The Enneagram at Work summary

Now that you have a general sense of what the Enneagram can do, let’s dive into the specifics of what it is.

The word Enneagram comes from the Greek ennea, or “nine,” and gram – “written.” Evenly spaced around a circle, connected by a nine-pointed star, are nine personality types. These worldviews aren’t meant to box anyone in. Instead, each is associated with certain patterns of behavior that can be used to glean insight into the inner workings of yourself and those around you.

Crazy, big fears used to dominate author Jim McPartlin’s life. It helped him in terms of his career – he was always prepared for the worst. But anxiety pervaded everything he did. Then, one day in 1993, he attended a seminar on the Enneagram. When the presenter reached Type Six, the Loyal Skeptic, McPartlin exclaimed, “Holy shit!” She was describing his life and personality without knowing him at all. 

That experience enlightened him as both a person and a leader. It made him see just how much about himself he couldn’t articulate and showed him the importance of self-awareness – one of the most overlooked aspects of leadership.

Within the Enneagram circle of worldviews lies a triangle. This triangle represents the three centers of intelligence – logic (head), action (gut), and emotion (heart). All nine personality types stem from this triangle. Those with personality types in the action triad rely on their instincts, while those in the logic triad experience the world in a mindful way. Emotion types perceive the world through feelings.

You might associate the brain with logic, but, in effect, we have action and emotion “brains” too – and they’re just as powerful. When they’re functioning at their best, our head brain makes us observant and creative; our gut brain makes us feel alive and grounded; and our heart brain makes us authentic and receptive.

Criticizing others. With the exception of maybe a Type Three (Competitive Achiever) or Type Eight (The Boss), most people don’t really enjoy it. But as you’ve most likely experienced, delivering and receiving feedback is a part of life – especially as a leader.

A four-step feedback model can help activate your core and make giving and receiving feedback less scary. With it, you can ground yourself and objectively respond to any situation rather than having a subconscious, emotional outburst.

Facing fear is something we all go through in life – and public speaking tops the list of anxieties for many people. But as a leader, having to regularly address an audience is inevitable – whether it’s five people or 500. You could continue to lose sleep over it. Or, you could use the Enneagram to work through your fears and successfully command a room.

Let’s take a Type One (Strict Perfectionist). Their core fear of public speaking is feeling imperfect – so a useful tool before giving a presentation is practice. Laughing with Type Ones can also be great, for both the speaker and audience. In fact, humor in general is a great way to manage tough situations, improve morale, and boost productivity.

Conflict happens daily – and it can derail even the most well-intentioned leaders. It has infinite potential causes, including contrasting value systems, differing competitiveness levels, and mismatched opinions over the quality of a deliverable. But the single largest source of conflict? Differences in pattern expression, resulting in miscommunication and misunderstandings.

Before attempting to mediate others, you need to comprehend how you’re self-managing. And this starts with taking a detached look at your own behavior patterns.