Taylor believes this can be an especially powerful tool in all facets of life - including the workplace - since, once we know our type, we can begin to understand the structures of our personality and how unhelpful (even self-defeating and unnecessary) many of our reactions and behaviors can be. Taylor, vice president of The Enneagram Institute. Knowing your type is not the end but only the beginning of the work with the Enneagram.” Brian L. “It is for greater self-awareness and personal growth, and is most effective when coupled with an ongoing spiritual practice. “This is decidedly not the purpose of the Enneagram,” he says. On the down side, Taylor admits the Enneagram can be used on a superficial level to merely determine one’s type and then explore no further. This ultimately allows us to appreciate perspectives different than our own. The Enneagram can help us to understand others, too - fostering compassion and obtaining insight into how they may think. On the most positive end, this allows us to see our truest capacities and strengths so we can build on them. Taylor says the Enneagram primarily aims to help us observe ourselves, to aid in understanding our fears and desires, our strengths and weaknesses, our defenses and anxieties, and to see our reflexive reactions. Types 8, 9 and 1 represent the Instinctive Triad, and are concerned with relating in a more or less balanced manner with instinctual energy and maintaining imaginary boundaries to help define the self.Types 5, 6 and 7 are associated with the Thinking Center, and are most concerned with the ability or inability to find a sense of inner guidance and support, making decisions and determining how to move into the future.Types 2, 3 and 4 constitute the Feeling Triad, and are most concerned with finding a sense of value and identity, and expressing the authentic qualities of the heart.These types, which Taylor emphasizes aren’t arbitrary, fall into three groups of three, each associated with a function of human intelligence - the Thinking Center, the Feeling Center, and the Instinctive Center: Type 9 is receptive, reassuring, complacent and resigned.Type 8 is self-confident, decisive, willful and confrontational.Type 7 is spontaneous, versatile, acquisitive and scattered.Type 6 is engaging, responsible, anxious and suspicious.Type 5 is perceptive, innovative, secretive and isolated.Type 4 is expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed and temperamental. ![]() Type 3 is adaptable, excelling, driven and image-conscious.Type 2 is generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing and possessive.Type 1 is principled, purposeful, self-controlled and perfectionistic.While each of us possesses each of these human traits and can manifest from time to time the traits of other types, one type and its behaviors and fixations will stand out as primary.” “These basic types can be arranged on a circle that represents all human traits and behaviors. “At its most basic, the Enneagram posits nine distinct and fundamental personality types - nine ways that human nature expresses itself, nine different perspectives on life, nine modes of being in the world - and their dynamic interrelationships,” says Taylor. Whatever its murky origins, its aims are clear: The primary purpose is to know yourself “truly, deeply and honestly,” says vice president of The Enneagram Institute, Brian L. Some proponents trace the Enneagram’s roots back to a 4th century monk, while its modern iteration is attributed to a Bolivian philosopher and California-based psychiatrist who popularized it in the 1970s. While some might embrace astrology, Myers-Briggs assessments, or any of the countless other personality tests, the Enneagram (pronounced ANY-uh-gram) is definitely having a moment, particularly among Millennials. Here’s how it works.įrom fleeting fads to age-old tools, it can be overwhelming to stay on top of the endless ways to assess and advance self-development. This method of understanding yourself “truly, deeply and honestly” has profound implications not only for personal growth, but for success in the workplace.
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