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You're listening to the Enneagram at Work Podcast, a show about understanding people at work, including yourself. I'm your host, Sarah Wallace, and I'm looking forward to diving into this week's episode with you. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, aka SHERM, the biggest challenge that new managers face, specifically in that 90-day window, is around communication. They said it's communicating effectively with a new team tends to be the number one challenge. I was also looking into some of the challenges and things that a new manager should be thinking about doing. And according to Forbes, they listed, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven things that a new manager needs to be focusing on. The first one is setting priority projects, identifying what those are for your team, for your department. They said the second one is to get curious. Get curious about the way things have been done, about the people that you're working with, which leads into the third item, which is learn more about the team. Learn more about the team is number three. Number four is create a plan. So based on what you're learning about the team, getting curious, what your priority projects are, it's time to set a plan. And then make sure that you're setting clear expectations for what the team can expect from you as a leader for your values, for your own expectations. The sixth one is be willing to listen. Be willing to listen and then delegate work. And I thought, wow, there's a couple on here getting curious, learning more about the team, being willing to listen, that the Enneagram can really help with. And so I thought today let's take a look at how new managers might be able to use the Enneagram specifically. And this is the Enneagram at Work podcast. And uh, you know, I'm obviously very biased, so we're gonna be talking about the Enneagram, but I I think that this could be used with whatever tool uh you your company is maybe already using, whether it's disc, strength finder, Colby. I know that there's several out there. Um, but I think the biggest thing is just having the opportunity and a tool to help kind of navigate this for a new manager. And when we do our workshops, when we're introducing the Enneagram, we kind of lay the foundation about what self-awareness, other awareness, like what is that? Um, and specifically self-awareness, Tasha Yurik, uh, the author of the book Insight, one of my favorite books about self-awareness, defines it as both the will. So you have to be willing. We can't be self-aware for other people. Yeah, they have to be willing, and then the skill. So there has to be some sort of tool. And I I usually use the analogy of some sort of mirror to help us see what we might be missing. Both help us see our strengths that might just come so natural to us, we don't even notice that they're there. And B to help us see the blind spots. It's kind of like putting makeup on, you know, without a mirror, and and you don't know how it looks until you look into the mirror, kind of see where you might have missed some things. And so the Enneagram is that mirror, or it can be a mirror, or that skill part. Um, and she goes on to say it's the will and the skill to better understand ourselves and the impact that we have on others. So it's yes, I do this, and then this is what my impact might be on others, and it might be a different impact depending on their own uh personality. And so I really like that, and I thought we could kind of use that as we go into this. Um, and this is actually a program that I worked with a new manager on over the summer. Uh, we did a uh a four-month program as he was had been with the company, but moving into a leadership role. So the first way, I think I have six ideas on here. Got my notes right here. You might hear the page turn. Um, I think I have six things that a new manager can focus on and use the Enneagram with in the in the first 90 days. And the first one is to do what we did. And again, it could be with the disc or some other tool, but we obviously use the Enneagram. Um, to go through some sort of emotional intelligence program together. Um, especially if the team hasn't gone through anything in the past. This could be a great opportunity for that. And then what's great about that is you all are going through it together. The new manager is kind of right there in the trenches, learning about themselves. You're learning about each other, you're laughing, you're maybe cringing, you're supporting each other. And it really does create some bonding, some team builder, some culture building. Um, and you really get to learn about each other together. And so I love that. Um, I love that option. Now, if you are a new manager, um, maybe coming in from the outside, maybe the team has already done something, maybe they've already done something with the Enneagram. Um, you can still use the Enneagram in your kind of like about me sessions. I sometimes I'll refer to these as your team intelligence sessions, and they can be um individual sessions where you're sitting down with each member of your team, and maybe you know, you're having them pull up their past Enneagram results or whatever the assessment was in the past. And rather than it being about the role, it can absolutely come into that. But first you're getting to know them as a person, you're getting to know that what's most important to them, kind of what drives their behaviors, what are some of their common behaviors? What do they look like when they're under stress? What causes them stress? What do they look like when they're really growing? What are some things that they'd like to grow on? What are some things they learned about themselves? What should you know based on, let's say they identify as a certain Enneagram type, let's say, you know, six. Great. Um, as a manager, you you're learning about the Enneagram yourself. You have some ideas of what an Enneagram six might be, you know, motivated by dealing with, um, but really making it specific to the person. So here's some some common qualities, here's some things that tend to stress the six out. Um, but but what about you specifically? What really, really resonates? What maybe doesn't resonate? What should I know about working with you? And, you know, I've read time and time again this year that one of the most important things to employees is feeling seen and heard, just that validation piece. I've I've read over and over in some sort of way all these different studies, all these different anecdotal stories. Um, but people will be more likely to stay, will be more engaged if they really feel seen and heard. And I think that this is a great starting point. Obviously, you're gonna need to get into some conversations about specific projects, specific to the role. But I think going in with like, hey, let's just get to know each other. I'd love to get to know you. And then during those sessions, as a new manager, maybe you're sharing a little bit about what you're learning about your own Enneagram type or whatever tool you're using, and saying this, these are some synergies that I can see us really having together, like really um, you know, pushing things forward or being a great complement to the team dynamic. And and here's where we might have some friction points. I don't know, maybe we do, maybe we don't, but these are some things I could see kind of based on what you're saying, based on what I know um about myself, that we might have some friction points. But here are some things we could do to maybe navigate that. So those could be some really powerful team intelligence sessions with the individual. Um, the other part of this, I guess, to be is to have these team intelligence sessions with the entire team. And so uh, and this could be beneficial for everybody, not just you. Uh everybody's gonna have some takeaways uh from this session where maybe you pull up the team map and maybe everybody goes around. Uh, last week we had Enneagram discussion questions for your team. So maybe you listen to that episode, shameless plug, um, or find some other questions and and just say, you know, hey, what resonates with you most about your type? What should we know? Uh what does stress look like? Kind of those same questions that you might have in an individual session. Bring a couple of those, you know, two or three of those uh back to the group so everybody has a chance to share with you as the new manager and then with each other. So you're again continuing uh that kind of team build build bonding, team building, and uh everybody's having a chance to really get to know each other, and then everybody's having a chance to really feel seen and heard. And so individuals can share inside that group, and then maybe you put the team map up, like I said, and you kind of look and say, okay, here's where we're at. Um, you know, what are the strengths of this dynamic uh that we have? We have a lot of, you know, type, uh, I don't know, twos. We have a lot of type uh ones, you know, we have a person here and a person here. Uh, what are the strengths of that, of our particular team map? And then what are might our gaps be as a team? What might we be lacking? And again, this doesn't mean that you need to go out and hire a certain type. Uh, one thing that I heard recently was there were um a team uh that didn't have a lot of eights, and they didn't have any eights actually, and they only had one three. And we kind of talked about how the the strengths that they're bringing, very relationship-oriented, very team-oriented, very much um in it for the greater good, not just themselves, um, a lot of empathy. And we talked about some of those strengths, and then we talked about well, not that you need to go out and seek out a type A or a type three, but there is a lot of action. There's a lot of uh forward movement in in those types, tend tend to be uh pretty kind of let's jump in, kind of figure things out. And so what might is there uh, you know, do we notice that maybe we're oh are we at times overthinking things? Are we at times maybe too focused on the relationships and not enough of the task or the goal or the result? You know, just some things to reflect on. And so they kind of left thinking, you know, I think that we have some opportunities to jump into action a little, a little bit more, to be a little bit more confident with our decisions and move forward. And even if we fail, know that we're failing forward. And so we'll figure it out rather than maybe uh what they said, you know, sometimes we can spend too much time overthinking and overanalyzing. And so, I you know, that that might be something, um, some sort of similar discussion could come and your team map might look the exact opposite, where it's like, hey, we're very task goal results oriented here. Uh, are there opportunities for us to be a little bit more relationship focused? What does that look like for our team specifically? So um having those team intelligence sessions could be a great opportunity for the new manager to get to know the team on a deeper level in that way. Um, the third thing that I have, and this is probably I probably should have said this one second instead of third, because I think um it it's important to do this before you go into those team intelligence sessions, but to understand your own leadership style. Um, and that is understanding your leadership strengths and really embracing those, leveraging those while also maybe understanding more about your potential blind spots. And sometimes this can be cringy, I know it. You might think that you um, and you're probably aware of some of those uh potential challenges and potential obstacles that you have based on kind of, you know, how your your go-to strategies for getting your goals met, your needs met. You probably have an idea like, oh yeah, I can kind of overdo it in these situations. Um, but what what the Enneagram might help you better understand is the impact that those areas of opportunities for growth are having on the other people in your life. Because I I think for me, for for example, as a type someone who identifies most as a type seven, it's like, yes, I I know, I know it can be a little disorganized. I know, you know, sometimes my schedule can seem a little chaotic. I I have all these balls in the air. I don't necessarily have them on a calendar or in a project management system, they're on a post-its and or they're in my head, or they're written in, you know, three different notebooks that I'm having to look for, or I have some notes on my iPad. You, you, you are getting an idea, right? Um, and like that's fine. Like I'm aware of that. But the more that I learn about that, the more that I understand also what that sort of energy can do to somebody who, you know, a fellow seven, I could, you know, it would also have impacted fellow seven, but somebody especially who appreciates organization, appreciates a good plan, kind of likes to have as much certainty as possible. You know, you can kind of already understand what my impact on somebody like that might be. Um, and so that is something that I continue to get awareness in in my own life about my impact of some of those things. And that is just one of many things that I could stand to work on. Um, but we all have them, right? And so it's understanding what those are and going back to that definition from Tasha Yurik and her book Insight, understanding what those are, but then also understanding the impact that it has on others. And it's going to be different for other people. So understanding your leadership style is one. And then the fourth one I have here is understanding your boss. Um, understanding your boss who may be the the top of the organization, um, or understanding your boss uh and understanding the the top of the leadership. So you kind of have an idea. And maybe they've gone through Enneagram training, maybe they haven't. Um it kind of depends on the organization. But sometimes people are like, oh yes, our our uh our CEO, our director, or executive director is a type eight or is a type three, is a type six, nine, whatever it is. And so you kind of know, like, okay, this is kind of maybe where they're coming from. This is again how I could, my, my style could be really supportive to that, um, both a match for that and also maybe bringing out um something different. Um, and then again, like we had with the team, but looking up, this is where I might potentially have some friction with my boss, with the the, you know, some of the organization's big decisions. You know, I could I could kind of see that. So just having that understanding. Um, but I I do think this would be a really great tool to also have a productive, insightful, really meaningful conversation with the the person or the people that you're going to be reporting to as a new manager. And then again, they can kind of have an idea of your leadership strengths. You're bringing those strengths and potential areas of of improvement or opportunities for growth to them as well so that they can support you in that area. Um, a little bit uh on the same lines is also when you're working with in a new position, you got you got your team kind of managing down, you got your boss managing up, and then you have maybe your peers. Who else is on that leadership team? And so uh leadership teams will also sometimes bring in the Enneagram just to help them understand as a leadership group, what are our strengths? Um, how are we impacting the different teams that we have, the different departments that we're leading? Um, what's great about that? What might we need to be more aware of as a group or as an individual? And so you kind of being the newest member to that leadership group could come in and probably shave off weeks, if not months, of getting to know your leadership peers and really any setting, cutting off weeks and and months potentially with getting to know your team as well. So we got managing down, managing up, managing, or just you know, side by side. And then also getting to know the other stakeholders who may not even know how to pronounce the word Enneagram and you will never know their Enneagram type. But by you having some sort of foundation, not just about yourself, but when you start to study some of the others types, and again, this isn't to make you an Enneagram expert. That is not the intention. It's to make you, you know, informed and kind of expert level on people. Um, you might start to notice things about yourself and about other stakeholders. So maybe these are people within the organization but are in different departments that you're gonna have to work with. Maybe this is the board. Maybe these are clients. So there's other people that you're probably going to be working with in a in a new capacity, in this new role that are outside of your team, that are outside of your kind of direct report that you can start to notice. So when you learn about the Enneagram, so in it as an example, um we were talking in a in another workshop about um a type seven manager, and he had a lot of that optimism, he had a lot of that like possibilities, what's next? Let's go far, let's go fast, let's jump into action kind of energy. And he realized that they were, they had a big client who was a lot slower to make decisions and had a lot more questions and wanted more information, wanted to see the uh the uh, I don't know what you call them, like the information packets, um and just wanted more data. And I, you know, I don't know. Is that sounding like an Enneagram type five to you, Enneagram type six? I don't know. It doesn't matter necessarily. What matters is he realized, oh, I'm just such a quick starter. That's kind of that Colby uh quick start. You know, I jump into action. I I know that these are the things I know about myself that the Enneagram has given me some language to. And then just knowing this person, they're much more slower uh to jump into action, to make decisions and they need more information. And so what I can do is to make sure that my sales team has those packets of information readily available, that that that packet of information is updated, that it is easy to read, that it is uh, you know, enjoyable to go through, not just Bible font stats and data, right? And so it's like, I don't know what that person is. Uh we probably have a couple of clients with that same energy. And so I need to make sure that they're not feeling rushed, that they're not feeling like we're just glazing over the details. And that's not my natural tendency, but I'm I'm I'm picking up some very different energy than me, right? And so the Enneagram just gives us kind of that insight and then that language to be able to articulate that. So we have um we have the energy, uh, we have using the energy, uh, maybe going through a program yourself, using it with your team directly, individually, and then as a group, using it with your boss, using it with your uh leadership team, using it with other stakeholders outside of the organization or outside of your department. And then the last one that I have here is to understand your stress, what that looks like. And the Enneagram can give us some pretty specific insight about what stress looks like for each type or how we tend to cope. So um, our main dominant type tends to be our go to strategy for getting our needs met. And so when we're in a stressful situation, Our tendency might be dialed up a little too much. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a weakness. It's just, hey, you're normally really great. Again, I'll just pick on myself, um, casting a vision, taking action, coming up with creative ideas, okay, when you're when you're in a good place. But maybe when you're a little stressed, that's dialed up to a tin. You've maxed it out. It, you know, really shouldn't be that high in every situation. And so it's coming across as a little hyperactive, a little scattered, a little kind of chaotic, a little all over the place. Okay. And so, you know, it's the same energy, it's just the the the level uh uh what level do we have it dialed up or or down to? Is it is it dialed in? Um, and so understanding that, but then also we have those resource points or those arrows. Um, and that can kind of show up like, hey, you're over. So when that strategy isn't working, you will move and take on some of the behaviors of your stress arrow or your supporting point is sometimes what it might be called as well. We'll talk, we talk about it as kind of your neglected arrow or your supporting uh arrow or strategy. And so um for a seven, I will move to a type one, for example, and I'll try on the type one strategy and maybe be a little over-critical, a little over um uh a little over-rigorous, a little over-rigid with planning to make sure that I still want to feel excited, uh, but in a time of stress when that when that tendency isn't working, we're going to have a shift to try try some other behavior. See if we can get the door to open that way. We've been pushing, pushing, pushing. Let's see if we can pull the door with that supporting strategy, which sometimes is called that stress strategy. So we can have an idea of what times of stress and starting a new position can be very stressful. And so understanding what that might look like, it won't help us, it won't help us avoid it altogether at all. But it can kind of give us, you know, a heads up. Hey, start noticing, you know, when you're doing this, maybe catch our cat we can catch ourselves a little sooner and then course correct when needed. Or we can say, oh man, really overdid it. I I yelled at someone or I'm avoiding something because I'm stressed. And so we can kind of look back and see what happened. Like, okay, yep, that makes sense. That makes sense. Um, and we can go back and repair, have a repair conversation, go back and you know, what would you do differently moving forward? And so just kind of know, like, hey, this is probably gonna come up and this is what this might look like. And so your team knows, your boss knows, they can help be supportive. And then um also I have on here as kind of a point B, six B here, um, is at home. And so you can communicate to the people at home, hey, you know, this new job, I'm gonna do what I can to get off to a really successful, you know, productive, uh, ideally enjoyable start. But, you know, let's be honest. With all things new, there's uncertainty, there is going to be stress, there's gonna be um unpredicted challenges, maybe predicted challenges. Um, and so you're gonna have to navigate those at work. And then that's most likely going to spill over a bit at home. And so if you can communicate to your partner, maybe to your family, um, whoever needs to be communicated with, it's like, hey, uh, this is happening. Uh, the the this is what I might look like. This is, you know, when I might be overdoing it. Um, these are some things that I can do to help navigate that stress or help reduce the amount of times or reduce the level of intensity of that. And so here are some things that, you know, would be would feel supportive to me. Um, I also, you know, want to make sure that here's what I how I know I can kind of overdo it and what my impact on you, my family, my partner might be. So let me know. Let me know when that's happening. I'm gonna try and keep an eye out for it. But here are some other things to look out for, and and please let me know, right? And so we're it's just opening up the channels of communication around stress, both at work and at home. And it's giving us some guidance of what to look for and what we might need, uh, what might feel most supportive to us. Um, so we can communicate that, we can advocate for ourselves in in those situations. So you got six ideas. Uh, if you happen to be a new manager um in the first 90 days for using the Enneagram specifically, um, but I think the biggest gift that the Enneagram uh gives in this situation specifically is just the space, the time. You know, yes, I am a huge believer in the Enneagram. I I have I have experienced it myself. I have seen others experience transformations, ginormous aha moments that impact their work relationships directly, that end up impacting their home life indirectly from what they're learning about themselves at work. So I am I am here to talk about it. It is, it is my tool of choice at this moment in time. Um, but I think whatever you're using to have just the be given the space, right? It's just kind of awkward, or it's just it probably wouldn't even happen because it would kind of fall off. We'd let other things, it's like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna learn about myself. I'm gonna, I'm gonna read a book, I'm gonna learn about myself, I'm gonna, you know, uh, I don't even know. I'm gonna listen to a podcast, I'm gonna learn about myself, I'm gonna learn about my team. And and maybe you do, maybe you don't. Um it's probably not gonna be as specific to your team and to you as it could be, but it's also just having that dedicated space. Like, hey, for the next hour, nothing else is coming up. We're not gonna be talking about anything else other than you in those maybe individual sessions or other than our team dynamic and what each other needs as a human being to feel supported and what stress looks like for our team. And those can be really powerful conversations. And the Enneagram kind of gives us some guidance, some language to use. But at the end of the day, we are very complex human beings. There's so it's not gonna be 100% accurate uh for 100% all the time for everybody who resonates with a type three, seven, whatever the type is. But it but it's it's almost sometimes um saying what doesn't resonate can also be incredibly valuable information. So obviously, here at Enneagram MBA, this is this is what we do. We have half day, full-day workshops to kind of kick start some sort of uh new manager training or just team intelligence um sessions. And then we also have longer programs for our new managers. And one thing that I also ended up doing the last couple of months is adding on manager specific sessions to a half day or full-day workshop. And so the team will go through the workshop. Um, and then after the workshop, we'll set up one-on-one sessions with the managers of that team. Maybe it's just one, depending on the size of the team, or maybe there's two, three, four, five, six managers within that department workshop where afterwards we'll sit down together and get a little bit more personal, um a little bit more specific about their specific leadership style, and then look at their team's results and it kind of what I already said. You know, what are your leadership strengths with this person? How are you maybe going to help them grow? And then where might the friction points be? And that can be really enlightening so that that manager is going back and having some really meaningful, um, efficient, and also just compassionate conversations with their leadership style, that person, their team. So, with that, thank you so much for being here. Um, I appreciate uh you wanting to learn about how to be a better manager, or maybe you're passing this on to somebody um who could use some additional insight. Um, maybe they're preparing, you're preparing for a new role in the new year. So I hope you find this valuable. As always, if there's something that stood out to you, you have a question or you have another idea for a future episode, um, let me know. Find me on social media over on LinkedIn, Sarah Lynn Wallace, or on Instagram at Enneagram MBA. Uh, I was gonna say enneagrammba.com. That's my website, but uh uh on Instagram is just at Enneagram MBA. So thank you so much for being here. I'll see you next week.