallied.
→ The three-stage model exposed activation as the missing bridge between ideas and execution.
A startup labels an early session WID so the team can question, invent, and evaluate without building immediately. After choosing a direction, it holds a DG activation session to refine the call and rally owners, then shifts to ET implementation with support and completion targets.
→ Participants contribute the right behavior at the right stage and the project reaches launch with fewer false starts.
Common mistakes
Skipping activation
Moving straight from ideation to implementation sends unrefined ideas to people who have not been rallied around them.
Leaving the meeting mode implicit
Ideators brainstorm while finishers seek closure when nobody states what kind of conversation is occurring.
Treating the flow as rigid
The modes overlap and recur; forcing a perfectly linear process misrepresents how real work develops.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for teams that generate strong ideas but suffer confusion, weak handoffs, conflicting meeting behavior, or incomplete execution.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal as a rigid waterfall process that forbids iteration or assumes each stage belongs to exactly one person.
From the transcript
“it spells widget which was kind of an accident and it it goes from Wonder to invention to discernment to galvanizing to enablement to tenacity”
“the three stages go from ideation to activation to implementation”
“if you go from ideation to implementation which is what they were doing the people in ideation are like why don't those people Implement our…”
From the episode
Patrick Lencioni: Maximize Joy in Your Career by Learning Your Working Genius
Patrick Lencioni