Enneagram at Work
Welcome to Enneagram at Work, your Saturday leadership download. We're bringing you insights for your weekend so you're ready for Monday.
This is a podcast about understanding people at work and navigating professional relationships. We spend so much of our time at work, why not make it more enjoyable by working on creating more enjoyable relationships with our teammates?
Listen in each week to gain self-awareness, relationship management, leadership development, personal growth insights, and real-life application ideas through the lens of the Enneagram inside educational episodes and interview conversations.
Learn about bringing the Enneagram to your organization or group and view the current workshop menu at: enneagrammba.com
Enneagram at Work
203. Enneagram Type 3: Striving to Feel Outstanding - How It Shows Up at Work
In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we continue the 9 Types Overview Series with a fast-paced, insightful look at Enneagram Type 3: Striving to Feel Outstanding, often known as The Achiever or, in the Awareness to Action model, The Pacesetter.
We’ll explore how Type 3s bring drive, confidence, and high performance to the workplace, and how their desire to succeed and be seen as capable influences their leadership style, communication, and relationships at work.
Pulling from real client examples and team dynamics from recent workshops, we'll look at what helps Type 3s thrive, what derails them, and how teams can support the “go-getters” who keep everyone moving forward.
What You’ll Learn When You Tune In:
- The core motivation behind Type 3’s drive to feel outstanding
- Why Type 3s are often seen as natural leaders and high performers
- How their strengths - drive, focus, adaptability - become blindspots when overused
- Key characteristics of the Pacesetter Leadership Style
- What energizes vs. drains Type 3s at work
- How instinctual biases (Preserving, Navigating, and Transmitting) create three distinct flavors of Type 3
- Growth practices using their arrows to Type 6 and Type 9
- How to give feedback in ways that build trust, not defensiveness
Try This at Work: Quick Experiments
- If you’re a Type 3: Track how you showed up, not just what you achieved. Practice slowing down long enough to rest, reflect, and reconnect with your own values.
- If you work with a Type 3: Acknowledge accomplishments and effort. Set clear, meaningful goals. Invite authenticity by asking how they’re doing behind the successes.
For Teams & Leaders
Type 3s bring momentum, optimism, and ambition to the workplace. They raise the bar, inspire confidence, and help teams deliver results. But they also carry the weight of constant expectation, both from others and themselves.
Teams that work well with Type 3s create space for connection, authenticity, and rest, not just performance. A healthy Type 3 doesn’t just do great work; they model sustainable success and motivate others to grow with them.
Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!
🗓️ Book an Enneagram Workshop for your team retreat at work:
https://www.enneagrammba.com/enneagram-team-workshops
✏️ Get an overview of all nine types inside the Understanding People at Work Cheat Sheet
https://www.enneagrammba.com/cheatsheet