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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. Welcome back to another episode here on the Enneagram at Work Podcast. I am your host, Sarah Wallace, founder and CEO here at Enneagram MBA, a team training company where we get to work with small businesses, large companies, individual teams, cross-department teams, all kinds of teams to share the Enneagram with. A lot of these are introducing the Enneagram, or that's where we typically start. And then for some companies, we go on to talk about really applying and using the Enneagram in specific areas, whether it's understanding our stress style, digging deeper into communication style, work preferences, feedback preferences, using the Enneagram and onboarding, new hire training. And one of the topics is around performance reviews and growth opportunities. And so today's episode is going to be taking a couple pages from those trainings and conversations and giving us here over on the podcast some additional ideas for using and applying the Enneagram. That continues to be one of the biggest questions. It's great. This is so interesting. It's so fun. But how do we use it? How do we keep it alive beyond just the workshop today? And so one of the ways is for managers specifically to incorporate this into the performance review process. Now, I I know that many companies have a very uh structured, uh, really great uh feedback slash you know performance review process and questions and and specifics. So this isn't me coming to you saying, hey, that change up your you know performance review process, but hopefully it will give you some additional insights, it will enhance that process that you already have. And this works really great, obviously, if you've been through some sort of Enneagram training, if your team is familiar with the Enneagram, um, so that you can really kind of get into it. Um, if you don't yet, you know, know your team's Enneagram type, obviously we can we can help you with that here at Enneagram MBA uh with an introduction uh workshop or training. Um but even if you're not ready for that yet, you'll you will most likely, as we talk about the different types, start seeing some similarities when we talk about a specific type. And you could think, okay, I don't, I don't know for sure, but this may be where they're coming from. Um and use it loosely with just your your observations um of them, of your relationship, and then obviously use it as a starting point for them to um tell you, you know, hey, I'm seeing this. Is this, you know, what what's true from this list? Or what would you add? What would you say your preferences are when it comes to receiving feedback? How would you like to be asked for for feedback? Um so we you can use it kind of loosely if you don't know their type, and then um obviously home it hone in a bit more if you have already been through some sort of training, whether it's us or or or another company, um just that your team has that uh baseline understanding of their their specific type. So with that, um I do want to give a couple of announcements, and I will just say, uh I have been sick, but it was weeks ago now, and I have this like lingering, uh just kind of like throat congestion and coughing. And I have tried uh to put this off hoping that it will clear up, and it is just it is not yet. So we're gonna get through this. Uh I will do my best not to cough in your ear, um, but just be prepared that that could happen. Um and then I also want to let you know about something fun. I'm trying out a voice memo service. So there will be a link somewhere in the show notes, um, probably at the top. And there's an opportunity to leave a question or uh share an example from your own perspective, uh, maybe add something to the conversation that we had in a particular episode. So um, if you're commenting or have a specific question about an episode, be sure you leave the the number of the episode if possible, or just the topic if you don't have the number of the episode, or if you just have a general question, um leave it there. If you're comfortable, I'll replay your question or comment on air or on on the on a future episode. Um if you if you do not want your voice to be shared, or do not even want your name to be shared, um, that's perfectly fine too. We'll I'll just share it as a uh anonymous question. But I thought this would be a fun way to have some kind of of dialogue with you, um, some sort of kind of back and forth conversation. And I I know it's the nature of the podcast to to be a one-way kind of form of communication, but I I know that people have questions and um and I know that people have comments or specific scenarios or or ways that they've used it, or an additional example to add to something that I've shared that listeners will benefit from. This happens often over on YouTube. Um the and I want to do more of these, but there's maybe a dozen or so uh this or that type matchups for people who are have it narrowed down to their top two types. And there's a YouTube series over there sharing the similarities of the type and then giving some kind of nuanced differences to help people narrow it down. And some of the most valuable insight comes from the comments and people saying that part really resonated, or I would add this. And so um I thought, let's let's kind of bring that energy over here to the podcast as well. So it's open for questions, comments. Uh, we'll see how it goes over the next couple of weeks, months. Um, and hopefully uh we'll we'll get to share some uh some of your thoughts, insights, or questions uh with the rest of our listeners for the benefit of everybody. So with that, um, this is going to, this today's topic is going to be all about performance reviews and how to use the Enneagram in those. And we're gonna do it by type, and we're starting with type six today, and I'm not sure what we'll do next week. I don't think we're gonna go in order. And there may be uh a week where we we do something else, we tackle another topic, but this this will be a series, and we're gonna pick one type to hone in on, and we're gonna look at a couple of key things. One is reminding ourselves and reminding the person that we're sitting down with of their strengths. I do think that this is important, even though there's some types. Uh, you know, I'm thinking of a type A, and you know, I'm I'm thinking of maybe a type five. Um, you know, there are some of us I know who just like, hey, just just tell me the feedback, get it over with, rip the band-aid off, tell it to me straight. I don't need the sandwich method. And I I know that. And this this isn't really that. I think it's just to remind, um, it's just a nice reminder to say, like, hey, this is what you're doing really well. And um what I hear from people sometimes is they will say, Well, you know, when I get feedback, um, it's really just like great job, but keep up the good work, keep doing what you're doing. Excellent work. And they're like, you know, that's nice, I guess, but like, what exactly was excellent? What exactly do I keep up the good work about? And so when we talk about the strengths, you can give really specific feedback that's that's helpful to your teammate, to your to the member that you're leading by being a little bit more specific. And you may have some specific ideas already, um, but the Enneagram does give us some some specific strengths that are very common for that, for that type. And so we'll be going through those to give you some ideas of what to look out for. Um we'll also be looking at areas for growth opportunities. Um, we'll talk about obstacles that could get in the way, and then we're gonna look at our resource points, the two resource points for that type, and then we're gonna just um introduce the idea of overlapping our growth strategy, our development plan with the emotional competency uh with the emotional competencies. There we go. And um there's three for each type that we tend to focus on, um, similar to the arrows where it's like you're gonna get the, you know, you can you can incorporate some of the energy from all the types, but you're really gonna get the best bang for your buck if you focus on on these two, your resource points. So we're gonna do the same for um the emotional competencies and overlap them looking at your type and then your two growth arrows. Um, and then we're also gonna talk very briefly about the delivery, um, the delivery preferences and what the type is focused on. And I do have a resource for you at the end of the episode that it is a very quick reference guide. It's called the feedback cheat sheet. Uh, you'll be able to download it if it's of interest to you. And it goes through online types with just a quick kind of one-liner reminder of what kind of feedback means the most to that type, what they really want to hear about. And then a couple of ideas for how to deliver that. Now, as always, there's the disclaimer, I'll give the disclaimer that those are not a hundred percent true. Um, a hundred percent of the time, for a hundred percent of in this case, we're gonna talk about the type six. Um, but for each of the types, it can be a starting point. And and we've talked before too that it would be great, whether it's the onboarding process or just to have uh, you know, a meeting weeks or even months ahead of the performance review time, um, where people aren't talking necessarily about performance, but about their preferences for receiving feedback of any kind. It could be unofficial feedback and just say, hey, you know, I I prefer it this way. And in um in some of our half day or full-day workshops or some of our specific training topics, we will talk about feedback preferences and people will have an opportunity to think about, yeah, what what are my preferences so that they can advocate for themselves, so they can share those with their manager, with their teammates, and then start to learn about um the preferences of others. For example, um, we have talked about, I've heard from many type nines. Again, I don't think this is 100% true 100% of the time, um, but many nines will say, oh my gosh, please don't give me good feedback or, you know, it, you know, don't uh don't uh, you know, toot my horn in front of anybody. Um, I don't mind if you do it privately, but like don't recognize my accomplishments in the company newsletter. Don't, don't pull me on stage, don't call me out in a meeting. I don't, I don't want to be recognized that way, even if it is a job well done. And so, you know, I don't think a lot of us would ever think about that. We would think, oh, oh, I'm doing my teammates, I'm doing my team such a favor, bringing this person up here or not a favor, but I'm I'm I'm you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm letting them know that I really appreciate them and calling them up here on stage so everybody can hear about this great job that they did. And for some people, that is the right move, and they will so appreciate that and feel so valued. But for others, kind of like the type nine from from what I hear, um, that's the worst thing you can do. That that is not how to make them feel appreciated. So this is uh an opportunity to get curious, to ask questions. Hey, I read this about a type six and feedback. What's true for you? What's not? What would you add? Um, so maybe having that either one-on-one uh conversation with feedback preferences, or maybe you get around, maybe you download the feedback uh cheat cheat document and and have a you know an hour, 90-minute meeting, and everybody has an opportunity to share what's true for them, what they would add, what's not true, um, so that people know how to how to give them feedback, whether it is difficult or it's great feedback. Um, and then that way, going into a more official performance review, you know, you've already kind of had that conversation around the delivery and how they want to hear it. And so you're just ready to kind of get into it in the best way that you can for that particular person. So with that preference to this series, uh let's talk about our type six. Our type six is striving to feel safe and secure. They are just rocking it out around seeing the threats, seeing what could go wrong, assessing risk, managing the risk, having a plan, um, being prepared. And they're asking the necessary questions. You know, a lot of times at around a table where there's a new idea being thrown around, we're gonna go in a new direction, we're gonna hire this new person, we're gonna do this new thing. Um, it can be contagious to, you know, you kind of get wrapped up in the excitement and the big idea and the newness. And it can take a lot of courage to raise your hand and ask that what if question to kind of, you know, it can feel like you're poking a balloon with a needle, you're pop, you're bursting the bubble uh of the excitement. But it is so incredibly necessary to ask those questions. Um, and that's really brave of a type six. Sometimes they get a reputation for being worriers and for being anxious, for being paranoid. Um, but they're also incredibly brave because a lot of times they're the only ones. And to think about raising your hand, asking that hard question when everybody else is excited, when it feels like, you know, the ball is about to start rolling, or if it's it might already be rolling, to like be the one to stop it and be like, hey, have we thought about this? And sometimes those, hey, have we thought about this, or what if this goes wrong? That's not really fun or exciting to always think about, but it's so necessary. And and we need that our six energy on there. And they do it out of a place of care, of loyalty. Um, they're incredibly dependable and responsible. They want people to depend on them. Um, they want to be that person, they want to be able to be, you know, relied upon, and they uh, you know, they they bring that protection, um, protection of their team, protection of the organization, assessing risk, understanding the threats. Um, they're protective of the group, cohesion, they're very caring, um, very steadfast, very loyal, hence, you know, sometimes the loyalist or the guardian is their name. Um so, you know, going into a conversation, making sure that you're bringing up some of those really necessary uh strengths that a six tends to have and letting them know what you see specifically in them. So it'd be great if you could bring up, you know, a couple of these specific strengths and then give them a couple of um examples when you've seen them exhibit those strengths. And then when they're overused, you know, they can they can be ski uh pessimistic. Yes, they can be, you know, overly skeptical, uh, overly suspicious. Uh they can be feel like the Debbie Downer. Uh, they can they can uh get a kind of get that negative Nancy reputation, right? And and you know, some of that might be they're just being misunderstood. But then some of it might be, right? And so one of the things we'll talk about for the sixes, a growth opportunity, is we you can't say, just don't think about worst case scenario. Quit thinking about what could go wrong. Like, I think that sixes would do that if they could. I think that if they could, they they would try to be more positive. They would try to worry less, like if they could. Um, and maybe there's some things that they could do, but it's hard to say, well, just you know, just stop thinking about that. Well, that's that's not helpful. That's not gonna last, and and that's just not helpful. So maybe a suggestion might be and say, hey, listen, we actually need your worst case scenario thinking. And I know that's just something you're gonna do, and I know it's you know, you can't do it, and we need it, right? However, what I'm gonna ask you to do is if you're thinking about the worst case scenario, I also want you to spend time thinking about the best case scenario. What could go right? What's the best that could happen? And then spend a little bit of time thinking about what's the most likely outcome. So dedicate an equal amount of time to what, you know, worst case, what could go wrong, best case, what could go right, and then what's most likely going to happen here. Um, and so that can be an opportunity for growth with some specific uh guidance around that. Um, and then the other thing that can come up for sixes sometimes is this dog with a bone syndrome, where sixes have a lot of strong opinions and they are incredibly brave, being the ones to raise their hand saying, Hey, have we thought about this? And they will have a lot of conviction behind their opinions. And a lot of times those opinions are backed up by a lot of information, by a lot of data, by a lot of thought. And and so, you know, it's it's rightly so that they speak up and and speak out against that. However, what will happen sometimes is that their opinion will be considered, other people's feedback will be taken into consideration. Um, you know, we've assessed the pros, we've looked at the cons, we've looked at the risk, we've tried to mitigate the risk. And we just have to move forward in this direction. And sometimes when a six disagrees, they will just kind of hang on to it though, and keep kind of gnawing at it, that dog with the bone idea. Um, and so an opportunity for growth for the sixes there too will be around knowing when, you know, knowing when you've said what all you can say. And, you know, at some point the leadership team also needs to make a decision and they maybe have some other information that, you know, you're not privy to or what whatever that might be. And so that will sometimes be an opportunity of growth for a six in a way that they can overuse their strength of that bravery questioning. Um, and then the other one that I hear a lot from sixes is around being confident. And I hear this kind of in a frustrating way from sixes because they'll say, um, you know, I it's kind of annoying, it's kind of frustrating because I'm told that I need to be more confident. And it's like, I know, I I wish I was more confident. You know, you've you've heard us talk. If if you've listened to the show before, you've heard us talk about the six, you've probably read about the six um and know about that inner committee where it's like we could do this or we could do this, or what if this happens, what if this happens? Let's plan. There's just a lot of chatter. Um, sometimes it can be harsh, like the ones inner critic, but a lot of times this is really just a lot. Of different possibilities, a lot of different options, a lot of different, you know, scenarios to the point where it can cause a lot of uh indecision and self-doubt. And so, you know, as brave and clear and um direct as they can be in some moments, there are other moments where they can just be riddled with self-doubt, riddled with, you know, uh indecision. And so then I think that's when they might get that, just you know, where you really need to trust yourself more and be more self-confident. And it's like, okay, I got it. I wish I was again, I want to do that. And so it will be for the work of the manager um to give them some specific ideas for ways to be more confident. And I have found um, you may have additional ideas if you do. Uh leave them in in the voicemail link below. Share them with the rest of us. Um, but I have found the best way to get more confidence is through experience. Uh, you know, it's like you want to be a more confident speaker, well, you got to do some speaking. Uh, you wanna be a more competent decision maker? Well, you gotta make some decisions, knowing that they will not always be right, knowing that every speaking opportunity will not be, you know, the best you've ever done. Uh, but it it really does come with experience. So I think uh, you know, for the six, it will just be giving them those opportunities in the area that they want to be more confident in to do more of it and to support them through you know, mess ups and failure. But the more that they do it, you know, the more that the more confident that that you will be. So other suggestions, you know, uh share with us on the voicemail line, the hotline, I guess. Um, but that's the best way that I know. So those are some ideas. Um, now one of the things um that a six will also want to focus on, um, or not to focus on, but will be important to a six, is trusting the person that is giving it to them. And this is a focus, you know, you could say almost anything, but a six, and this is true for everybody, right? It is especially true for a six, is that they want to know that they can trust the feedback and they can trust the person giving it to them, and that it will be um something that can make them feel or help them grow the feeling of being more certain in their own abilities or their own development path. And so this is something that does not happen overnight. This building trust, building a uh, you know, uh meaningful, authentic, trustworthy relationship with the six takes time. They are absolutely somebody, and we talked about this last week in the in the uh navigating change and transitions podcast episode, I think 140, um, about sixes have a tendency to think, I will trust you once you've given me a reason to trust you. Whereas other people are, you know, uh are a little bit more, hey, I'll I'll trust you until you give me a reason not to trust you. And so the the feedback process for a six, I mean, starts from day one. Because no matter what you say, no matter what amazing feedback, no matter if you deliver it perfectly, if they don't have faith in your authority, they don't trust you as a person, um, it is gonna be hard. It's gonna be hard to share anything that's meaningful and effective if they are not, if they don't trust you. Um, and then I have heard that it's important for a six to feel supported and reassured in the delivery of the feedback, um, for it to be more guiding than directive or even like advice giving. Um, they, you know, and we've talked about in other episodes too, that they sixes have an interesting relationship with authority, where because of that inner committee, sometimes they'll think, I just wish somebody would tell me what to do, but also at the same time, I don't want anybody to ever tell me what to do. So as a manager, somebody leading a six, you kind of gotta, you gotta walk that that's a tricky line. That's a tricky kind of push-pull right there. Um, but I've heard that they appreciate kind of guidance and questioning, like coaching more so than this is what you gotta do. This is what I see, this is what you gotta do. Um, they have said to be patient with them because they do take time uh to process, they are gonna want time to think about things. Um, and then you wanna be careful not to overwhelm them. Don't overwhelm them with ideas, with suggestions. And um, there is a partner exercise. Uh, sometimes it's a partner, sometimes it's a small group, sometimes it's an individual exercise where uh we will use what we're talking about right here with feedback, looking at our growth arrows, our resource points, looking at the emotional competencies, and then coming up with a uh information to implementation plan, like a development plan. How are we going to use what we've learned about the Enneagram and apply it to our career path? And one of the things that is really important is just to pick one thing and dive into that. And so, you know, you may already be doing this as a manager, as a leader, where it's like, hey, let's look at the most bang for your buck based on where you said you want to go, based on where you're having the biggest challenges, you know, what our team might need as well. Here, let's focus on this one thing because if you start overwhelming them with 10 things that they need to work on, or you know, 10 things that they're doing wrong or could improve on, I mean this is gonna, it's gonna shut them down. It's gonna be it would probably shut um most of us down. Um, and so, you know, as much as you can, you know, one, two things that they can really focus on so that they're not getting overwhelmed because they're gonna go out on and and think about these things and research these things and and think about them some more. And so we don't want to overwhelm them um with too many things. So the the those are some things when it comes to delivery that I've heard that sixes appreciate, and then sixes have an arrow to the type three, striving to feel outstanding, and then they also have an arrow to the type nine, striving to feel at peace. And so when we look at the type three strengths, um, we see confidence, self-assurance, um efficiency, goal-oriented, action-oriented, future focus, what's possible, a little bit like that seven energy, incredibly ambitious, um, very much leading by example. Uh let's see, what else do I want to say? And can they can be very inspiring as well with their confidence. And I think a lot of this confidence comes from uh the amount of action that they do. And yeah, they might mess up and they might fail. It may not, we may not see it. The rest of us may not see our threes, you know, failing. They they kind of they kind of craft that story where they'll spin it. Like, oh, well, it was just a learning lesson, or we learned one way, you know, how not to do it. And and there are a lot of things that a six can pull in and enhance their their six strengths, not become a three, but pull those in. So maybe there's some a conversation that makes sense um for you to share with your type six teammate um or team member that you're leading um that they can can practice and focus on that comes from the type three. The other resource point is the type nine. And um the type nine is known as their growth arrow. I think both of these, though, there's opportunities for growth, things to pull in for their growth. And uh for the nine, nines are striving to feel at peace. Nines can go with the flow with a bit, uh, they can go with uh uncertainty a bit better. They uh will have this kind of consensus building leadership style. And so, whereas a six might um might, you know, think in their own heads, you know, think, think, think. They might also ask other people's opinion, but it's kind of um from a place of I I want to make sure that I'm doing it right, or I want to make sure that um I'm not crazy, that kind of thing. So they'll kind of solicit other people's opinion that way. Um when they're kind of, you know, maybe feeling stressed, feeling pressure to make a decision. Whereas a six, when they're or I'm sorry, what whereas a nine um in that healthy area and that like high functioning nine area, they're asking others what they think because they're they're truly kind of building consensus. And it's like, I understand what this person wants and this person wants, and then they'll kind of work to build the bridge between the two and to you know work to kind of finesse using their using their uh har harmony, harmonious ways to get everybody on board. Um sixes uh have that a little bit in common with our nines because they are incredibly collaborative, they really care about the team, um, they want to be there for the team. So it's like let's let's lean more into that strength there as well. Um, and then it has been said that nines will have this anxiety-reducing effect on others. They just come in kind of like really grounded, really steadfast, really level-headed, um, easygoing when they're really functioning, high, you know, high functioning over here for our nines. Are there opportunities for your six team member or you as a six to grow into some of that? You know, what are some practices? Maybe they're more kind of spiritual practices you you do at home. Um, maybe it's, you know, afternoon walks around the office, maybe there's a park nearby, you know, whatever it is, are look for ways to um ground yourself to bring in some of that anxiety-reducing effect that the nines have, not to become a nine, but to enhance what you already have going on with your six energy. So as a manager, there's some opportunities and some specific language to use in the uh, I want to keep saying the six, in the three and the nine arrows. So, so look into those to kind of to help pinpoint some some specific um maybe some specific actions, some specific goals, some insight, maybe a conversation starter. Um, but again, remember, we're not doing 10 things at once. We don't want to do that with anybody, especially our sixes. So, but but you know, based on their challenges and where they want to go, there might be something in there. Now, the last piece of this is where we we look at those things and then for some for some additional um specific I I can't say the word for some uh for some additional specifics. I'll just I'll leave it at that. Um there are some key emotional competencies that our type six can pull from based on their type, based on the six, based on, or based on the three and based on the nine. And this comes from the awareness to action framework. Um, and they have pulled in these emotional competencies to help us um further uh apply the Enneagram to some real life scenarios. We're not gonna go through all of the emotional competencies, but there is a list of them. And for the six, they have the opportunity um to be more positive. So in that positive outlet category, and that's kind of looking into their own type structure where they tend to be a little pessimistic, worst case scenario. We've talked about that. Um, there's an opportunity for them to have uh to be a little bit more optimistic, to look for the good, to remember best case scenario, right? We kind of talked about that one. Now, the opportunity for their three resource point when we overlap the emotional competencies is the self-confidence. Oh, and actually I wanted to go back and read the definition. So um the emotional competency for the six with that positive outlook is the ability to see the positive and people, situations, and events persist in pursuing goals despite obstacles and setbacks. And I think that's really important for the six as well, is not to think that failure is the end of the story. Failure is the lesson. So that's part of that positive outlook. Um, the three with that self-confidence, self-confidence is defined as confidence in your own powers and abilities. And so, whether that is with experience, writing a list, looking back can even be a confidence booster. Look at all you've accomplished, look what all you have done instead of focusing on what you're missing or haven't done. And then the type nine, there's an opportunity to pull in the adaptability, um, emotional competency. And this is defined as having the flexibility to handle change and adapting your ideas or approaches. So kind of maybe bringing in some of that go with the flow. Um, being a little bit more comfortable in uncertainty, um, being a little bit more, you know, flexible with your contingency planning. Um, and and that's hard. That's not easy, right? That's not easy. But as a manager, um, you know, you can have the conversation and get into some specifics. So what we'll do then is, hey, out of these three emotional competencies, um, if if you're feeling like you're rocking all these already, then look to some of the other emotional competencies and pick one that feels um more inspiring or feels like a better fit based on the direction you want to go for growth. Um, but typically these three are a starting point based on the type six. And then what we'll do in this information to implementation plan, this growth career development plan with the Enneagram is we'll say, okay, pick one. Pick one of these that you want to work on, and then we're gonna go through these three parts. And the three parts um is to identify the goal. You want to identify the goal. Um, we've we've kind of already talked about that. What are your current behaviors? What are you currently doing really well? And then maybe what are you not doing as well as you would like in order to get to that goal as quickly or as as well as you would like? Um, and then something that we'll talk about, and it may or may not make sense to bring this in, but you can then start to kind of pull in some others' awareness, some relationship management as well by listing the impacts of your current behavior on the team, kind of both the pros and the cons. And then what could be the potential, potential benefits for you, for your career, for your team, for your organization with this new goal? And I'm gonna give you an example in just a second. That's phase one. Okay, so that's that grow your awareness. We just want to lay the foundation. We want to understand what we're working with here. So identify the goal, identify your current behaviors, list the impacts of those current behaviors on yourself, your career advancement, and on the team, and then list the potential benefits for you, your career, your team, the organization, um, if you were to reach that new goal. So there's that. Then phase two is so important. And I think one of the biggest things that gets left out of all sorts of goal setting, even, you know, setting the goal about going to the gym or eating better, um, you know, personal goals like that, is we forget to understand what our obstacles are, because there's absolutely gonna be obstacles. And then what happens is we forget that there's gonna be obstacles, or we're surprised when obstacles happen, or obstacles happen and we're not prepared. So we get derailed for days or weeks or months, or you know, it messes with our confidence in this case. And so it can be incredibly powerful, incredibly helpful, productive to help you, you know, keep up uh the inspiration, the motivation towards that goal. If you know, hey, these obstacles are gonna happen. I I know that's gonna happen. Um, and then here's what I'm gonna do to either A, avoid the obstacle altogether or be ready for it and to navigate around it um, maybe a bit quicker, maybe a bit uh, you know, with less uh emotional drainage, uh with you know, less negative impact to particular relationships. So understanding those obstacles. And so the first thing you want to do here is to identify how your core motive as a type six, that preferred strategy, is in conflict with your goal. And I'm gonna give you an example here in just a second. Um well, I'll give you an example right now, and then we'll talk about another example in a second. Um, so for a six, striving to feel secure is your preferred strategy. That's kind of the motive behind your thinking and your um and your behaviors. And so if you have a goal of stepping into a, you know, a management position in the next year, two, three years, um that strategy of feeling secure could absolutely get in the way of that goal because right now you're comfortable. Right now, you might know what to expect on a day-to-day, or your team member that you're leading might know what to expect. Um even though there may not be growing, it feels safe. It's like I know what my pay is gonna be, I know what my job's gonna be every day, I know that I can do it, I know you know what to expect, I know I can handle it. Um, and so thinking about stepping into a new role with new responsibilities, that can feel really scary. There can be a lot of uncertainty in that way. So that they're they're right there, you know, okay, that's how that could be in conflict. And I know that. Let's just go ahead and get it down on paper. And then the second part of this is to reframe that preferred strategy of striving to feel secure so that it aligns with the goal. How can you reframe, retell the story? That moving into a management role, for example, could be scary, could make you feel unsafe and insecure. Let's reframe it. How could moving into a management role make you feel more secure? Make you feel more safe. And so look at it through that way. And then the last part is to plan and to practice. And the first part of this is to identify the actions or the new ways of thinking. The second part here is to think about who else needs to be involved. What do I need to be supported? What else do I need? What other resources do I need to feel supported? And then this is also, I think, a really important piece that sometimes gets left off. How will you know that progress has been made? How will you know? So let's look at an example going through each of these section sections using that type nine emotional competency recommendation of adaptability. So let's say that a type six has a goal of wanting to practice more adaptability. They want to be more adaptable. So one, okay, identify your goal. In phase one, we're going to bring awareness to our growth here. So we're going to identify the goal, adaptability. Um, what are what are your current behaviors? Well, it might be I tend to avoid taking chances on anything because I focus on danger and the things that could go wrong. I'm often suspicious and skeptical that people can't be completely trusted. I prefer the devil I know to the devil I don't know, even if a situation is an ideal, or I would rather keep things the same than face something new that could be even worse. I like guarantees and certainty. Um, and it's hard to embrace a change. The next section is list the impacts of that current behavior on the team. Well, um, when you maybe behave that way, you maybe slow down growth and innovation because of how risk adverse you can be. Rather than jumping into action, you may want your teammates to pull more data, discuss more before acting, which can lead to the team feeling frustrated and that you don't trust them. Okay. And then the last section here is list the potential benefits on the team andor your career or your new goal. And an example might be well, maybe your team is able to accomplish more by learning from mistakes. Maybe you're able to accomplish more by learning from mistakes. Um, as you jump into uncertainty and the unknown, calculated risks, that's important here, calculated risk can lead to success, and the team might feel more excited and more engaged if they're trusted to implement the new ideas rather than have to gather more information. Okay, and then the second part, understanding your obstacles. An example might be okay, striving to feel secure means avoiding risks and being very vigilant when dealing with anything new or unknown. It involves skepticism about adapting to shifting priorities and sudden change, all of which can be in direct conflict with adaptability, which is the goal here. And this is maybe adaptability as a project leader, as a manager. Um so okay, and then the second part of this phase two is the reframing. So now we want to reframe the striving to feel secure so that it aligns with the goal. True security involves taking necessary and calculated risks that help ensure I'm successful. Being resistant, negative, or combative when change is needed can make me drain the team and actually threaten my security. Maybe it could threaten your job, maybe it could threaten your income potential. Um, so I'll so there's an example of how to word that and how to think about it. And then the last section here is planning and practicing. So we want to identify specific actions or new ways of thinking. Um, now that we have this awareness of our behaviors, now that we understand the obstacles, some specific actions or new ways of thinking might be, these are just some ideas. Notice when you might be clinging to traditional methods or maybe the way that it's always been done. You do love a good proven method, a good uh proven system. Our ones do as well. You're not alone. Um when though a new way of doing something, a new method could actually end up being better. Maybe in the beginning it's kind of hard, or there's some challenges, or there's some risks, but once you get over that initial, you know, uh onboarding or learning of the new system or whatever it might be, it ends up being so much better than what it was. Um, another um action or way of thinking about this might be to recognize um that opportunities, recognizing the opportunities that come with change, looking for the positive and change in addition to the negative and what could go wrong, deciding on a new behavior, event, or conversation that it admits a little bit out of your comfort, a little bit out of your comfort zone. Um I think this also goes to that confidence building. Doing something different. Well, you're gonna have to do something different if you want to feel confident about doing that that different thing. Um you're gonna have to do it more than once, too. Um, and then the last one I had here was know what it looks like to have enough information and then take action. Don't overanalyze and be sure to remember to celebrate the accomplishment. I think that's a good reminder, is like what does it look like? We're not saying don't gather information, we're not saying don't think it through, you know, we're saying a calculated risk. So, how do you know when you have enough information? And that's a great question. That's a great conversation. How do you know? Um, and then who else needs to be involved? Is it your manager checking in, you know, once a month? Um, do you have an accountability buddy? Do you um is there, you know, uh a journal kind of check-in that you have with yourself? Um, whatever those things are, what do you need? And who else needs do you need to be involved to help you hit the goal? And then lastly, how will you know that progress has been made? Well, you know, it might be um seeing the transformation in yourself, again, checking in, reflecting. Um, maybe it's literally tracking how often you do some calculated risks, how often um a change has presented itself and and what you did to kind of move through it. Um, I think also asking some teammates for some feedback, um, asking your manager for the feedback or as a manager giving them some feedback. And then they'll probably have their own ideas. So again, use the we got the the uh voicemail hotline here for some additional ideas for our sixes in these three. Um, but but um that's it. That's it. Um, and so I I I know that you know we covered a lot. We looked at specific strengths of the six to make sure that we're highlighting and using specific examples. We looked at um some common struggles that sixes will have when those strengths are overused. And then we talked about remembering to use that phrase, well, this makes sense. This makes sense. You're not alone, you're not crazy. People who see the world this way, people who value this, will tend to struggle in these areas. We talked about how to use our resource points to bring in some additional language for ways that we can grow, um, some things that we want to focus on that might contribute to our goal setting, our career development. And then we also looked at how to use some specific emotional uh competency guidance to give us some ideas for what is something specific to focus on rather than, you know, keep doing what you're doing or don't be so negative or be more confident. It's like, okay, great. So that will hopefully provide some guidance. And then we walked through a very specific path that included awareness of our current situation, that included understanding what could get in the way as we move along towards the goal, and then um also looked at how to plan and prepare uh to set off for our goal, achieving this goal. Who else needs to be involved? What other resources do we need? So if you are a manager and want to get um the the uh cheat sheet will not have everything that we talked about here today. This this was a lot. This is a training that we do um either in addition to an Enneagram introduction or a training by itself, but I do have a cheat sheet for you that will spur some conversation, maybe give you some things to think about, the way that you manage and provide feedback or open up a performance review conversation. And that is the feedback cheat sheet. Um, you can find it over on the resources tab at Enneagram MBA that we have a free resources tab. Um, or you can uh go to the link below. Uh it's Enneagram MBA.com forward slash Enneagram dash feedback dash quick guide. Um but it'd probably just be easier to go to the link below. I might need to just I might need to uh shorten that up a bit. So go to the link below. Um and that will be the updated link, get you, get you that. And um if you have questions about what we covered today about the type six, if you have additional comments, um I would love to hear from you in the new hotline. Um and then if this is a topic that you think would be beneficial for your managers, your new managers, your leadership team to go through where we talk about feedback, uh, performance reviews, growth opportunities, understanding obstacles. Um, I'm gonna invite you to check out our workshop options, reach out, let us know that you're interested, and we can put something together specifically for your team. And again, the best place to start with that is over at EnneagramMBA.com. Um, and you'll you'll find the way to reach out to us over there. So, with that, thank you for being here. And I look forward to seeing you back next week um as we get into some performance review uh insights and ideas for um another type.