In the Workplace

Improve Relationships at Work

The Enneagram describes nine ways of seeing the world that are very different from one another, each with unique strengths, blind spots and communication styles. Learning to recognize these different points of view enables us to better understand the motivations, needs and concerns of ourselves, our coworkers and colleagues.

Corporations, small businesses and nonprofits around the world are using the Enneagram as a breakthrough approach for leadership development, team building, communication skills and emotional intelligence. 

Whether you discover the Enneagram on your own or as part of a team, the Enneagram offers significant benefits for anyone who works with others, including managers, HR personnel, consultants, trainers, facilitators, negotiators and mediators.

group of students listening to presentation

Why Learn the Enneagram in a Team Environment?

By describing nine distinct ways of seeing the world, the Enneagram can help your team:

  • Identify the strengths and challenges of nine personality styles in the workplace
  • Build rapport, reduce conflict and cooperate at higher levels of effectiveness
  • Welcome diversity and maximize each person’s highest contribution
  • Tap greater resources in others by providing specific suggestions for each member’s professional development and a path to personal mastery
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Why Learn the Enneagram for Your Own Personal and Professional Development?

An understanding of the Enneagram also can help you:

  • Build your own professional skills
  • Develop increased self-awareness
  • Discover opportunities for paradigm shifts out of current assumptions
  • Feel empowered to make more intelligent decisions and choices
  • Reduce stress, stay centered and manage personal reactivity

Seeing Through Your Blind Spots

From the Harvard Business Review

Tony Schwartz, CEO of the Energy Project, successfully used Helen Palmer’s best-selling book, The Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and Others in Your Life, for a staff development retreat designed to “improve communication, decrease misunderstanding and free up positive energy.

“Truly understanding the struggles and the world views of others makes it easier to feel empathy for them, and to hold their value, even when they interpret the world very differently than we do.”

“This isn’t easy work. We had the advantage of a team that includes many people who have already done considerable self-exploration. Even so, acknowledging any level of vulnerability is challenging. By the end of the day, we all felt drained — but also exhilarated that we had gotten to know each other so much better, and we could more easily accept and even appreciate our differences. Even the most skeptical among us felt it was a rewarding use of our time.”

Read full article
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Using the Enneagram made it possible to operate on a level playing field, without judgment. No type is superior to any other, and that helped each of us feel more comfortable exploring our blind spots and limitations, along with our gifts and strengths.
Tony Schwartz
Harvard Business Review Article

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