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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. Well, welcome back to another episode here on the Enneagram at Work Podcast, or welcome. And if you happen to be joining us for the first time, this is a really great place to start. So I'm glad you're here. And if you have been a regular listener, I am also glad uh that you are back with us. We're gonna be taking it back to basics. And I think this is going to be uh a great series, whether you are a first-time listener or you've been with us for a while. Um, because a lot of the episodes that we have done over the last several months, um, we're starting to get into some specifics with each of the types, how the different types uh work together, communicate. So we're we're looking at some specific situations, we're getting more detailed, we're looking at team map reviews. We've had some awesome guests and conversations, but I want to take it back to the basics and remember or talk about slash introduce, remember or introduce. Um, what makes the type the type? What makes a one-on-one, a two or two, a three of three? So we're gonna be doing that. And one of the reasons for this episode, too, is that our crash course on the Enneagram Nine Types uh that we did at the very beginning when we kicked off this podcast over three years ago, continues to be the second most downloaded episode, continues to get new listens each week. And there's been some things that have evolved on this end as we talk about the way that we talk about the types. So I want to capture that. Um, we've had so many amazing workshops and clients and um getting to see real-world expression of these different types. So I'll be able to share some more specific examples to help you clarify this is me, or maybe this is not me, or oh yes, I've seen that show up in my coworker. Uh, we've also had some interesting insights, uh, some uh nuances between different types that have uh some clarity around that. And um I'm laughing because my cat just bit me. So it's gonna start over, but we'll just we'll just keep going. She uh likes to she you gotta keep petting her, or I'm gonna get the little nibble bites. So anyway, so we have that that's what to look forward to. Um, and then the other thing that's gonna be a little bit different is that initial crash course to the nine types is a full episode of all the nine types. So it's over an hour. And you know, that this day and age, there's just not people are busy. And so rather than trying to find, am I a type six or am I a type nine or let me let me learn about the type five and trying to find it in that episode, we're gonna have some refreshed type overviews, and then we're going to do it by type so you can easily find those obviously once we complete the series. So that'll be for you as listeners, for our clients who are who have questions about the types. This will be an easy way to um direct them to some additional insight about their types. So um we have had such an awesome kind of into the summer kickoff to the fall. We've had a teacher group, we've had a law enforcement leadership group, which was just a really fun group. The teacher group was really fun too. Uh, we've had technology group, we've had a media group, and the thing that I continue to see is nothing new is that people love to learn about themselves and they are loving learning about each other. And then what makes it even more special from the feedback that we're getting, more memorable, more effective, the thing that people tend to like the most is then getting the information, getting enough information to then be able to talk about it with their coworkers. So if you happen to be managing a team, leading a department, you know, I think it does help. Uh obviously I'm biased the Enneagram, I'm obviously biased towards Enneagram MBA or company, but there needs to be some sort of tool to kind of gain some new insight from to even to have the prompt to talk about. Um, but we continue here at Enneagram MBA to kind of pull back the information, the amount of information that we share. And we, you know, I'm I'm constantly taking a kind of a fine-toothed comb through how much information do we want to share? Like what is the most important? Because I want to make sure that the people in the groups have time to talk with one another because that's their favorite thing. So um, as managers, of course, I would love for you to bring us in and have a guided session with anyagram MBA. But if that isn't something you can do right now, there's free resources that you could print off, give, have your people read, and then just allow people to kind of share, hey, this is what um resonates with me. This is what I like, what this is how I could see where we might butt heads. This is where I see that we could work really well together. And people are loving just being able to have those conversations with those that they work with. So keep that in mind. We have some other um amazing groups coming up. I think we we have a handful of workshops in November. And so uh anything, any interesting themes, you know, I'm gonna pass on to you here. So, with that, let's get into our type one. So, we're gonna introduce our type one as striving to feel perfect. Sometimes this these types are called the um the perfectionist, the reformer. Um, their leadership style, according to the awareness to action uh methodology, is called the administrator. And Mario Socora, who who um is the founder, CEO of Awareness to Action, he will say, We want, we want these people in our life. We we want our pilots striving to feel perfect. We want our uh, you know, being on an operating bed, we want that surgeon striving to feel perfect, right? So there are specific situations where this is going to be uh maybe more important than others, but having this energy on a team can be such a benefit, such a strength. Um, our ones strive to feel perfect by improving themselves. So they may look uh to feel perfect myself. I want to improve myself, I want to improve my team, others around me. I want to help them strive to be their very best, improve um the systems, our organization. Um, and then it can even go, I want to help, you know, the my community be a better place. I want to help the world be a better place. So they are incredible at having a vision. It can be very inspiring about having this idealistic um vision of what they could be, the team could be, the world could be. And they have the ability to see all the little parts, all the little steps that are going to go into that in order to make that a vision of improvement actually possible. There's some of us, I'll say, uh as a type seven, sometimes I get these big ideas and I have a vision too. Um, but I may sometimes, not always, but maybe sometimes it might not come as natural to me to see, okay, step by step, this is what we need to do. It's just kind of let's jump in and kind of figure it out along the way. So sevens can be really good at having that vision, but then also taking us step by step and creating the procedure. Um, our type ones tend to really value structure, fairness, and doing things the right way. And that would be something, um, that would be something interesting to talk to the one in your life, um, or something to reflect on. If you are a type one, how where do you get the right way from? Is it your uh policy at work? Is there values? Is there you know, what is that right way? How do you know what the right way is? So that that could be something. Um, their strengths, they tend to be incredibly organized. Now, this doesn't mean though, that they are perfect, meat-free, organized in every area of their life. When we go through the workshop, we have a myths and misconception slide for each of the types just to call out a couple of myths, misconceptions about ones in this particular case, and that they might have something real like their file cabinet might be organized at work, but then their closet at home may not be at all organized. So just be careful be and also I can be organized. I'm not a type one. We can all be organized. Um, so just be careful. We're talking about behaviors, and I do think that each type has tendencies. There are common behaviors for each of the type that can help us recognize what type we are. But at the end of the day, it's less about the behavior and more about that motive, that core logic that is influencing our thinking that then influences our behaviors. So it the behavior can show up a little bit. There can be some commonalities. But but just be careful if, especially if you're in the beginning of the typing process, and not everyone is gonna behave the same. Okay, not every type one is gonna behave the same. So just kind of hold that loosely, but it can give us some clues. It can, it can give us some data points, and we we can put those together once we have that. They tend to be very principled. Um, you know, they're not going, they they're probably they're not gonna be easily swayed if they believe, you know, right and wrong, good or bad, ethical, unethical. Um, they're, you know, they're probably not gonna get talked into doing something that they don't believe in that is right, um, that is the right way. And then they do have a strength of being a little bit more detail-oriented. They have one of their superpowers is around precision. Again, what a great quality for a pilot. What a great quality for your surgeon. Um, and what a great quality on some of our teams. We absolutely need that. Now, we talk about strengths and overuse strengths because at the end of the day, um, it's the same energy that is fueling the strengths that is fueling the quote unquote weaknesses or opportunities for growth. And so it really is hey, I'm just overusing the strength. It is a strength, and I'm just overdoing it. I'm overdoing it in this situation and for this person. Um, and so what that looks like for our type one, striving to feel perfect, gets overused, perfectionism. Um, maybe waiting to turn something in, waiting to say something, waiting to do something until it is absolutely perfect. So um, watch out for that. Watch out for black and white thinking. Again, we talked about they are very principled. They have a very clear, um, kind of guiding North Star, right or wrong, right? That this is the way that we should do it. And that is wonderful. And there may be moments that there will be moments where some some ability to kind of live and move in the gray, to allow context, not just black or white thinking to influence your decision or how how you might respond to something. And then um, they can get into micromanaging a little bit because I know the right way. It has to be perfect. And so I'm gonna stand over your shoulder and make sure you do it da-da-da-da-da, step by step, the right way. And so sometimes on the receiving end of that, it can feel like micromanaging. Um, now at work, you can see this person setting high standards. They're going to spot errors quickly, and they're gonna want fairness. Um, this is somebody who tends to be very comfortable and willing, putting their own needs and wants to the side and doing what is best, what is right for the group, what is fair for the other person. So, you know, um, most of the time that that is their goal. Um, and again, what a great, what a great quality in a teammate. Um, as a leader, we talked about their leadership style is known as the administrator. This is somebody who is going to have high standards for their team. And that can be incredibly inspiring. You, you know, they they they're gonna set that bar. And a lot of times we rise, you know, to that expectation. So um that can be a really great quality in a leader. They have um, they will model integrity, they will have a strong sense of responsibility for you as their teammate or the team member that they're leading, um, for to the organization, to the work that you all are doing. And then they are going to hold themselves accountable. You better bet they're gonna hold they're they're absolutely gonna hold themselves accountable, and they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna hold you accountable as well. They're gonna hold their teammates um accountable as well. They um sometimes people will experience them as a little harsh, as a little critical, micromanaging, we talked about. Um, and then I always say, yeah, that doesn't feel good. And there's maybe some conversations that need to be had if if it's causing friction, if it's um, you know, causing you to not be able to collaborate as well, communicate as well. Might be a conversation there. Um but that, or should say, and that type one is also giving themselves those same, that same criticism, a lot of times even harsher talks. And our type one, we all have an inner critic in us. That that inner critic for the type one is so super loud and has a tendency to be so super mean. Um, and that's kind of the stereotype after going to therapy, working on yourself, learning, you know, as we grow and and gain wisdom. Um, hopefully that that volume, that harshness will get dialed down a little bit. But um, that is one of the unique indicators of our type ones as well. Now, at work, there's gonna be some things that get on all of our nerves, our pet peeve. We we have them. Um, and they're gonna be different. We're we're gonna have specific ones that just bother us regardless of our type, just the fact that we are who we are. So make sure you understand what those are, make sure you understand your preferences. But to give you some ideas, as a type one, um, they hate sloppiness. Uh they do not like what when you miss details, when you miss deadlines, when you break the rules, not being responsible, not holding yourself accountable, making excuses. What I hear from type ones is that listen, do I want my team to make a mistake? No, I do not. But I'm realistic. Like I know that people are gonna make mistakes. But what really bothers me, what really is under that pet peeve, is when A, you don't admit to it, you don't take responsibility for it, and B, when it keeps happening over and over and you don't learn from it. So it's less about, oh, it bothers me when you make a mistake. Sure, maybe a little bit, but it's more about how you handle that mistake. Um preferences, they love it when the expectations are clearly outlined. Um what what they what others expect of them, and then what they can expect from others from you know, their role, you know, they they want those details. Um, fairness, we talked about very important uh injustices, just having justice, very very important to most ones. Um having order, having having clear um policies, procedures, everybody understanding the rules, routine, um, complying with that routine, having discipline to carry through, even when you don't feel like it, um, all creates that that sense of order. And that is really important to our type ones. And then they want that, they want to see that follow through. And we talked about how they can be a visionary and they also know what it's gonna take to get from the starting line to the finish line, and they're gonna have a plan for it. Now, um, when you are giving uh feedback to a type one, or I would say, I would say that as a type one, this could also be something that you keep in mind, make sure that that feedback frame the free bat feedback in such a way that it is really focused on improvement and standards. So, what is the standard that the type one might have missed if you have some some constructive criticism for them? It's not just because you feel this way, because this is how it looks. It's like, no, what is the what's the specific thing? What's the specific standard, the policy, the rule, you know, where where did I fall short here? I want to understand what that, what that measurement is and then where I fell within that. And then um making sure that you're not making it personal because they've already beat themselves up so much. They've already made it personal on themselves if this is something um that you're having to address because of a mistake or a missed deadline or whatever it might be. Um, and so they're really gonna appreciate feedback that is focused on the problem and and not them, which who doesn't, right? Who doesn't? Um, and then as a one, just kind of keeping that in mind as well as you get feedback. Now, we have talked before about our instinctual biases and how they can absolutely flavor the each type so that almost there's three different type ones almost, which makes the typing process just a little more tricky. Um but I think so rich because it reflects the complexity of humans. So we're going to, I just want to touch on this. Um, this might be in a fun future episode, but I want to touch on this as a reminder, our preserving instinctual biases focus on is focused on ensuring that they and the people on their team that they care about have the resources that they need. So at home, that might be sufficient food and shelter. Um at work, that might mean a sufficient budget, sufficient computer, staffing, whatever it is, the to sustain um their life, the work they need to do, and make it comfortable. Um, they tend to be in touch with needs related to health and wellness. And to this preserving instinctual bias, traditions are really important. So when we have a preserving type one, they are going to be a little bit more of that rule follower. Because as I said, that description, it does remind me a little bit of one. Sometimes it reminds me a little bit of sixes. And so when you have the one and the preserving instinctual bias, you have probably a really kind of textbook type one. So they are going to be that rule follower focused on efficiency, focused on doing things the right way. Now, as a reminder, our navigators, regardless of the type, but just in general, the navigating instinctual bias is really focused on the inner workings of a group. They want to understand the dynamics, the status, who's in it, who's in charge, who's really in charge. They have ability, have an ability to understand and pick up on those kind of dynamics, the chemistry of the team. Um, relationships are really important to this type. They want to understand where they fit. They don't necessarily need to be in charge. They just kind of want to understand how do I fit into the group? I don't have to be at the top, but I do want to know where I fit in here. Um, they take in information that may be useful later, making connections, thinking about those sort of things. Um, and they um maybe won't share as much about themselves as much as they are going to want to take in information about others. So when you overlap a navigating one, you have somebody who is really values and is focused on the fairness of the group, understanding, you know, making the group, striving to feel perfect. Inside a group dynamic. They tend to have a really strong moral compass as our our navigating ones. They want to do, you know, right by the people in the group. Now, our transmitting ones, and as a quick refresher, our transmitters are those that are focused on showing their charm, their charisma. They're okay tooting their own horn and talking about their accomplishments. Um, they want to leave a legacy and an impression on the world. They look to get attention and um they they do the what um awareness to action calls uh broadcasting. So they'll kind of put out a big signal. And then once they get the attention of somebody, they go into that narrow casting and focus on on having that intense connection, and then they'll pull back. So there's there's that, and then um they're gonna be a little bit more risk tolerant with pushing pushing things forward, um, having the maybe a little bit more um big energy in the way that they move through the world. So that sounds um a little different, right? Than the than somebody who might be a preserving one. You can already start to see, wow, a transmitting one. Yep, all three of these are gonna be striving to feel perfect. But when you overlap transmitting with striving to feel perfect, you get that crusader, you get that reformer. This is the Captain America type one. Um this is probably the Steve Jobs uh kind of type of energy. I want to leave a dent in the universe. They say Steve Jobs is a type two, but or a type four, but um he has this, I wanna, I want to leave a dent in the universe and and I want to do it to make the world a better place. I want to leave a big impact because I believe I can make things better. Um, so there's definitely going to be some differences between how these three show up. And this is important to dig more into if you are struggling between am I a one or am I an eight? Maybe it might be worth exploring what a transmitting one looks like because there could be some similarities into your behavior. Um, and again, it's going to come down to that core logic, that core motive, um, the thing that influences your thinking, that influences your behavior, which in this case for the one is striving to feel perfect. Sometimes people will say, Oh, I do all these things, but I don't really identify with striving to feel perfect. Well, maybe explore, you know, what perfect means to you. And also, that may not be your type, right? I can see myself in uh when we look in at behaviors, I can see myself in a couple different types, and I can check the box on a lot of the um common behaviors that we talk about for each of those types. But when we get to that core logic, yeah, you know, that just doesn't resonate as much as the type I am. Um, and so it will continue to go back to striving to feel whatever it is in this case, uh, connected. So or perfect. Oh my goodness, perfect. So, what are some things you could do if you are a type one? And if you are not a type one, but work with this type one, what's something you can do? So I got I got a quick experiment for you for each of these. So if you happen to be a type one, before you start giving feedback, and this isn't gonna come natural, most likely, um, or if it does, you've probably done a lot of a lot of work. Um start with what is working well. Um, your team member is probably expecting you to tell them all the things they're doing wrong, all the mistakes they made, all the ways that they could be better. And by all means, you can get to that. Um, but in this case, we don't want to, we don't want to dilute the feedback with something like the sandwich method and make it even more unclear. Um, but it can go a long way if you just start or end at some point, also make time for the things that are going well. Train your eye to notice strengths of that team member of your team, not just the airs, which is what our type ones tend to go to first. Now, if you are working with a type one when presenting an idea to them, make sure that you explain the structure of that new idea, that new plan, what the plan would be to actually make it happen, to bring it to life. Um, what are some of the resources that might be needed? What's the process, that step-by-step process, even if it's just high level, that's going to be needed to bring that to life. And that will mean so much to our type ones. And it will show that you've thought the details through, and they will tell you that typically that that is a really great way to build credibility and trust with them. It's, you know, it's anybody can throw out an exciting idea, but if you're able to show just a little bit more that you've thought about it a little bit more, that's going to be mean a lot to your type one teammate, potentially your type one um manager, depending on where you are on that. So as a reminder, we have um type ones striving to feel perfect. And if that doesn't resonate, then you may not be a type one. So um I just had a leadership team map review where we had a handful of leaders on the team, and all of them had type one at towards the top of their um results, initial assessment results, which is something that we have seen before. This is not, this is not a rare thing. This will come up. Um and that tells me that this team is probably highly functioning. There's a lot of order, expectations are clear, people get things done, uh, people know what needs to be done. There is a high standard, their work is high quality. And something to reflect on, to consider is are we making time to celebrate all this hard work, all these things that we're succeeding in? Um, bringing in some of that growth arrow over there at the type one, striving to feel excited, which tends to be the type that our type ones neglect the most because that feels chaotic. That doesn't feel at all like striving to feel perfect. That feels a little reckless, that feels a little uncertain, um, undisciplined. Uh, and you know, again, when you have it dialed in though, we don't want our ones to be act like sevens necessarily. But what can you pull in from the strengths of a seven? Their ability to kind of go with the flow, the spontaneity, plans change, they're okay with it. Um, their ability to appreciate um and celebrate uh, you know, the hard work and to have a little fun and bring some humor and bring some joy. So sometimes uh when we have a strong type one leadership team, feedback from the team will be like, I love how much we accomplish, we we, you know, make things happen. However, I would love for us to celebrate more. That that's been a common uh piece of feedback from a couple different teams. And so that might be something that as a type one leader you look at. And maybe you're already doing it, maybe you know it doesn't make sense in every situation, but just that's one thing to kind of reflect on. And then the other thing our type ones can look at is what sort of qualities, strengths can I pull from that type four arrow to enhance my working style, my leadership style as a one. And our fours tend to be really great at understanding human emotions, um, extending empathy, um, allowing some of that human experience to influence their decision making. So that context. And whereas a type one has a little bit more of that black and white thinking, let's just put our head down and work, if you can infuse some of that human element, you know, we're not robots, we're gonna have hard days, um, people are gonna make mistakes because of certain things going on in their life, or just because we're humans, um, fours tend to be really great at um understanding those emotions, the human experience. Um, they can be incredibly creative. So allowing that task uh that task uh oriented energy that you have, um, and my cat is biting me again. And if you're watching the video, you can see that. But uh allowing, you know, the your focus on task to also, you know, are there opportunities to pull in a little creativity? Are there opportunities to pull in a little fun to the structure and the plan that you have? And so those are things that we get more into in our leadership coaching sessions. Um, sometimes they're individual, sometimes they're small group. If that is something your leadership team is interested in, let us know. And then we talk about here's what it means to be a type one, and then here's what it means to, here's some opportunities for growth for our type ones. Here's how um those working dynamics might um play out with your twos on your team, with the fives on your team, with the nines on your team. And so these are the sort of topics we cover and the type of conversations that we have also inside of our workshop. So if this is something you're interested in bringing to your team, uh potentially your conference event, other type of event, um, obviously I would love to chat a little bit about what that might look like to see if uh one of our facilitators here at Enneagram NBA might be a good fit for that. And you can learn all about our workshop options and uh speaking opportunities over at Enneagram NBA.com. With that, I am so glad that you're here. I'm looking forward to kicking this series off with you. And I will see you in the next one where we're gonna get into our type twos, striving to feel connected. So, with that, um, I'll see you in the next one.