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One type wants to get it right and the other just wants to get it going. Can a rule follower and a rule bender work well together at the office? That's what we're talking about today as we do a coworker compatibility episode looking at the type 1 and the type 7 coworker. 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. These coworker compatibility episodes or just the conversations around how specific types work well together or where their potential friction points might be are some of the most popular episodes and then some of the most frequently requested conversations during workshops. So uh I want to make sure that we're we're doing more of these or we're doing we're doing these and and talking about these things in general. And as always, you know, we uh we are talking kind of stereotypes, we are talking uh textbook, Enneagram textbook theory. I'll share some of my real world experiences. Uh at the end of the day, you know, we're complex human beings, so we cannot distill somebody down and just think these are this is gonna be the relationship dynamic. Uh, but I'm gonna give you some common themes, some uh common tendencies with each of these, and then this relationship at work, and to to give you a starting point if this happens to be you or a coworker, uh, to consider some things, reflect on some things about yourself, about this other person in front of you that you might be clashing with or that you might be put on a project with, and now you have to work well together. So, what are some things to know about one another? So we're gonna do that again. Be very careful because it won't be 100% true 100% of the time for this person, for yourself, or that other person. But we'll do some overviews, some things to consider and uh give you a good place to start with. So, speaking of a good place to start with, let's talk about what each of these types are. And oftentimes you'll see them called the perfectionist, the reformer. Um, and it's because their core strategy, the the feeling need that will then influence their thinking, that will then influence their behavior, uh, going back to that root logic is I'm striving to feel perfect by doing what is right, what I believe is right, correct, ethical. So they focus their attention on what is wrong, what needs correcting, both within themselves and outside of themselves. And we talk about anytime we talk about the type one, I just it's such a great analogy or an example is the the book uh that many of us have heard of called Good to Great. And that's what it is for a one. It's like it doesn't even have to be terrible, but just looking for what could be better. Um, how could this be? It's good now, how could it be great? Uh, some of their core qualities that you'll see show up in the workplace are around high integrity, being ethical, having a lot of discipline, um, creating order and processes, procedures, and being accountable. You can count on them to be accountable. Uh, sometimes things that they won't always see, blind spots, they can become very rigid with this strategy that they're using, with this take on the world, the lens that they are viewing the world through. They can be really rigid with themselves and really rigid with those that they work with, the the rules and processes that they are working within. Uh, they can be overly self-critical, really hard on themselves, very loud, harsh, mean, inner critic. And that can sometimes spill out to others and become very judgmental of others um methods, their perceived sloppiness, their perceived cutting corners. Sevens, uh, according to the awareness to action model, their leadership style is known as the enthusiast. And they are striving to feel excited. That is their root logic that will influence their thinking, that will influence their behavior. And it all comes back to this. I'm striving to feel excited. I'm seeking out variety and excitement, and I'm avoiding limitations. And so at work, their attention uh will tend to be focused on coming up with new ideas, considering and talking about what's possible, future plans, exciting plans, uh, what could be possible, what could go right, and avoiding any sort of uh red tape, restrictions, micromanaging, avoiding boredom and any type of what they consider pain. Uh, their core qualities that you'll see a lot of times are optimism, especially on the outside. We talk sometimes about how it's a myth that our sevens are always positive and always happy all the time. But from the outside, uh, they do have a lot of optimism and you'll you'll notice that uh very innovative with those kind of that creative excitement, new ideas. Uh, they do bring a lot of energy and excitement to the group, uh, kind of talking about what's possible for us and uh getting people excited to take the next step forward. And they tend to be really comfortable with uh adaptability, being flexible, uh, you know, they they can work with uh spontaneity and they they enjoy it, they prefer it a lot of times. So their blind spots though that can drive people crazy at work are around getting kind of scattered or seeming scattered, uh, seeming impulsive. Wait a minute, we haven't thought this through, avoidant of tough or tedious tasks, and sometimes being a little over-idealistic, really wearing the rose colored glasses all the time. Uh, and so you might recognize yourself in one of those, you might recognize yourself in a in a coworker, uh, but that is the highlight of our type one versus type seven. Now, I also want to talk about the instinctual biases, preserving, navigating, and transmitting and what that looks like for each of these. So when we dig in a little bit more, because this is gonna uh this is going to flavor the dynamic um further. So I wanna I want to talk about it. And that is our preservers tend to be focused on, you know, resources, preserving things. Do I have enough uh what I need? Uh preserving the nest or whatever that is, uh focused on traditions. And so when you overlay that with a type one, you gotta get the ultimate type one. They have a strong sense of duty, especially around doing things the right way with a focus on routines and cleanliness and self-restraint. Um, they can come across maybe the most uptight or rigid, uh, but they are very, very dependable. And that's where that comes from. It's that preserving value with the striving to feel perfect. When you pair striving to feel perfect with the navigating values of understanding group dynamics and uh role clarity, you get a type one who wants to improve systems and bring integrity to the group or the organization. They are striving to feel perfect within their group dynamics. They might be a little more socially conscious than the others, and they can lean into some moral uh superiority and get frustrated if others don't seem to care enough. Uh, and then lastly, our transmitters in general are focused on um deeply meaningful work, leaving a legacy, kind of getting noticed. And so when you pair that with a one, uh, this is gonna be your more assertive and vocal type one. Uh this type wants to maybe fix others, but fix the world around them through their passion, they have uh strong values that they are going to let others know about, they're more likely to directly challenge others or just be really led by their high conviction. And I think when type ones and type eights are confused, um, am I this type or am I this type? This is probably the type of one that individual is when we overlay that transmitting type one can have some similar behaviors to a to a type eight. Um, this is, I always think of Captain America as a type one. And if we even get more into it, uh, this is probably the the instinctual bias that uh Captain America is with the transmitting one. So uh we have type one striving to feel perfect with the preserving value, striving to feel perfect um in their navigating group dynamics, or striving to feel perfect in their transmitting or the way that they make the world a better place, leaving their legacy. Our type seven instinctual biases, when we overlay those, we have the preserving seven. And this one's important because uh this one I find can be um a look-alike or mistyped for a type one. Our preserving sevens are more cautious and practical out of the out of the three. They tend to focus on keeping their options open while also ensuring that they're gonna be comfortable, they're gonna be safe, they're gonna have what they need. And uh, because of that uh attention to comfort, they can be mistaken for a one because they can have really structured routines, they can be really careful planners, but it's not for the case of I want to feel perfect and this is why I'm doing it. No, I want to feel excited and I have if I have these things in order, I don't have to think about them anymore. I don't have to uh worry about them. I can be comfortable, I can be left in to do what I what I want to do, explore my options. Uh so that's important when we're talking about our type seven and our type one matchup here. And then our navigating sevens, they're known for bringing that excitement and enthusiasm to the group, focused on connection and belonging. They want to belong, they want to make sure other people belong. They're good at using humor and charm to keep the energy high in a group dynamic. So this might be the person that feels like, I need to make sure everybody's having a good time. And if not, what do I need to do to make sure that that happens? And you can, I don't know, you know, depending on how familiar are you with all the types, um, a lot of times this seven may also struggle with the type two. Am I a seven or am I a type two? And it's our navigating seven sometimes that can look like or behave like our type twos. And you can, you can maybe hear it here. Uh, they want to avoid discomfort by staying socially active, upbeat. Let's not get into any hard conversations, let's not talk about sad things. You're having a bad day. Let me help you spin it. Everything happens for a reason. Uh, so that's where our type seven, our navigating type seven might show up, or how they might show up. And then our transmitting sevens, when you pair that the transmitting energy here, they're gonna be the more bold, charismatic, uh, even more future-oriented out of the three. They're probably gonna be the most assertive sevens out of the three. They're a big ideas people uh who bring energy and passion and persuasion to new ideas. Um, but they gotta be careful because sometimes they can steamroll slower to process information and ideas. Uh, they can maybe steamroll more detail-oriented co-workers because it's, hey, I got this idea, let's just move forward. At the very beginning, I said, you know, there's some people who have a focus on getting it right, and some people who have a focus on just getting it going. And that can be a place where type seven and one's butt head. So that's important to understand about yourself, start reflecting on if you don't already know your instinctual bias, because that is also going to show up in your dynamic with somebody else. So if we have a type um, a preserving one and a preserving seven, that relationship is gonna be very different or look a little different than a preserving one and maybe a transmitting seven. They're gonna have some different compatibility strengths working together, but also some different friction points. So I wanted to, I wanted to get down there in that second level just to give you some additional things to think about. Now, when we think about okay, how do these types show up at work? What strengths do they have in working well together? And where might they get off track or have some friction? When it's working well, these two offer really nice balance to each other. We have ones who um are bringing the focus and the structure and the follow-through to the big ideas and the creativity and the flexibility of the seven. Uh, together, they can really uh they can make things better. They can really innovate while also keeping those new exciting ideas grounded in reality. So that's a a great balance they have. They both have a strong drive for improvement. They're both forward thinking, forward focused. Ones want to make things better, sevens want to think make things more exciting, and they can both uh create that momentum to move things forward. Another way that they can work really well together, be a great pair, is you have kind of order meets optimism, accountability and meets optimism. So you have uh type ones who will be dependable, uh consistent in their support for the type sevens who sometimes might have some uh some fractured attention, uh, little little you know, shiny object. There's a go goes a squirrel uh that us sevens can sometimes get off track with. Um, and so our ones are gonna keep that those sevens focused or help us stay focused. And then type sevens can help the ones maybe loosen up a little bit and not sweat the small stuff so much. Be get a little bit more comfortable with um uncertainty and changes that are inevitably going to happen and unfold. And then um the last one that I have here is their complementary planning styles. Our ones are going to have a plan. They're gonna, they're gonna outline a plan. Uh, they're going to have a plan for quality, and they're gonna make sure that it's right and correct, which is we need that, right? Um, and then we have our sevens who are going to bring the plan for fun and what is possible in the future. And so this can lead to a really engaging and exciting but also realistic plan. Um, as long as they're kind of respecting one another's lens or view of the world, that can also be a really great balance and and pairing. Now, you can already probably start to imagine that there could be some friction uh between these two and and it might create some workplace tension. And so, where can it go sideways? Well, uh, one that that comes to mind right away is around pace and patience. Sevens may see ones as really rigid, um, overly rigid. Uh, they might experience them as slow because you know, it has everything we got to dot our eyes and cross our T's and uh we got to review this, you know, five more times to make sure it's right. And that can feel like, oh, we're slowing the pace down for the sevens. Um, sevens might also experience this, the ones as critical. I just can't do anything right. Um, these ideas, these plans, these the work that I'm doing just isn't good enough for my type one coworker. And then type ones might see the sevens as undisciplined, unstructured, maybe a little irresponsible, maybe distracted. And so they don't maybe feel confident that this plan that they're working on is actually going to come to fruition because the sevens can't stay focused long enough to make it to make it work. They're too busy, you know, blowing past checkpoints and quality control. Uh, and that can be incredibly frustrating to our ones. Uh, another friction point could be around dealing with conflict. A one ones tend to be pretty comfortable confronting mistakes, um, problems. They don't tend to sugarcoat a lot of things, they don't need to put a positive spin on it. They're probably not going to be a sandwich method person, especially the transmitting ones. Um, while the sevens are gonna be a little bit more um are gonna have some challenges having those direct conversations and potentially having their own mistakes brought up. They may sidestep or downplay or try to spin, causing a lot of frustration for the for the one who values accountability so much as well. Um, so we have the seven who maybe made a mistake, most likely unintentional. Um, maybe they don't even view it as a mistake, but rather than saying, you know what, I can see how you might see it that way. Uh a lot of times the seven default might be to say, well, you know, I did, but this ended up happening, or, you know, that this is this is why it and try to kind of spin it a little bit, and that's gonna be really frustrating for the ones. Um another way that they might frustrate each other is around um time commitment, task commitment, where ones like to finish what they start. They're gonna do it. You can count on them to get it finished. Whereas sevens like to start a lot of things. I got a new idea today and a new idea tomorrow and the next day. And that that that tension, uh, kind of of competing philosophies uh or work styles can lead to some resentment if there's not a clear division of who's doing what, you know, role clarity, task assignment, so that it is very clear, you know, what is mine to do and what is yours to do, and when it needs to be done, and you know, can't do this until this gets done. Um, another thing that can cause some workplace tension between these two is the definition of right. And this is gonna be a hard one for both of these because our type ones are very much going to lean into well, what does the rule say? What does the procedure say? You know, probably um not always look to take context uh into consideration. It's like this is the rule, this is the way that we need to do it, this is what it says we need to do. While sevens um might might be looking more at what feels good, what feels possible, uh, which can lead to this this um tension, this debate around. Values versus innovation and doing new and creative things that have never been done before. This isn't to say that sevens don't have values or ethics or you know doing things illegally necessarily. It's just an example might be, you know, well, the process says we we have to go through step one through five in order for this to work or for order for us to start this. And a seven might say, you know what, we don't know. We don't have the answers yet, or we don't know yet, step one through four, but let's just start with step five and see what makes sense to continue doing. Like this may not even be a viable option, but let's let's let's just jump in and kind of figure it out along the way. Where a one is like usually no way. We need to have a plan. We need to, you know, we got to have the steps, we got to follow the steps. There's a proven method in place for a reason. We can't just be skipping around. And a seven's gonna be much more comfortable just jumping in and kind of sorting things out along the way and not necessarily doing things the right way. Um, uh a real world example that comes to mind is around uh, I don't see a lot of sevens in the groups that I work with in the corporate workplace, uh, where I do see, I see them, but just not a lot of them. Um I do see them and hear a lot about them being entrepreneurs, and that makes sense because there's not, you know, corporate red tape they that that's keeping them from doing what they want to be doing. Uh, they get to have more freedom and flexibility and options and variety and newness, right? And there might be um what a company might need to do in order to launch a new project. Okay, we got to talk to marketing, we got to get our messaging, we got to create a website, we got to get our ads going, we need to um do XYZ. Um, and then we can launch the product. Where a seven, who is, you know, maybe, you know, an entrepreneur looking at their own business might just jump in and say, let's skip all those steps. We don't need those right now. We need to just sell the product. We don't even have to make it yet. Let's just start selling it. If people buy, then we'll make it. And it could seem really out of order. And so those are the sort of things that I'm talking about. I'm not necessarily saying that sevens are unethical or, you know, doing illegal things, but that's what that dynamic might look like as far as the right way to do something. Um, a couple of things around the subtype dynamics. We have already talked about how preserving sevens and type ones can mistype for one another because they both can look structured. They can both appreciate routine and discipline. But the difference is that preserving sevens are really focused on the comfort piece and avoiding pain. So they'll do all of that for the sake of comfort, for the sake of avoiding pain, even if that means staying organized. Hey, sure, I can or get organized if I can avoid pain and have options and feel free. Whereas the type one, they're gonna be more focused on being good and doing the right thing, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it is hard. There, you can count on them to do that. Uh, navigating sevens and navigating ones, these two both really value systems and group uh understanding, um, the group impact, but the sevens will want to be fun and engaging, while the one is going to be kind of focused on the group dynamics and thinking, is this fair? Is this correct? Is everybody being treated um fairly? And so that tone may clash. We have kind of the more charming, everybody having a good time, everybody having fun, versus you know, um, um, are we doing things fair and just? And then the other dynamic is the transmitting sevens with the transmitting ones. And so this can be a really powerful dynamic uh in the workplace. A lot of energy, um, a lot of potential for collision as well, because they are both so uh passionate and feel so much um conviction about this meaningful work and doing something big and doing something bigger than themselves. So they're both going to be expressive, they're gonna want their ideas to be heard, and so there may be um some clash around what's best versus what's exciting, and they're going to not necessarily be afraid to tell each other what they think, and so there can be some tension, some extra clash between those two, uh, but that can also be an incredible uh team working duo uh that really can make some big, exciting things happen. So with that, if you happen to be a type one or a type seven and have experience working with the other type that we've talked about today, um, I would love to hear it. Or you have experience working with one of these, um, I would love to hear your experience, anything that uh you have done to make collaboration um happen more often, um, anything that you've done to ease tensions in the workplace with these uh relationships with a one or a seven. And then if you happen to be one of these, I would love to hear your take on this. Anything that you would add, we'll definitely share it. You can reach out over at EnneagramMBA.com forward slash contact. And then these are the sort of conversations that we get into um in our kind of beyond the Enneagram introduction um trainings and sessions and um cohorts, group dynamics that we work with our clients in. And we have to have that basic foundation of understanding what is a seven, what is a one? What is that, what does it mean? Which type am I? Um that's really important. And then when we start to um build that foundation around the language, around understanding what it means, then we can really get into these powerful conversations and insights around what does it mean to for these two types to work together? Or um more importantly and more valuable, what does it mean for me who identifies as a seven to work with my coworker um Tom, who identifies as a one? And we now have the Enneagram as a language giving us some interesting insights, maybe some things we hadn't thought about, why there's tension or why we do work so well together. So now we have that language infused with the person that, you know, that each of them are, but the Enneagram is just giving them some language, some insights to be able to have more productive uh conversations and ideally get through those tensions and stress points, friction points, um, not avoid them, but get through them um ideally easier, faster, in a more healthy way. So let me know if you have anything to add. And then if you are interested in starting to lay the foundation and having these sort of conversations with your team within your organization, I'm gonna invite you to check out our workshop and programming uh and coaching options over at EnneagramMBA.com. With that, as always, thank you so much for being here. Um, if you have a request for another specific matchup, let me know. I have some ideas for the future, but if you have one, we'll move it to the top. Um, thanks for being here. Have a great week ahead of you, and uh hopefully I'll see you in the next one.