Unveiling the enigma of the Enneagram

During the summer of 1994 Helen Palmer and David Daniels, both based in the Northern California, decided to convene the first International Enneagram Conference at Stanford University in the States. Psychological journals and newspapers around the world publicised the event, and people came from around the world to learn the latest developments in Enneagram theory and application, to get first-hand exposure to the major Enneagram teachers and authors, and to build a global Enneagram community.  The International Enneagram Association (IEA) now convenes every year to encourage professionals, including those in HR, to adopt the Enneagram within their own areas of training and expertise. This Spring HR Magazine attended the IEA (China) Enneagram in Action Conference at the University of Hong Kong, which explored how the Enneagram can be used in business and why HR should care about them.

The Enneagram is a system of nine personality profiles set in a non-denominational framework largely compatible with contemporary psychological categories. The idea behind being that it can be used to help HR, and our staff, better understand themselves and the people around them. In doing so, people are able to develop better relationships, and achieve greater fulfilment both at work and at home. Ennea means nine in Greek, and grammos is something written or drawn: the Enneagram is a graphical representation arranged on a nine point diagram to help describe nine different personality types. Each of the nine types also has its own precise psychological path:

1. The Perfectionist
2. The Giver
3. The Performer
4. The Tragic Romantic
5. The Observer
6. The Loyal Skeptic
7. The Epicure
8. The Protector
9. The Mediator

To be successful, however, the Enneagram has to be used in a values-based and ethical manner and the IEA encourage users to consider nine core values before adopting them:

• It is an instrument for self-knowledge and personal transformation
• It is a source of help for one another
• It can allow others to discover themselves
• It is an important tool for compassion
• It is a work in progress
• It provides a system to encourage staff to ‘walk the walk’ of transformation
• No individual owns the Enneagram
• An ‘Enneagram type’ does not fully describe an individual

Professor David Daniels, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Stanford Medical School, speaking at the conference about what the Enneagram does, and why it should be used by HR, he explained that the Enneagram, with nine adaptive strategies, is a lifespan psychology and typology tool that go through people’s history and essential qualities. The use of the Enneagram often goes beyond producing simple behavioural changes, and can help integrate these changes into people’s lives, by getting right to their core belief systems and motivations.

Professor Daniels noted that through neurobiology it has been found that people have auto-association, which means that people don’t have to see an ‘entire pattern’ to be able to determine what it is. He cited an example of this, “If I can see a little something about someone I don’t trust—I can expand that to see she is probably not a trustworthy person.” He added, “The way our neurons operate is according to the flow of information and energy. This flow of information is what we focus on. A large segment of this energy is the driving emotion of our type structure and this ‘pattern’ of information and energy is our Enneagram type.”

Ginger Lapid-Bogda, PHD, International Enneagram Teacher and Business Consultant, Bogda & Associates further explained, “The Enneagram is not a tool to find what skills employees possess, it is more for developing leadership confidence.” She gave an example of an accountant who was struggling and not performing so well in their job, but who was, in fact good with numbers but just terrible with people. She explained that the Enneagram could not teach them how to be a better accountant, but instead, it could help identify what was getting in their way and show why such obstructions were occurring. In this way, the Enneagram can provide a ‘key’ that helps unlocks the door for people capable of, and in many cases—wanting to—achieve more, but who are not really sure about how to do so.

How can HR use the Enneagram? Dr Lapid-Bogda explained, “With the employees managers have, there may be ones that have not maximised their psychological development. These are likely to be the employees that take all of your time and energy to develop and will generally be lower performers. If you use the Enneagram, you can turn these employees into ones who are committed and capable of architecting their own development. On top of that, the Enneagram is an effective and efficient tool to help employees develop people skills.”

In some cases, HR is not utilising teams to their full potential, often because they have not fully understood the team’s characteristics. To turn a team from good to great, HR must first identify the teams that have challenges and their members’ characteristics, then from there work with the teams to help resolve the problems. In order to make this a reality, Dr Lapid-Bogda advised, “HR needs to identify and communicate the business case for moving a team from good to great. If a company does not move from good to great, or HR has not communicated the case to management, they will quickly be beaten by other companies.”

The Enneagram is also a tool that can be used to improve staff engagement, people development and retention, while offering cost savings through enhanced synergy and recognition of different talents in the group.

Dr Lapid-Bogda highlighted, “When HR uses the Enneagram they will generally see a 20% rise in discretionary effort of employees. This change leads to more satisfied employees and more effective teams, which ultimately increases the value of an organisation.”

What makes a great team great depends on what task the team is undertaking. The goal of HR and management should be to transition good teams into great ones. Malcolm Lazenby and Gayle Hardie, Co-Founders of the GlobaLeadership Foundation commented, “First you must identify your personality types. When this is done, managers must think: how can these personality types make a great team-confident enough to push forward. Sometimes HR and managers need to dismantle what is good to get something great. And they should realise that the team is more than the sum of its parts.”

HR should first talk to the team members to discover their perspective, personalities and goals. Hardie mentioned, “It is important to build a team identity, without this people do not know where they belong.”

Teams must be mutually accountable and get everyone on-board. Lazenby suggested, “If the team is not doing very well it is necessary to look at what is missing. And identify the personality types of each individual on the team. Appreciating and using team differences, then agreeing on shared values and behaviours is essential in fostering a successful team.”

Once a stellar team has been assembled, there needs to be a degree of ‘stickiness’ where members bond with each other, and can work collaboratively in order to remain successful as it continues to move forward. Hardie warned, “If an organisation doesn’t align its practices and provide a culture that enables teams to move forward, the team will not work.

For teams to work and be successful, HR managers need to ascertain the goals and aspirations of both the company and employees and adapt their plans to them.” Lazenby added, “Often, when strategic planning is done the plan just ‘sits on the shelf’.

Companies need to also think about the how, namely, how to execute the plan and how to engage the team.” He added, “You can have the best individuals, but they must be supported as a team, otherwise they will just remain individuals.”

Hardie summed up, “Building great teams is not done through one workshop. It is an on-going journey in which models can be used as diagnostic and design tools for the type of intervention needed to build great teams.”

Dr Lapid-Bogda pointed out that the Enneagram can be an extremely effective tool in coaching scenarios. On their functionality she said, “They provide detailed maps for self-observation which means students will come to coaching sessions more informed. They also provide a powerful plan for self-development which helps us understand our ego and personality.”

She went on to caution coaches against stereotyping participants in their coaching programmes and how the Enneagram serves as an objective means of helping HR get to know their employees’ personalities and from there create personalised learning and development systems for them. Moreover, the Enneagram also helps provide direction to employees for them to improve themselves—resulting in higher productivity and retention.

A valuable tool to help build and develop successful teams, ultimately leading to greater engagement, increased ROI and higher profits for the business as a whole. HR is well advised to use the Enneagram to help see how their own and their employees’ personalities mesh with the business objectives.