The Enneagram is a universal system that is commonly used for personal and professional development.
This developmental framework is a way to develop self-awareness and to understand the impact of personality. It teaches how to accept difference and can be a map to support work in diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI).
Given the complexity of leading in today’s workplaces, this model is more than able to provide pragmatic insights to those developing their leadership potential.
It describes nine distinct patterns of personality and this is how it is most commonly taught and used but it is not limited to that. Some people resist this framework as they do not want to be typed and so it is important to appreciate at a deeper level that we are so much more than an ennea-type. When we understand at a more comprehensive level we realise that we we have misunderstood what we are and how we are living as a reflection of our true selves.
Sandra Maitr in her book The Spiritual Dimension of the Enneagram shares that the deeper function of the framework is to point the way to who we are beyond the level of the personality, a dimension of ourselves that is infinitely more profound, more interesting, more rewarding, more real.”
When using the Enneagram it is important to understand how the system works, to find your most common type within it so you can begin to better understand yourself and to realise yourself in all types. This wisdom of the enneagram can be applied in so many ways in your life and your leadership roles.