The Enneagram at Work

Leadership | Communication | Teams | Emotional Intelligence

How can the Enneagram be integrated into business?

The Enneagram is a breakthrough approach for leadership development, emotional intelligence and communication skills for high performing teams. Developed by psychologists since the 1970s, it is now used in corporations, small businesses and nonprofits in countries around the world, including the U.S., Europe, Brazil, Japan, China and Australia.

Meeting the challenge of the changing workplace

In today’s economy, companies of all sizes face a rapidly changing business environment. Three powerful forces are driving this change: new technology, globalization of markets, and higher expectations from customers and clients. To succeed and to survive organizations must shift from a “business as usual” model to one that embraces constant change with high levels of flexibility and responsiveness. This creates a major challenge for both leaders and staff.

How do companies meet this challenge? Good intentions and hard work are not enough. Staff members at all levels need to learn to adapt as their roles shift, more information must be assimilated, and time lines get shorter. Teams are replacing traditional hierarchies, and increased “people skills” are necessary to make this work. Leaders have a crucial role in this transition to embody the new set of skills and self awareness.

The advantage of the Enneagram

The Enneagram provides both professional skills and the self awareness and centering that is necessary for a personal paradigm shift – a shift out of our current set of assumptions and way of seeing ourselves, our relationships, and the world in which we participate. It empowers us to make new and more successful choices, more intelligent decisions. It also enables us to tap greater resources in others.

The Enneagram describes nine ways of seeing the world

These nine points of view are very different from one another. Each has its strengths and blind spots. Learning to recognize these different points of view enables us to understand people’s motivation, their major needs and concerns, and their style of working and relating. It helps us build rapport, reduce unnecessary conflict, and cooperate at higher levels of effectiveness.

While there are many valuable approaches to professional development, the Enneagram provides a way to create an individualized program for each person based on their particular strengths and challenges. Instead of “one size fits all,” knowing your personality type and style at work allows you to focus on the specific areas that are most relevant to you.

No one can be reduced to a type or a number.

People are more than their personality type. Each person has an essential, core self that is unique. Working with the Enneagram enables us to “get out of the box” of our personality type, to become more flexible and creative rather than stuck in habitual patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving.

The Enneagram in your workplace

Curious how to integrate the Enneagram into your workplace? Contact us about our 1-2 day Enneagram workshop designed for businesses and teams.

The Enneagram at Work does not promote any political, religious, or psychological beliefs and values, other than these two:

The importance of self awareness for personal and professional development
The appreciation of human diversity