Is the Enneagram the new Myers Briggs?

The Enneagram is getting a lot of traction these days, even vying with the Myers Briggs as the most popular personality test for leader-managers.

What makes the Enneagram rival tests like the Myers Briggs? Where traditional personality frameworks, like the Myers Briggs, focus on classifying personality types based on behaviour, the Enneagram peels back the onion and looks at our deepest form of motivation (i.e. why we do what we do?).

It’s in this context of deepest motivations that I have seen leaders transform in their ability to grow and achieve massive shifts both personally and professionally. You likely remember the first time you read through your Myers Briggs or Kolbe results. It was deeply insightful and for many life-changing. For the first time, you felt understood, heard and not alone. Your quirks were normalized and your strengths understood. For me, the Kolbe saved my life – where I thought I would be a great Paramedic – I realized that I don’t like change, risk or uncertainty.

The Myers Briggs shaped my career path and highlighted my personal values and emotional strengths. However, it wasn’t until the Enneagram that I was able to achieve significant shifts in my thinking patterns, behaviours and personal effectiveness. The Enneagram is an ancient personality framework that includes 9 types clustered into 3 triads – thinking, feeling and action centres – all represented in a circle with connecting lines.

I liken the triads to three radio stations playing in your car at the same, with one being louder and more in tune than the others. All of us have preferences in each, but there tends to be one that we are heightened to in alertness, one that plays the loudest. The top of the circle is the action triad and includes the 8, 9, and 1. Each expresses their tendency towards action differently but all share the commonality of a highly attuned gut and instinctive instinct. Where the 8 believes that offense is the best defense, the 9s search for peaceful action and the 1s are driven by right action. In the feeling triad, which includes the 2, 3, and 4, individuals are highly attuned to their emotional limbic system and are searching for love and acceptance. The 2s through connection with others, the 3s by achievement and the 4s through uniqueness. Closing the loop is the 5, 6 and 7 which form the thinking triad or intellectual types. In the search for safety and stability, the 5s seek information, the 6s security, and the 7s adventure. I believe that we are influenced by more than one number although like in business there is one strategy that dominates our focus. For me it is the need to achieve, win and be successful. As a self-preserving subtype (more on subtypes laters), my successes don’t need to be overtly celebrated but they’re still important to me. This is why I’m anxious on vacation and have a healthy sense of self when I’m succeeding and can fall into a lower state of self when in times of failure. Knowing not only about how you behave under stress or when solving problems but gaining a deeper insight into why you have adopted a certain strategy for success transforms the way you will lead. In our workshop Leading with the Enneagram, we use the leading IEQ-9 Enneagram assessment, to assist leaders in making the necessary shifts in adjusting their style to effectively motivate, influence and coach others. This fall we have launched a new division – Enneagram Training Canada – which is dedicated to providing Enneagram training to teams, groups and individuals across Canada. You can see a more complete introduction to the Enneagram here – ENNEAGRAM OVERVIEW SHEET.

P.S. – If you are interested in learning more about how the Enneagram can accelerate your leadership or team effectiveness please reach out!