Code of Ethics

In all Narrative Enneagram programs, we outline a list of guidelines for using the Enneagram in an ethical way, which include:

• Help others discover their type; don’t tell them what type they are.
• Avoid stereotyping. Each of us is an individual expression of our type.
• Don’t make excuses or find faults for behavior based on type.
• Refrain from using your style as a justification for your actions.
• When you have a negative reaction to another type, investigate your own reactivity. Don’t assume the issue is with another person.
• See other sources of issues in addition to the Enneagram.
• Avoid using the Enneagram for your personal agenda.
• Recognize that the Enneagram requires time, effort and commitment.
• Respect the privacy and personal boundaries of participants.
• Avoid making business decisions based on type or using the Enneagram in a selection process.

We all have implicit biases. As we come together in each course, our goal is to bring more conscious awareness to these biases so that all may feel as fully welcome as possible.

Motivated individuals can learn to avoid acting on these biases and diminish their strength over time. One countermeasure to implicit bias is our mindset. Choosing to be humble, mindful and internally motivated creates the most generative learning environment for this work.

Our understanding of the Enneagram system is a great asset in this process. We already work with one form of implicit bias: our type structure. We develop our capacity to observe these patterns and bring them into consciousness. We can use this same process to bring more awareness to our biases around diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism. Once we notice, we can pause, and then take conscious actions to help loosen their hold on us.

We invite each participant to be aware of implicit biases. We encourage conversations as they might arise in the course of our time together. In these conversations:

• Offer as much presence and deep listening as possible.
• Seek to understand and clarify statements or questions as they arise.

Hopefully, this effort will help us be even more successful in achieving our organization’s goal of transforming lives and creating a more compassionate world.

• We all have biases: those that are expressed clearly in our type and those that are culturally embedded
• Our commitment: It is our responsibility to become aware of our socially and somatically implicit biases. We commit to supporting equity and inclusion for all of our students.
• Ways to respond to bias: humility, mindfulness, listening, self-observation, curiosity or inquiry, open-heartedness, action.
• ​​Our intention is to create a generative learning environment that includes and respects all people, especially those with marginalized identities. We understand that there will be unintentional and unconscious oppression and aggression, regardless of good intentions. We aim to track and address these acts as they occur.