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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. It is Saturday if you are listening to this when the podcast is published. So I hope you're having a great weekend. Whenever you're listening to this, I hope you're having a great one. We are trying the Saturday publishing schedule. So I thought, let's try it. Uh, 90 days. We'll just kind of check in. I'm gonna check in, you know, how's it going on the back end as far as publishing, scheduling, you know, prepping for it. And then how's it going on your end? So if you have any concerns, questions, comments, suggestions around the publishing schedule, or really anything, any of the topics, special guest, anything like that, please reach out, let me know, enneagrammba.com forward slash contact. I am getting back from a recent leadership workshop out in Cincinnati, Ohio. And that's a quick trip for me here being in Louisville. Um so travel wise, that's always nice to have a little bit of a break, just a little road trip, throw on a book or uh listen to a couple podcasts get caught up on other podcasts. And uh so logistically, that that was a nice little break. And this group was a um small leadership team where we had been together with their team members last summer. And there we did an introduction to the Enneagram, we did some uh discussions, group discussions, and so this was bringing the leadership team back together to take that those insights and the information that they learned about the Enneagram and look at how we how they can apply it and really three different aspects with their leadership role. One is their specific leadership style. What does this mean for me as a leader, my strengths, potential blind spots? What does this mean for our leadership team specifically? What are we great at? What might we be missing? What might we need to be a little bit more intentional with? How does our leadership team overlay or complement our full group map? What does that look like? What are those gaps potentially? How are we really great for the group as their leaders? And then looking at the leaders team specifically, um, looking at the specific people, thinking about specific people on their team. And so we'll look at things like growth opportunities for a leader. What do you want to work on? Uh, here are some suggestions based on that type, and then they can take that information, for example. And if they know, hey, I have a seven on my team, here's some specific language, some guidance that I can give them. So we really try and incorporate all three areas into uh what ends up being a more hands-on workshop, so that ideally everyone's walking away with three practice things, ideas, applications that they can put into practice in in the real world. Start to take this Enneagram theory and apply it to the real world. So, speaking of maps, today we are going to look at a specific uh team map analysis where we had a heavy 8-1 dynamic. It was not this team in Columbus, this was a about a 40-person workshop a couple months ago. And I'm gonna share with you the team map analysis that I shared with them. And it just so happens to be this specific group workshop report that I'm sharing with you. However, this is a dynamic that I see often show up where we have heavy eight, heavy one. Sometimes it's heavy eight three one, uh heavy three eight. Uh, so we're this is a this is a common one. And I thought, oh, this could be fun to share with you some of those insights when we're looking at the group as a whole, some things to keep in mind that might help your own team. And we're gonna do all sorts of different team makeup. So even if this isn't, you know, what you see your team as potentially being, we're gonna get to it, but maybe you'll still uh learn a thing or two. There's a lot of leadership teams, no surprise, that are also very 8-1, 8-3 uh heavy on that end. So, with that, uh, this group, like I said, I think it was almost 40 or so people. Um, we went through the Enneagram introduction, they had an opportunity to take the assessment beforehand. So we're using those results. They went through the self-identification process with the the uh Enneagram training. And so they self-identified after those two kind of data points where they were. But we always say, and I'm gonna say it to you too, is that we just we hold it loosely. Uh, we hold it loosely that the more they learn about themselves, the Enneagram, it could, it could change. But this is where the team was right now. So I'm gonna pull up that team map. Um, and about three-fourths of the team, just a little under three-fourths of the team, um, identified as one of the more action-oriented types. So the three, the uh eight, the seven, and then many times one, I would also put into that group, even though according to Enneagram uh theory, they are they are in the compliance or dutiful category uh in this in this uh domain, but um I I see them show up as as pretty action-oriented a lot of times. So a little less than three-fourths of their entire team fell into the action-oriented type, which is, and again, it makes sense um based on what they do. And then, you know, so that leaves about 25%, a quarter or so, uh, a little more than that, identified as one of the more relationship-oriented types. The two, um, the nine, the four, and the six. And this is um, this it might be a mix of the heart centered that you know of, the um the dutiful or the compliance stance that you may or may not be familiar with. We don't get a lot into those because it just gets to be, you can just kind of break the Enneagram apart so much and put it into so many different categories that you just kind of gets it gets overwhelming, especially when you're you're first learning it. So we don't talk about that in the beginning as much. We just kind of look at action-oriented types, kind of relate more relationship-oriented. So that's where this team landed. And with that dynamic, and and by the way, there were there was a really a good mix across all of the types. This particular team had somebody in every single type, even if it was just one person, uh, which uh usually you've probably heard me say type four, fives, and sevens tend to be the least common types that show up in the type of work, the type of teams, the type of industries uh that I most work with uh that might be different with different industries or different groups. Um, and so, but overall, this group was pretty well, you know, pretty had had some representation um in all of the types for the most part. The top types though for the team by far were the type one and the type eight. And again, this is this is pretty common uh among teams that I work a lot with. Um, this particular team also had a pretty strong presence of type seven and type nine, which we're gonna talk about. Just brings a really nice balance to this dynamic. So I have, let me see, I have seven strengths of a type one, high type one, type eight team. So a strong type eight, type one team presence, um, or I should say a type one and type eight presence on any team brings a very powerful blend of decisiveness, integrity, and high standards overall. So, as a reminder, our type eights are striving to feel powerful, our type ones are striving to feel perfect. There are many similarities. There is a video over on YouTube that I'll drop in the show notes here around am I a type one or am I a type eight? It is a very common mistype or kind of uh like I am I this one or this one. So, uh, because they do have so many things in common, they also have some things uh uh that they are a little bit different on, quite different on. And we talked more about those in that video. So if that happens to be you, you're struggling between one or the other, check that out. Um, this combination tends to value very direct, honest, and efficient communication. So we're not sugarcoating a lot of things on this team. Um, we're not, there's not a lot of uncertainty. Where do I stand? What should I be doing? Our type eights will tend to advocate for strength and power and fairness, ensuring that nobody on the team gets taken advantage of. It's very important for our eight. Also, those things are important for our type one that are gonna also bring some um kind of the the be the moral compass of of the group, ensuring that there is integrity and ethics and and we're doing the right thing. Uh, that is our priority. We got to do it the right way, we got to do the right thing. And so the result is a really strong culture of fairness, of accountability, and ethical decision making. Decisions get made quickly on teams with a high 8-1 dynamic. Um, problems tend to be addressed head on, which is wonderful a lot of times because you get to prevent the unnecessary workplace drama, that um uncertainty, where do I stand, what's going on. Uh, they can create a very results-driven, goal-oriented environment. This environment tends to be very disciplined where teams know what's expected of them. Now, we also I mentioned we had that high several sevens, several nines on the team. And when I say several, um, I would say, you let's see here, you know, five, six, seven, sevens, five, six, seven um, nines on the team out of this dynamic. And so they're gonna bring that positive outlook and infuse a sense of optimism and kind of balance out maybe some of that um intensity. They're going to bring more of an open-mindedness a lot of times, a lot of um willingness to be adaptable. So they're they're balancing some of the the eight one with with those. And then type seven tend to be natural idea generators. So they're gonna bring some fresh perspectives that might help a type one or a type eight from getting stuck sometimes in that in the their rigid processes or kind of the way we've always done it. One of the biggest pet peeves for our type seven is to hear, well, this is the way it's always been done. The hate hearing that. They want to know, okay, well, what could could we try it a different way? Could we experiment? Um, so sevens are gonna bring that strength to the table and use as a balance. So we have that. Now, with this dynamic, there might be some potential challenges. And again, I was not able to work for long term with this particular client. So some of these uh challenges might resonate, some of them may not. This is looking at your team map. Here are some things to be aware of, to look for, to reflect on. So potential challenges of a high type one, type eight team dynamic. Um, we have that mix of our type eight dominance, and then we have the the type ones kind of critical eye. And there's a lot of strengths with that. We just talked about those. There's some some caution that also needs to be just made, just look out for. I'm not saying you're you're doing this if this is your team dynamic, but look out for creating a very demanding, high-pressure culture where perfection and strength are prioritized over collaboration and emotional awareness. So that'll be some of that, hmm, getting curious about your own leadership style, about the the team dynamic, um, if if this is your, if this is similar to your style or your your team dynamic. Um, employees, because of this 8-1 kind of intense high pressure culture, potentially, can feel intimidated. They can feel micromanaged with that critical eye always watching them. And they can be afraid to make mistakes. Uh, both both with both. Uh, 8 and 1, you know, that they uh it can there can be a lot of pressure being led by that, being around a lot of people like that. Um so because the focus can sometimes be on what is wrong, what am I doing wrong? What are we doing wrong? What's going wrong? Uh, what needs to be fixed, what needs to be corrected. Sometimes what is going right, and there's always going to be something, um, can be overlooked. So opportunities to celebrate big wins, but also small wins, daily, little wins, can be missed. So when we're on, when we're heavy with this 8-1 energy, we want to really be intentional about encouraging regular appreciation, um, looking for opportunities to bring the team together for, you know, collaboration, but maybe also just kind of fun team building, community building, um, exercises, events, dinners, whatever that might look like for your team culture, um, to be able to kind of balance that directness with some encouragement, right? We the directness has a place. It can be very powerful, it can be very helpful, but also looking for hmm, do I need to do I need to dial that back or do I need to dial it up? So while the type eight prioritizes strength and action, our type ones tend to prioritize correctness and logic. So there may be a gap, maybe a small gap, maybe a big gap, uh, when it comes to the soft skills. And when it comes to relationship building, rapport building that inspires connection and can boost morale. I think a couple, it might have been the episode before this, or or maybe it was the first one, we looked at the leadership styles of the type two and the type eight. This is this is what I'm talking about here. Our eights have so many wonderful strengths and they're absolutely capable of this. They have a tendency, though, to be very action-oriented, to focus on the strength, to focus on the results, and sometimes can forget about the relationship piece that that building a community, building a culture that that people feel safe in, feel valued in, and a culture where people want to stay because of because they feel seen and valued. So that might be the work uh of our eights and one dynamic here. Um, there can also be potential for conflict between our groups of eight and between the groups of the group of one. Um we have type eight who wants to potentially push boundaries, um, challenge the status quo, challenge authority, while our type ones, again, not always every time forever, that will always be who they are, but type ones typically um tend to have more of a critical or or rigid way of how things should be according to what the company has outlined, the processes and procedures that have been established already. Um, what is the right way to do something? And an eight is might think, well, what do I think is the right way? And also look to push that status quo a little bit. So there can be some conflict there between those two types. And then type seven, type eight, um, sometimes, many times, type one, along with our threes, we talked about this, are in that assertive, more action-oriented category where they are focused on the future and they are focused on taking action. And so while this has many benefits, can lead, can create very successful teams. If it is overused, it can sometimes lead to impulsive decision making, potentially forgetting about the people component, the people who are affected by those big decisions. And the goal can become the sole focus, and the people can kind of get left behind. They can feel neglected, they can feel like their work isn't good enough, it doesn't matter. And so that will be a potential challenge or just a potential topic category area to just assess. Hey, we have some of these tendencies with this 8-1 dynamic. Um, how are we doing here? How are we doing? Are any of these ringing true? Do we need to to to dial it up back? Do we need to make any changes? Um, and so it's just worth worth kind of slowing down and and looking at. We'll talk a lot about how autopilot is actually a wonderful thing that our brain does. Otherwise, we would just never get anything accomplished if we had to be incredibly intentionable, intentional about every little thing. The problem happens is when we never open up the hood to see how that autopilot is is functioning. Hey, let's just take some inventory, let's assess. Do we need to turn anything off on more or less, add anything, remove anything? And then you can close the hood again and go back to that autopilot. But it is important to open up the hood and just kind of assess. So this gives your team some some things for for your team to kind of reflect on and think about. And um it's interesting because we also do uh surveys with post pre-surveys and post-surveys around our events where the team has an opportunity to anonymously give some feedback. And it's interesting because one of the things this particular team said that they appreciated most about their dynamic or how they work really well together, things like we work through challenges really well was highly scored, um, was a big category. I I really appreciate our results-driven culture. That was another very big topic. Uh, they talked about they appreciate the ability of their team to plan and goal set. They appreciated their direct communication. So it's really interesting the things that the team said that they appreciated, how just kind of interestingly they overlay with a lot of the strengths of the of the 8-1 energy and the dynamics there. So there was also some, you know, like all of us, there's opportunities for for growth, but uh there were a lot of positive things that the team had to say about about the the group as a whole. And it's just really interesting how it overlapped with uh with the Enneagram. So with that, uh, I will say we do this team mapping activity, this analysis, we talk more with the host, the manager. We can take this team map and use it in more in-depth leadership development workshops programs. Um, and this is something that is a key part of our dream team certified workplace program, is using the team map as we go throughout the process and with check-ins and pulling it out to bring things, bring Enneagram theory to the real world and not just the real world, but their team specifically. So if that is something you are interested in learning more about, I'm gonna encourage you, invite you to check out both our workshops and also the dream team certification process over at Enneagrammba.com. There should be a specific link to uh becoming a certified workplace below here as well. And with that, I'll say thank you for being here and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.