Why the Enneagram Is Such a Powerful Tool for Leaders
By: Erin Rocchio
Few things have proven to be more important for leaders, founders, and change makers than emotional intelligence - our ability to be self-aware, manage our reactions, cultivate healthy relationships, and navigate the organizational dynamics in which we work.
Fewer things still have proven to be as effective at deeply developing emotional intelligence skills than the Enneagram. This personality framework holds tremendous depth and clarity about how we view ourselves and others, how we communicate under stress, what we need, want and fear most, and how we instinctively seek to influence those around us.
For leaders, this wisdom is everything. What Exactly Is the Enneagram?
The Enneagram is a system of identifying distinct personality types - nine to be exact. Understanding your innate personality type and those of others can help you discover your automatic patterns quickly, what you can do to communicate better with others, leverage your strengths, grow through your deepest fears, and fill the gaps that hold the keys to your success.
Knowing more about who we are allows us to dig into the inherent beliefs, habits, and stories we carry with us wherever we go, most of which are unconscious. From there, it’s easier to identify and let go of what is holding us back and lean into our unique potential. It can even hold clues as to why we keep experiencing the same stressors, even burnout, year after year.
This system is ancient—some scholars trace it to Alexandria in the 4th century. Its modern iteration was developed over the 20th century and was scientifically validated as a personality indicator around the year 2000. Its growth over the last two decades has made it a leading school of thought in the world of human development and has proven itself in practice to be the most robust approach to self-improvement in the professional world.
What Are The Enneagram Types?
There are nine personality types in the Enneagram system. While we may have personal or cultural biases that make us favor some Enneagram types over others, the system is egalitarian in nature (the numbers are simply a neutral representation of the types).
Once we know your Enneagram type, we can break down its corresponding traits and work toward your goals. The nine types, as described by the Enneagram Institute, are:
Type One: The Reformer
Type Two: The Helper
Type Three: The Achiever
Type Four: The Individualist
Type Five: The Investigator
Type Six: The Loyalist
Type Seven: The Enthusiast
Type Eight: The Challenger
Type Nine: The Peacemaker
What’s The Best Enneagram Assessment?
It’s easy to see an Enneagram type that jumps out at you when you first come across the system. Still, it can be helpful to take a validated Enneagram assessment to skirt around any internal biases or ideas you have about yourself that may not reflect your reality as well as you think. There are a few Enneagram tests available online, but here are two great options:
This one is from The Enneagram Institute, one of the leading Enneagram organizations. We like to use them as a guiding resource, and this test proves to be in-depth and relatively accurate.
This Enneagram site allows for a more self-inquiry based approach, and offers loads of resources applicable to leaders in the workplace.
Keep in mind that no online assessment is completely accurate at assessing who you are; self-reflection and supportive coaching from someone well trained in the Enneagram often prove to be the most effective ways to truly confirm your Ennea-type!
What Are The Wings And Triads?
There’s more to Enneagram than just your dominant personality type; a single label is simply not enough to encompass everything about you. That’s where wings and triads come into play.
When you look at the Enneagram diagram, you’ll notice that your primary Enneagram type is connected next to many others. The two located on either side of your top type often reflect some aspect of yourselves that show up under various circumstances. They might soften (or amplify) some of the tendencies of your primary type. These adjacent personality types are called “wings.”
While there is some contention between Enneagram traditions, most think that we have a primary personality type and one wing that complements it more strongly than the other. Some scholars, however, argue that both provide equally important information about you. Learning about your wings and how they interact with your Enneagram type is a wonderful way to delve deeper into your strengths and weaknesses so a plan of growth can emerge.
Enneagram “triads” establish a mechanism of understanding how we filter information as we move through the world. The three triads, or Centers of Intelligence, are made up of the heart, the head, and the gut/body, and they correspond to your Enneagram type: 2,3, and 4 live in the heart; 5, 6, and 7 in the head; 8,9 and 1 in the gut, or body center.
Those whose Enneagram lies in the heart triad tend to be more emotionally inclined and lead with their need for connection. Personalities within the head triad see the world through their intellect and often make decisions based on their perceived sense of security. The gut center is all about instinct and the body’s reactions; these individuals are driven by action and control.
Understanding your Enneagram type, wings, and their triads allow you to explore the deepest levels of your personality, which, in turn, hold the keys to your success. All of the traits that make us who we are provide a blueprint for the actions we must take (or avoid) to reach our career and personal goals.
We use Enneagram in leadership development because it’s practical yet deep, organized, and ultimately provides a profound bridge that can connect leaders with accelerated growth goals to improve themselves, their teams, and the systems that make up their workplaces. If you’re looking for a new approach to taking yourself or your team to the next level, let’s connect and see what the Enneagram system can do for you.