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Are you someone who's pretty good at building collaborative relationships and you can usually easily find ways to work together? You're good at building consensus. Would you say that you're someone who has above average social awareness, uh organizational awareness, really attuned to office politics? Are you somebody who has a pretty good temperature gauge on the morale of a group and you know what they need? Do they need to be pushed, or is this a time where they need to be more nurtured? Either way, you kind of have a pulse on what needs to be done. Do you find that you're really good at forming a new team, getting the group to really work together, building that group cohesion? And do you enjoy networking and kind of learning about and understanding those interpersonal dynamics? These are just some of the many qualities that our navigating teammate may have shown up in the workplace. And today we're going to be talking all about the navigating teammate so that you can either learn more about yourself or potentially learn more about somebody who you work with, you report to, they report to you to get a better idea of the perspective that they're coming from. So when you're ready, I will see you on the other side as we dive into the navigating teammate today. 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. Well, welcome back to our final instinctual bias coverage in this series. If you are new, you're just jumping in here on this episode. We have been covering the instinctual biases. And we started off the series with a more zoomed out look, high-level looking at each of the three instinctual biases, what they are made up of, and then how to use them in your organizational group dynamics, um, and and take a more zoomed out approach. Then we have been the last four weeks really zooming in more and looking at some additional details about each of the three instinctual biases and applying it more on the individual level. So we first kicked it off with our preserving teammate who tends to be focused on um kind of nesting, nurturing, making sure they have enough resources, the people in their inner circle have enough resources, well-being. Um we have our transmitters that we covered last time. We wrapped up a little two, a little mini two-part series within the series with our transmitters and looked at um what it means to be a transmitter and what they tend to focus on and um apply that to our teammate to better understand that. And then same thing we did to the preservers as well. We we paired up the transmitting energy with each of the nine types to give you some additional insight about yourself and hopefully some additional others' awareness. And today we're diving into our navigating uh teammate and what it what that might look like. And as a reminder, there are three instinctual biases preserving, transmitting, and navigating. Each of us will have a bias towards one of these three. However, just like with the nine Enneagram types, we are going to express behaviors in all three to some degree. So as we go through the descriptions today, you may notice, oh, hey, I do that, or hey, yeah, I like that, or I pay attention to that. Um, it's going to really come down though, like the type. What do you see yourself focusing on the most most of the time? What's most true? And as a refresher, our instinctual biases are these three preserving, transmitting, and navigating um areas that speak to our most foundational values. These things we just kind of intuitively believe are important without thinking about it, without forcing ourselves to. We just kind of naturally pay attention to those. And so today we're gonna understand what our navigators just naturally pay attention to. There's three categories there is trust and reciprocity. There is, so I want to say these in order, there is uh power dynamics, um, influence dynamics, and then there is status and identity. And so we're going to uh take a look at the subcategories of each of these. And again, just because you tend to naturally gravitate towards these and pay attention to these doesn't mean that, you know, it may be our zone of influence, however, uh, or our zone of influence, our zone of enthusiasm, so kind of our top type. However, that doesn't mean that we do it great. You know, this may be an opportunity, there may be some opportunities for growth in here for us, but it just means these are the things we naturally pay attention to. Um, sometimes it gets a little tricky to identify your dominant instinctual bias or what the awareness to action group calls your zone of enthusiasm because you are in it. This is like that saying, you are it's the water that you swim in. It's hard to see the label in this jar of water that you're swimming in potentially. And so sometimes what will happen is we may think that the one that we identify most with is actually that second tier, our zone of inner conflict. And that's because that is something that we have to put a little bit more effort into thinking about, maybe a little bit more effort into doing, caring about. And we have an inner conflict about, oh, I want to do this or I should do this, but I actually don't want to do it, or I'm not good at it, or I worry what others might think about this. And so it is that kind of this push-pull in that zone of inner conflict. So sometimes it gets a little tricky because we think we may be that maybe our um zone of enthusiasm, because that is where we notice our attention goes to rather than kind of sitting with it, um, which I hope this series has has helped us do a little bit in reflecting on where we where we really kind of just naturally put our attention to. Um, and I will say too, I'll just say this before we get into to the details here. I've heard from some uh some listeners that when we get into uh talking about maybe some things that you know aren't aren't the the best side of the instinctual bias, people feel a little attacked, can sting a little. Um, I know this sometimes happens too when we talk about overusing our strengths with the nine types. So I'm gonna be extra careful today and moving forward that um, you know, I I position these in a way that hopefully doesn't make you feel bad or uh like you're doing something wrong. And I wish I could go back and apply it to the others because that it that is not my intention. And we all have those things. And sometimes those those are clues, you know, if you really are feeling attacked, uh that may be a clue. Uh my intention is not to make you feel attacked, but that may be a clue that, gosh, if I'm feeling uh, you know, cringy or attacked, maybe this is something, maybe this is where I'm at here out of these three, um, because this one maybe upset me the most about hearing Sarah talk about this. So that's something, but I also want you to know that um within all three of these and within all nine types, there are ways that we can really use these with intention and for the good of ourselves, for our teams, for the organization, for the world. Um, and then there are times because of stress, we're tired, whatever the reason where we maybe dial it up too far or we dial it down too low, and we're just not expressing it in the best way that we can. Um and that's life, right? We're not gonna be perfect and on it and just so self-aware and just so empathetic and compassionate at all times. Um, we're gonna have some bad days, we're gonna have some ugly days, maybe that we're not that we're not proud of. Um, and this just shines some light on like, hey, this is what it might look like when you're overusing this instinctual bias, or maybe it's a clue that you might be stressed. So wanted to lay that out there. Um let's look at our trust and reciprocity category. So here the three subcategories include trade, just kind of being in tune with um kind of the give and take um around that trade dynamic. Obviously, like in the workplace, it may not be, you know, the trade that you're thinking of, but it's kind of trading information, uh, maybe trading favors, uh, trading, you know, contacts or connections, um, but they'll be really attuned to that. Group coherence is another one that falls in here. Um, you know, are we all, you know, coming together? And then the last subcategory here is information exchange. And this may be your office gossip. Uh, this is gonna be kind of what's going on around the office, the news, what's going on around the world. Um, you know, some people hate gossip. And I think sometimes gossip gets a gets a bad rep. Um, but for our navigators, they use it as a way of getting information. So I know what's going on, I know how to show up to this person, or you know, I know what to say now because I have that backstory um going into this meeting. And so they really value that information. It doesn't just have to be office gossip, but you know, the this is an example of sometimes that how that might show up and why some teammates might be into it a little bit more than others. Um, and how it may not always be bad necessarily, right? It's how you use it. Um, and for our navigators, they tend to use it as a way to help them know okay, who do I need to be when I walk into this room? Um, what might I need to say? Under the power and influence dynamics, we have politics. So kind of our office politics, um, social awareness. I see that politics too as kind of organizational awareness, um, and then hierarchy management. Now, our navigators are going to be generally okay, they don't without being in charge all the time. Like they don't, they don't necessarily have to be in charge, they just want to know who is. Like, I want to know where do I stand here in this hierarchy? Um, where's my place? Um, whereas our transmitters that we talked about last time, um, they do have more of a desire to be the ones kind of leading the way. And so that can be a key difference between these two. Um, they can also, you know, kind of fall in line and be a great teammate, um, but they just have more of that kind of, I want to be in the front. I want to be, you know, all lies on me. Um I like it, I'm comfortable with it. Um, where our navigators just want to know, okay, where's where's my place here? And um, you know, as I talk about the navigator, um, I often think about the type three and sometimes a little bit of the type two. And so last week, the last two weeks, we talked about how sometimes those uh transmitting qualities, I want to leave a legacy, um, attracting, bonding, you know, liking, accepting, attention, um, can sometimes have some of that eight energy, kind of that big, charismatic confidence. Um, let's do something that's never been done before, can have some of that eight energy. And then when we were talking about the preserver in the first part, I'll I I see a lot of six energy show up and that kind of preserving, let's make sure we're assessing and navigating risks, let's make sure we're thinking ahead, planning. Do we have um the resources? Are we taking care of our health? Are we taking care of the health of the team? Um, just kind of, is everybody doing okay? And um that has some six, maybe a little bit of one energy. So, like I have said in those other episodes, you know, when you pair a through type three as a navigating type three, um, they're kind of the ultimate type three, very type three, versus the preserving type three that we talked about in the first part of this series, may not look like your textbook type three. And these three instinctual biases flavor that type three and will be the reason why, um, one of the many reasons why they'll show up differently. So on the flip side, it's kind of interesting to think about um, you know, a type that may not be as socially um aware, but when you pair this navigating energy, it's like, oh, this maybe doesn't necessarily look like your typical type seven, for example. Our navigating sevens in Enneagram, uh other Enneagram language are known as the counter type, kind of the the the type that the atypical type. Um, and we'll be talking about pairing up the navigator instinctual bias with each of the nine types in next week's episode. Uh, but as I go through these, you might be thinking, gosh, this sounds a lot like a three. And so the question then is like, am I a three or am I a navigator? You know, am I a navigating type seven, for example? So it really kind of gives you some additional things to think about. Um, and then the last category here is our status and identity. Under there, you have understanding the pecking order, maybe on paper, and then also just, you know, unofficially the pecking order, role clarity. Okay, so I'm in this role, um, whether it's a leadership role or I'm on the team. Um, but I want to know what my role is. I want to understand what their role is, what their responsibilities are. Um, and they that is something that our navigators just naturally tend to tune into, be aware of, want to know more about. And then lastly, reputation management falls under the status and identity category. And this is uh this actually leads really well into our how we can make ourselves suffer or how we can drive ourselves crazy. With each of these, we've had one, how we can make ourselves crazy, and then how we can drive others crazy. And uh again, that that list reminds me a lot of type three energy. So it's just interesting to think, you know, what is that? You know, sometimes people um can can be, am I a seven or am I a three? And then understanding the second layer here with our instinctual biases can hopefully provide some additional clarity into okay, navigating, but the way that you're going to find that uh that kind of that focus for you is you're gonna do it by feeling excited if you're a type seven. Or for a type six, for example, um, who may be a navigator, it's hey, I'm gonna navigate um and I'm gonna and I'm gonna find safety and security in the group. Whereas the seven might be, hey, I'm gonna find safe or I'm gonna find excitement and satisfaction in the group. Um, so we'll talk more about that next week. That's kind of how the type and the instinctual bias pair up. Um and so reputation management is, you know, uh, I want to, you know, how do I how am I showing up? What do other people think? Um and navigators um have a really interesting uh with it, we there's always something interesting about all three of these, but when they're showing up in a group, um, sometimes you can feel like, oh wow, I just I really enjoyed talking to them. You know, I uh uh I feel like we really connected. And then you realize, wait a minute, I talked about myself the whole time. Like I didn't hear one single thing about them. And that's gonna be a kind of a nuanced difference too about our navigators versus transmitters who may be a little bit more uh willing, who will be a little bit more willing and want to talk about themselves, what they're working on, and and and share that more. Where as a navigator, it's gonna be a little bit more comfortable just kind of sitting back and listening and uh maybe sharing, you know, a little surface level story here and there, but they are gonna have this constant push-pull of, hey, I wanna um, you know, I want to be a part of this group, I want to share, but then also I don't want to share too much because what what if I said something wrong? What if I turned someone off? And so they are just constantly thinking, am I talking too much? Did I say too much? Um, I want to make sure that they, the other person has enough time to talk. And so um when what as I've been learning about this approach to the instinctual biases through the awareness to action team, um, they will talk about how you can see a preserver preserving. Like you can, their actions are very like preserving. You can see a transmitter, you know, transmitting out there, you know, rallying people, being charismatic, um, attracting, you know, confidently stepping into a room. You can see them preserving, you can see them transmitting. Navigators are a little hard to see because so much of it is happening in their minds. And so it's it's not as clear that a navigator is navigating because so much of it is not action-based. It's more kind of what's happening in our head, and we're thinking through those kind of things. Um, so with each of these, we've talked about how we can drive ourselves crazy. And um, for the navigator, it is this push-pull of seeking acceptance, but then also image management. And this kind of what we talked about, that reputation management. It is like, hey, I want to be part of this group, I want to be accepted, I want people to like me. Um, so you're gonna have to share some things, right? You're gonna have to talk, you're gonna, you're gonna have to have to show up and engage in that group, but then also it's well, gosh, I don't want to, I don't want to be too much, I don't want to say too much. Um, you know, I want to, you know, maybe dress, they're paying attention to their how they're dressed, what they're saying, how they're saying it. So there's a lot going on for our navigators in these group settings. Now, the way that they can drive others crazy is this push-pull of wanting to connect with others, but then also being judgmental. Right. So they have their, they're they're they're viewing this, the landscape here. They are looking at, you know, who the pecking order, who's in charge, the hierarchy management, what's what are the title, the roles, the office gollops. So they're they're gathering all this information and they're doing it so that they can connect in this situation, you know, um, specifically at work, um, with their coworkers, with their teams. But then also there's some judgment happening as well, right? Um, just naturally, there's there's gonna be some judgment, but it's the it's a it's a push-pull, and they may not think that they're being judgmental, just like we've talked about all of these, you know, they a navigator may not see themselves as judging, but other people might experience them as being judgmental. Um the last part of being a navigator, um, and that we have talked about in the other two types is this idea, this concept called the pattern of expression. So, this is where I uh mentioned earlier our zone of enthusiasm. You heard me say that um there are three ways that. Um each of the three instinctual biases get expressed. And based on which one is your dominant instinctual bias, or what is known as the zone of enthusiasm enthusiasm, um will determine what that second zone is called the zone of inner conflict and what the zone of indifference is. Now this is specific to the awareness to action methodology, but I have found it to be true. And it is so helpful to understand your pattern of expression and really leaning into the things that you are naturally good at that you don't have to spend a lot of effort. It doesn't, you don't have to force yourself. You're just really good at these things. So how can you do more of it? What situations can you put yourself in? What roles can you put yourself in to do more of that? Um, maybe there's some low-hanging fruit in the zone of inner conflict that you can focus on that could really make a difference in your career, in your work relationships. And then it also gives you some insight into what is that zone of indifference? And these may be things that aren't worth it to really spend a ton of time getting better at unless they're causing you problems. Um, and I'll give you an example for myself here in just a second, but this might be an area where you hire it out, you delegate it, um, or you just don't worry about it until you know there are some issues and you and you're like, okay, well, this makes sense. Um, and in other Enneagram frameworks, this piece you kind of self-identify um as saying, okay, my first one is this, my second one is this, my third one is this. And um, you'll you may have heard it called stacking. And I really love, again, the way that the awareness to action framework talks about this, though, because um it does, it is kind of crazy how it ends up being in this order, depending on what your zone of influence is, what those other two, how they just almost perfectly align with their what they have found to be true over the 20 plus years they've been doing this. Um, and so it kind of cuts out um additional work to identify, okay, what's my second one? What's my third one? And it's like, okay, once you have identified what your zone of influence in is here or zone of enthusiasm, I think that's the second time I've said influence. I don't know why I keep doing that. Um, then here's here's here's the way the these other two fall in, and I can just kind of dig in and get to work figuring out, you know, what I want to focus on. So with that, um, the zone of enthusiasm enthusiasm is the the bias that you are most driven by, that you see as most important, and that you tend to feel really alive and engaged in when you're doing it. However, you can overdo it at times. It can you can turn it up to level 10 when it just maybe the situation isn't calling for a level 10. So in this case, this is going to be our navigators. The their zone of influence or enthusiasm is navigating. For our navigators, their zone of inner conflict, which is when you do these behaviors more than you realize, um, but you may feel a little insecure, maybe a little uncomfortable when you do them. You're drawn to it, you want to do it. You feel like, oh, this could be good for me. Um, but you're just kind of worried if you're doing it well. Like, am I doing this good enough? Um, it does require a little bit more effort, energy, intentionality. So you are going to be more aware of this zone. Um, it can be a little tiring and it can be a higher energy cost for you. For our navigators, their zone of inner conflict is transmitting. So they can absolutely transmit. And and I think a lot of times navigators may confuse themselves as transmitters because they are may are excellent speakers, you know, they may be doing that dress to impress. Um, they may be, you know, doing those transmitter things. However, it's because I'll what what we'll hear navigators say is, well, it's because that was my that was my role, going back to that role, clarity. That was my role to be the public speaker. It was my role to be the facilitator. And I I did it well, right? It was my role to be in the front of the room. Um, but when it's my role to be an attendee or a follower or just kind of sit there and listen, I can also take on that role. Um, but that is that is how that will kind of show up for our navigators. Um, they can absolutely do it, they are excellent at it, but they need, they may need um to to do a little bit more resting and recharging after they've done a lot of transmitting. And then this zone of indifference is defined by the area that tends to hold the least amount of interest for you. Um, you don't really talk about it too much, you don't really pay attention to it unless you feel like you need to, or do you decide to have to force yourself to focus on it? So the zone of indifference for our navigators is the preserving. And this is kind of that do I have enough uh resources? You're focused on your well-being uh in the the preserving category. Um, you are focused on kind of processes, procedures, a little bit more detail-oriented, a little bit more risk management. Um, and this can just feel for our navigators sometimes like a waste of time. It's like, gosh, I would, you know, I would rather gather a group together. I would rather gather information. I would rather understand my place in this than have to deal with, you know, creating a budget or, you know, uh creating a system or, you know, working through this red tape here or following this procedure or this task. I just want to focus on the people, the group. And so the these preserving tasks can feel just really annoying, you know, sometimes uh a little frustrating to have to deal with. However, like all three of these, there are necessities to all of these in certain situations. So for me, um, I do happen to identify most as a navigator and it makes sense. I can totally see how that transmitter, there's that inner conflict there. Um, and then the the thing that can help you sometimes determine if you are the, you know, the instinctual bias that you think you might be is to look at your relationship with that zone of indifference. And so I've had my own Enneagram coaching um with the awareness to action team. And this was a question that they asked me when I was deciding, gosh, transmitter or navigator. And when we talked about this, the zone of indifference being the preserving, those are the tasks that I do find sometimes annoying or I don't understand why they can, they're so important, feel like a waste of time, feel really hard, can feel overwhelming when in reality, you know, it's not at all. And so this is things like, oh my gosh, I have to, you know, uh as a as a somebody who runs a business, like there are many things under this category that I I'm I need to make sure are happening. Either I'm doing them myself or I am delegating them out. So I have hired a bookkeeper to help me keep up with those type of things because I can find that to be really overwhelming and really daunting at times and it doesn't excite me at all. So I can find myself putting it off, and that can get dangerous, right? So I've pulled in some help with some of those things, and I've created like a financial Friday day for me to, you know, pull up all my financials and look at my accounts and uh see what's coming in, see what's going out. And so I've just kind of had to make it like a fun. I put on some music, light a candle, um, and I just, you know, just kind of just get into it and do it. It's not my favorite thing, but it needs to be done. And so we, you know, for our navigators, those are some things that they might struggle with. And so it's just figuring out can someone else do this or how can I make this less painful? Um, in leadership, our navigators are drawn to the landscape, understanding political dynamics, the organizational awareness, who's in charge, all of those things, right? Very important in a leadership role. And they just have a knack to be able to see the organizational, the political, the team, whatever it is, landscape. Navigating leaders may struggle with are the nuts and bolts. So setting procedures, setting guidelines, um, creating an onboarding process so your new hires know what to expect, that they're they're being set up for success, um, so that you know, you're understanding your budget and you're sticking to your your team or department budget. Um, and those things can be a little harder for our navigating leaders. Um, they can they tend to neglect those nuts and bolts. So just like I shared, you know, I struggle in certain areas. Again, it's just questioning is this something that I really need to get better at? Or are there opportunities for me to get some help, get some support, you know, share the task with someone else who maybe does enjoy it, who maybe is better. And so as you look at these different zones, they can provide a lot of insight in addition to your type that uh insight for some direction for growth and professional development, personal growth, um, looking at each of those three zones. So next week we will be pairing the navigating instinctual bias with each of the nine types. And this could be helpful if you are struggling to determine your type. Maybe you're stuck between two. Um, I see sometimes uh I think related to this, it's the it's am I a three or am I a seven? Am I a two or am I a seven? Um trying to think, am I a am I a two or am I a nine? Am I a three or am I a nine? Am I a three or am I a six? So if some of those are ones that you kind of are going back and forth on, there's a couple of reasons why. Um, but this, it may be that you have a strong current of this navigator flowing through. And then we need to look at that and then really pay attention to okay, what's that kind of core core driver, core motive? Is it truly that of the three, or is it more of the nine? And you're kind of peaceful navigating. So you're gonna find peace and harmony in the group versus a three who might look to these group dynamics to find success. So um something to continue to think about. We will continue to to to mull over that, reflect on that, um, and we will pick back up there next week. And um that that will be our last one on um instinctual biases for a bit. There's some other things that I want to share with you, want to talk about um when it relates to instinctual bias, but um there are also some other topics around the Enneagram that I want to share with you. So um next week we'll conclude this specific series that we have been talking about instinctual biases, um, and then we'll move on to some other things. So as always, thank you for being here, and I hope to see you in the next one. Before we officially close out today's episode, I want to make sure that you know, or maybe it's a friendly reminder, that here at Enneagram MBA, all we do are team trainings. We love all kinds of teams, whether it is a new hire team, it is a new manager team, an executive leadership team, maybe it's different departments coming together for a larger group workshop. Maybe it's virtual, maybe it's in person. We do team trainings, um, bringing the Enneagram to teams. And so we are pretty much booked up through May at this point. Um, and our June, July, August spots are open and would love to talk with you uh about potentially reserving a two-hour, half-day, full day Enneagram workshop experience for whatever team you have. Um, sometimes it's a full business, a small business will bring their entire uh company together. And so those are fun as well. But I'm gonna invite you to learn more about what an Enneagram workshop experience is over at EnneagramMba.com. And then I do want to give you a heads up that later this summer we will be launching our first Best Boss Ever round, um, Best Boss Ever School cohort. And we're really just opening this up to our past and current clients. And then those of you here who are listeners on the podcast. And Best Boss Ever School is going to be specifically for new managers or aspiring to be a new manager to help increase your self-awareness, your others' awareness, your relationship management. More and more we're seeing studies come out from Yale, from Harvard Business Review, from Ernst Young consulting agencies talking about the importance of emotional intelligence and how important it is for leaders to be able to uh be aware and manage their own emotions and feelings, as well as being able to do that for those that they lead and how beneficial and how important it is for all kinds of different areas of business, including the bottom line. And so this program is going to be um there to support that new manager who's stepping into all kinds of new things, and Best Bus Ever School is going to bring the Enneagram as a way to support them in that new role. So that is um also on Enneagrammba.com. I'm gonna drop this specific link in the show notes here. If you're interested in staying in the loop as new information comes out, getting the initial first cohort uh group discount, and then um wanting to learn more, you can sign up for the wait list on the best bus ever school page. Um, and you'll be the first to know that along with our clients as well. So would love to see you in there if that sounds like a fit for you. Uh, thanks so much for being here. And uh, like I said before, I hope to see you back here next week.