Tap into your team’s full potential with the Enneagram
Boost team cohesion, collaboration, and productivity by:
- Mitigating and preventing conflicts
- Building trust and psychological safety
- Playing to team strengths and balancing weaknesses
- Navigating and appreciating different working styles
- Uncovering shared values and motivations
“Kai was an excellent facilitator. He effortlessly created an environment of safety and openness, and his passion for his work and genuine care for each member of our team was apparent. The workshop helped the team communicate our strengths, weaknesses, and needs to one another, and the increased cohesion and trust was palpable by the end.”
The Enneagram makes use of nine personality archetypes to ignite personal awareness of habits, motivations and blind spots. It allows team members to become aware of, and empathetic to, the ways their teammates are motivated, skilled, and experience the world that are different from their own.
Through online assessments using an adaptive testing model, team members will become aware of their own personality types and the corresponding patterns, blind spots and strengths worth exploring. (30 min)
The Individual Professional Report they receive includes modules on Personal Development, Self-Mastery, Communication, Conflict, Decision-making, Leadership, Teamwork, and Giving and Receiving Feedback.
Individual Coaching Sessions then support them in diving deeper into what can be learned. (50 min)
Finally, in a Group Workshop the team will discover how each team member approaches problems, communicates, handles conflict, responds to stress, and brings unique gifts. A Custom Team Report additionally provides insights into potential strengths and weaknesses of the overall team. (3 hours)
FAQ
Requirements for Success
Ensure enough time for each participant to take the test and review results before the event:
- Schedule event at least 4 weeks in advance
- Provide participant and email list immediately so tests can be sent
- Encourage team to 1. Take test and 2. Schedule review session asap
- All testing & review sessions should be complete 3 business days before the event
Additionally:
- Have team meet in-person
- Aim for a team size between 5-12
Why 3 Hours?!
At first three hours can seem like a big investment. Beforehand I routinely hear: “can’t we make it one or two hours?” Here are examples of what is said afterwards when surveyed:
“More time!”
“We could have used more time. There was content that we didn’t get to, and I think everyone really enjoyed the session.”
“Honestly, I could have continued to go for hours!”
Many teams schedule a second workshop to make room for further exploration and a deeper dive into the data. As it is, two days of content has been trimmed to meet the needs of teams with less time.
Don’t Box Me In
I use the Enneagram as a tool to start a conversation. As it is said, “all models are wrong, but some are useful.” (George Box) Archetypes are helpful in making unseen aspects of ourselves and the team visible but we will quickly move beyond them to better understand each individual and team.
“I came into the workshop quite skeptical. I thought I was going to be labeled and pigeon-holed by some over-simplified model. I really appreciated that there was a lot of room to… get into what was true for us.”
Why the Enneagram?
The goal of this workshop is to help people better understand themselves and each other to create better working relationships and increase productivity.
In looking for tools, I explored a number of common systems including Big 5, Myers-Briggs, or the “one with the colors” (there are several). While Big 5 is the most researched, it is better suited to academic research and not particularly useful for fostering generative dialog. (It also leads to assertions that are not helpful, such as, “women tend to be more neurotic.”) The color models tend to focus on observable behaviors over motivation. I believe that understanding the motivations of others helps build greater trust and understanding.
Potential Challenges
The Enneagram, while immensely popular, has been less well academically researched. (Although Integrative Enneagram is attempting to address this.) There is also some amount of disagreement between some versions of the models. It is, however, a very evocative set of archetypes I have found quite useful in bringing about dialog and insight and serves the goal of building greater team cohesion.
Additional Benefits
Additionally, with the broad range of materials available, participants are able to further explore for themselves following the workshop.
Testimonials
“I gained tailored information about how to make requests and share feedback with each individual team member – sometimes leading to surprising insights about the distinct ways we process thoughts and emotions! I feel a great deal more trust in my colleagues and my ability to function within the team.”
“I better understand the needs / desires / motivations of my teammates and can better support them as a leader.”
“I loved learning more about my teammates and having the opportunity to explain myself and my motivations to my colleagues. I loved how thoughtful the questions were to help prompt meaningful answers and discussion.”
“I liked that the results we got were incredibly detailed and went into different styles of both communication and receiving/giving feedback”
“I’ve learned how each of my colleagues prefers to work and communicate. I feel more educated on how to approach and collaborate with them.”
