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Welcome back to another episode here on the Enneagram at Work Podcast. I am your host, Sarah Wallace, founder and managing director here at Enneagram MBA. And today we are talking about less less about Enneagram theory and information. And this one is more so about application and specifically for those of you who have thought about delivering your own Enneagram presentation, hosting an Enneagram workshop at your organization, but have maybe been a little unsure of what to talk about, how to organize it. I got a six-part framework for you today. And so there's a lot of reasons why somebody might want to do their own, whether it comes down to budget concerns or just the situation. Sometimes organizations who have a ginormous budget aren't yet sure how their team is going to respond to the Enneagram. So sometimes people will host an internal session just to get people's feel. And then if the it was received well, uh, which every time I've heard about it, it has been, um, then it makes sense to invest more money, more time, more resources into bringing somebody, an outside professional, and leading something a little bit more structured and in depth. So various reasons why you would do that. This this episode is for those people who are interested in that, your internal champions, uh team leads, HR partners who are wanting to test or to bring in something um that's a little bit more budget friendly. I got you today. Um, I always like to share, though, before we jump into that, uh, where I have been, where we have been as an organization. And I personally am back from a conference event down in Houston, Texas. And this was a large 300 plus person event um in the educational services industry. And we worked with the host uh to curate something that I personally hadn't haven't done before. Typically, when we go into these conference uh settings, it's anywhere between an hour, sometimes 90 minutes, sometimes two hours, where we'll host the entire conference. So sometimes it's 200, 300 plus people, same similar size. Um, and we'll do the presentation, the information sharing part, and have an opportunity to do a small activity sometimes, not always, sometimes. Um, this group we had worked on pulling together a half day experience, but rather than it being um a true half day for everybody, it was really just a half day for myself in that we split up the sessions into three one-hour workshops. So it was really fast. It was definitely a crash course in the Enneagram, in the nine types, um, and then had a few minutes at the end of each session for everybody to break out by type and at least start some conversations. And this is always such a, I think, a value add in a conference setting because it can be a really great networking prompt. And I I love it for that. Um, one of my favorite experiences, use of use cases for the Enneagram was at a financial conference actually out in Vegas a few years ago, and I presented the Enneagram as the last part of the day leading into a networking event. And so we did, it was um specifically for women in finance. So the we like we do with all of our workshops, we worked with the hosts to curate um some examples and kind of the angle for sharing the Enneagram for women in leadership. And then we got to share the nine types, uh, also a really quick crash course um presentation. We had a short 10, 15 minutes for a breakout. And then that event, we closed it out, and then that event directly led into the networking cocktail happy hour event afterwards. And that was just such a wonderful segue to get these people who a lot of them never met each other before, a lot of them maybe were by themselves coming to this alone. Um, and so this was such a nice way to just very organically, um, but also very meaningfully keep these conversations and and those um that just the dialogue going rather than having to immediately start with the hi, how are you? What's your name? Where are you from? We got to to do that a little bit. Um, but then we also had a chance to share um could to continue the conversation about the Enneagram, which was really fun and really easy just to meet some random person, you know, in line for your drink and start talking about your type. And who knows from there, kind of what what conversations and relationship might happen beyond that. So um I love the Enneagram, all kinds of reasons for conference events, and that's another reason why. And then this event, um, something similar happened that during um the first session, we had that, and then they immediately went to lunch. So I heard people over lunch talking about their Enneagram types, going up to others saying um who were gonna be in the next session. Can't wait for you to go to that. Please follow up. I'd love to hear what you are. So um, from the beginning of the day that we started, the Enneagram conversations I heard buzzing throughout the event. Um, and so that's always fun, right? To be a prompt for getting people to talk and connect and to um share to learn more about themselves and uh one another. So that was uh that was our most recent one. Um we have another conference event coming up for a similar-sized group, similar-size timing. Um, so I we actually have two of those coming up. So I will be sharing more on any takeaways um from that one. But today, let's get into it. Let's talk about how to run your own Enneagram team workshop without overcomplicating it. So I said there's a six-part framework, and it's always easy to kind of break it out into steps, just so you can kind of remember. Um, I have the framework for you, and then I have a shortcut for you, a little hack at the end with a specific uh offer just for our podcast listeners, just for the month of February 2026. So depending on when you're listening to this, um, this may or may not, that that special uh offer at the end may or not may not be relevant, but um you're still gonna get the hack at the end. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about the hack. So uh let's get into it. So step one, what we typically recommend is starting with a simple Enneagram assessment um and doing this two to three weeks out from your event. That seems to be the sweet spot where it's enough time so that people don't feel stressed, like you just sent it out yesterday and everybody has 24 hours to take it. They have they have some time to take it. And then um on the flip side though, it's not too much time that they forget that they took it, you know, three months ago. So I I like that two to three week time frame. Um, here at Enneagram MBA, we started doing three weeks ideally, if we can. And so that gives the company about two weeks to complete the assessment for everybody to complete it, and then it gives our team on the back end about a week to collect the results and start plotting them on the team map, which I'm gonna get to that in a few steps ahead of here. So uh first thing first, start with a simple assessment. I have a couple of options for you, depending on the format, depending on your budget again, just your preference. Okay. So one option is just a super casual questionnaire. Um, this questionnaire I used at a conference event that Enneagram MBA exhibited it, exhibited at um as a booth uh vendor. We had a booth, we were a vendor there, and we passed out QR codes for this assessment. People could take it in less than almost less than 60 seconds. So it's just a real quick one. Um, it's called the two question enneagram test. I will link this in the show notes. You can also just simply Google two question enneagram test and you'll see the Enneagram MBA link for that. Um, we have taken the um Russ Hudson, uh Hudson and Riso two question test that they have at the beginning of their big blue book, which if you're on YouTube, I'm gonna grab this real quick. The blue book. Um, for those of you listening, it's called The Wisdom of the Enneagram. Don, Riso, um, Don, Richard Riso, and Russ Hudson are the authors of this. This is kind of a foundational Enneagram book for those of you who are my fellow Enneagram enthusiasts or nerds, whatever you want to refer to yourself as. The two question assessment comes from that. We have put it into a quiz format that you can easily take that has some fun gifts and has a little description specifically geared towards the workplace for your results. So that's one option. Like I said, super easy, about a minute or so to take. Um, so that's a great one for getting started simply and quickly with your team. Another option is a free Enneagram quiz. There are several out there. Truity has one. We use any personality path simply because that seems to be the most straightforward results when it comes to a free quiz. We used to use Truity. Sometimes the way the results were delivered was a little confusing to some people. So we switched over to that. Um, either one, though, I think is is can be helpful. Um, and this is good for just basic awareness. Typically, these free assessments are 10, 12, maybe 15 minutes long. Um, so that's a nice middle-of-the-road option. And then another option is a paid assessment. Um, lots of different paid assessments out there. Um, I know that there is the um, I believe it's the narrative Enneagram who has a $60, um, very in-depth report. It's very beautifully designed, it's colorful. Um the thing that I'm I'm hesitant about using that one is that it it narrows it down to one type for you, and then your whole report is about that type. Now, we all know if you've been listening to the the podcast for any length of time, um, or if you're new, you'll you'll find out right now that Enneagram assessments are just about 60, 70, maybe 75%, maybe 80% accurate, um, which is far from a hundred percent true all the time. And so we use the assessment as a data point and not this is what you are. So I think it's a lot harder to hold it loosely, your type loosely, when you are delivered a 50 plus page report about what your type is. It is a wonderful report. I think it has some great information in it. Um, the only thing is that I have taken it uh twice now, and I I usually end up as a type of as a type three on on different Enneagram assessments. I know, I know why that is. Um, I see three in me a lot. There's there's there's definitely some some things in there, but I know based on my own self-assessment, uh self uh typing, reading about the different types, the challenges, the strengths, the overused strengths, especially. Um, I am definitely not a three. And so I've got a report though that is all about the type three. And it's hard not to think, oh, well, I guess I'm a type three because now I have this page, or well, I don't want to be any other type because if I am, then I don't have that report. And so that's the that's my hesitation with that one. Um, we use the Enneagram Institute here at Enneagram MBA. Um, again, I I think that there is some um ways that it could be improved. It um I'll just leave it at that. But what I do like about it is that it ranks all nine types. So you get to see where you are with all nine types. It'll give you a number. So in a quick snapshot, you get to see what your lowest scored one and what your highest one is, and then you get to see how close your top ones were. And so that is much easier to kind of hold loosely. And so what we'll recommend during our workshops is to um look at your top two or three, depending on how close they are, sometimes top four. Um, and pay attention to those during the workshop. And just know that because you ranked top, you know, highest as one particular type doesn't mean that after you go through the types, learn a little bit more, have an opportunity to ask questions, that maybe your second or third type doesn't end up being the type for you. So I I like the Enneagram Institute because it shows you all of them, it gives you a starting place, but it doesn't box you in, label you um as strongly as some of the other assessments. But ultimately it's up to you. You can do your own research. There's there's many options, but those are those are my takes on the ones that we use. Now, the goal with typing for yourself and your team isn't perfect typing. It is it is a starting point for self-reflection, for conversations. Um, a lot of times it's really interesting when teammates will ask trusted coworkers, you know, this is what I ranked. I'm kind of stuck between these two. What do you see in me? What do you, what, what resonates with you based on this description? Um, how might I be seeing myself differently? And just what a wonderful opener and conversation starter, just in that. So you really want to encourage people, not stress them out, um, you know, make them feel pressured that they have to pick their one and only type by the end of a 60-minute uh workshop or by this assessment, but encourage people to come into the session with some awareness of the Enneagram, their top types, and curiosity about their own motives, stress patterns, and communication style, as well as curiosity about others. So let participants choose one, two, like I said, maybe three types instead of forcing a single answer. Um, this just creates more conversations and less stress for people. Step two is then, okay, people have taken it. The assessment ideally two to three weeks ahead of time. Step two is the actual workshop where you are teaching the core Enneagram concept. So here you want to keep your content focused and practical as much as possible. You do not need to teach everything. And I have struggled with this myself as a facilitator. Um I would, I could fill an eight-hour full day workshop session with content alone. No talking, no activities. And I still wouldn't get through all the things I wanted to get through with the Enneagram. So, you know, keep going as the interest is there with your team. But to kick it off, you just need to share the basics. What is the Enneagram? How is it different? Um let's see, I actually have a list of things to cover. Um, what is the Enneagram? Very briefly, how is it different than some of the other assessments you might have taken? Um, share highlights of the nine types. And if you are presenting this in the workplace, ideally um adding some work context, what is um motivation versus behavior with when we're looking at the Enneagram types? You might talk a little bit about workplace pet peeves and preferences, depending on your time. You might talk about communication style, tendencies, um, feedback, tendencies, and preferences. And then we usually always for all of our presentations, regardless of the time, kind of the core for us is the nine types at work, looking specifically at strengths and overuse strengths of each type. So again, your goal here isn't to make anybody Enneagram experts, including yourself. It is to use the Enneagram as a tool to help people continue to be experts about themselves and their relationships with their coworkers. So what I hear from a lot of teams is that um they love having the shared language now of the Enneagram. When we say type A, channel your type one, turn down your type five, or turn up your type five, whatever it might be, you you'd kind of know what you're talking about. So you have this kind of insider shared language and look at ways to apply this Enneagram information, this Enneagram theory in your real world. What are some real world applications in your office on your team that you can use this? You do not have to have expert level Enneagram information. Okay. So take that pressure off yourself. Step three, um, and this is another way as the facilitator to not feel like you have to know all the answers, you have to share all the information. Um, step three is to build in real team conversations. Time and time again, we'll do surveys about what people enjoyed. Um, sure, we'll get feedback about, oh, this was really interesting information. I really enjoyed the strengths part of each type. I really enjoyed the pet peeves part. But most of the time people are saying, I loved the discussion part or I love the participation where I got to hear from my teammates what types they resonated with and why. Um, and so this is really the core of it. And the the more time that you can give um to this, the better. Now you have to do the teaching part though. I wish I could show up at a conference and just immediately launch into discussion prompts. Um, but in order to have the prompts, in order for these conversations to um be helpful and have meaning, you do have to get on the same page about what each type is, get, you know, start to learn that shared language. And then once you do, then you can have these really meaningful conversations. Um, and this doesn't have to be your one and only conversation. I, in fact, I don't recommend it. Um, I recommend this being your first conversation. Um, so you know, if you wanted to do a workshop that is an hour and then maybe reserve 30 minutes for a conversation, that is wonderful. That's a wonderful starting point. Um, this is where the magic happens, though. This is where that theory starts to come to life in the real world and in your specific world. Um instead of, you know, presenting for 90 minutes, like I said, see what you can cut out to get it back to about an hour, or you might need to cut it back to 45 minutes and um allow 15 minutes for discussion. That that's really hard to do, I will just say, but um just again, it's gonna be up to you how much time you have. Um, but instead of just presenting the slides, give people space to talk, you know, asking questions like what resonated with you, what surprised you, uh, where do you see this playing out at work? How do you see yourself using this within the team? Um, and a couple ways to do this is to have breakout groups after the session, after the information sharing part, or Sometimes what we'll do, depending on the time, as we go along each type, we'll pause and ask for a volunteer or two who's resonating most with that type to share what is resonating, what it what isn't, share a funny example. Or sometimes we'll also open it up to say, do you see a coworker? Does a coworker come to mind? And obviously you want to have empathy. You want to, you want to use those answers with responsibility and care. We don't want to call anybody, make anybody feel bad. Um, but sometimes, again, you can kind of sometimes see in others what they can't see in themselves. Um, so either way, though, you're just opening up a short little uh conversation throughout the entire presentation after each type. That's one way to do it. You if you have two hours, you could do both, both types. Um, you might also have your own ideas. Um, but those are some things that some of the conversation starters that we'll use are participation. Um, so that is the content, the discussion, and then step four is assigning fun work. And uh when we do this, I like to call it fun work and not homework. Um, this helps people continue the conversation, um, look for specific ways for using it, and then really encourage people to talk with one another. Because that's what this is. You you cannot um use the Enneagram by yourself necessarily. Um, you can again your own personal insights, um, but especially in the workplace when you're on a team, you need to say, hey, this is what these are my strengths, this is how I can lean into these more, anything that you see, this is where I sometimes can see myself overusing these strengths. These are my pet peeves, this is what I really appreciate when it comes to feedback, communication, when I'm stressed, and just start using that Enneagram language to help you advocate for yourself, and then also to understand when your teammates are sharing with them their preferences and styles and what helps them at work, what makes uh them feel supported. So we have a uh document called the How to Work With Me Blueprint. Um it is several pages of different uh question prompts on all those topics that I just shared. Um recommend completing that. So you're just kind of as an individual thinking about those. Then you can follow up with your manager, have a conversation with them, share with them, maybe they share with you. Um sometimes we'll recommend pairing up over a virtual coffee date or an in-person lunch experience and just go through your questions. And it doesn't have to be the whole document, it could be two questions, it could be a single section, um, but just something where you're talking about what you learned and then you have some questions to help you. Um, another thing that we'll sometimes do is, you know, based on the type that you are most resonating with at this moment and the strengths that we shared in the presentation, what is one way that you can lean more into that? Uh, and then reporting back, how did you do that? Or having a follow-up meeting a few days later with your manager and saying, this is what I'm committed to to doing based on my strengths, or what I might need to dial up or down with my overuse strengths. Uh, so assigning some type of action, question prompt, reflection after the workshop can be really helpful to just continue to embed it into the culture, into the team dynamics. Step five is to create a team map. So once people have had an opportunity maybe to talk to a couple worker co-workers, reflect on their own type, um, have people report in ideally with their top type, but if they're still very much stuck between two or maybe three, um, go ahead and note that and then have somebody on your team create a simple visual team map. You can just literally Google Enneagram diagram, um print it off, blow it up, depending on if you want to. You could, you know, draw your own Enneagram diagram on a whiteboard or on poster board, um, hang it up somewhere, and then have everybody with a sticky note, with um just writing it, you know, however you want to do it, but putting their name next to their top one or two types, um, and then have a follow-up discussion around what are our clusters? Where do we have a lot of similar types? What is what is great about this? Where might our gaps be? Where what perspectives might we might we be missing? Um, where are what is our leadership team look like? You could pull out the leaders of that uh general team map and say, okay, compared to the regular, the the full team, what's the relationship of what's our leadership map look like? And what does that look like compared to the general team? Um, you could look and talk about communication patterns, potential conflict uh responses, um, but just kind of opening up and starting to see some common themes, um, some potential missing themes, maybe, um, within that map. And that having that visual is a great way to um show the team kind of your collective strengths and potential opportunities for growth. And then the last one is to schedule a follow-up session. So um this might be the follow-up session, might in fact be the team map conversation. Um, it might also be just a simple open time where everybody brings their top type, uh, maybe brings a question, brings an example of how they have used it, a way that um how they think about their type after the session, a way that they've grown, something they've done to change 30 days, maybe 60 days, maybe 90 days after that initial session. Um, and you could ask questions like, you know, what stuck with you the most? What do you remember most about the session that you use in your day-to-day? Um, what changes have you noticed in yourself, in a particular relationship, on our team as a whole? Um, where did the Enneagram actually help? And so that way you are kind of seeing well, okay, what was the ROI of that time spent together? And then uh asking people, you know, what is this of interest? Is if this is helpful, what else would you like to know about it? And then looking for additional ways to continue um sharing the Enneagram insights with this team beyond that initial um session introduction. So you got the six steps again, just real quick, we'll overview. Uh, step one, you want to share a simple Enneagram assessment. Um, I shared with you three options that we have. Step two, teach the core Enneagram concepts. This is your presentation, kind of the slide deck that you're gonna present and share. Step three, build in real team conversations, whether that is baked in into the presentation, it's a breakout conversation activity afterwards, something where people have a chance to share and talk. Step four is after that, that slide deck, that session, that workshop, whatever you want to call it, um, you're assigning some sort of fun work that encourages people to talk with one another and share what they've learned about themselves from that session. Step five is creating the team map. And then step six is scheduling that follow-up session. Now, I told you I'd have a special hack for you, a shortcut for anybody who is interested. And that is our Enneagram team, dream team DIY workshop. So everything that I just shared here can absolutely be built from scratch for free. I guess depending on if you do the free assessment or not. Um, but you probably know if you've attempted this or have thought about it, you could spend 20, 30 plus hours researching the Enneagram, creating the slides, and then probably second guessing yourself. Um, so we have created the Dream Team Enneagram Workshop DIY kit, do-it-yourself kit. Um, it is built by myself, a certified Enneagram coach, um, based on um the awareness to action Enneagram framework, as well as some other um important Enneagram pieces, sometimes sprinkled in as different examples. Um, this slide deck that we have is workplace specific um that follows this exact framework built for organizations like yours. It is designed for leaders or HR partners or internal champions of the Enneagram who want to run a meaningful Enneagram workshop, but without necessarily reinventing the wheel. So our DIY kit includes a ready-to-use slide deck. It includes facilitator notes and talking points, point by point, slide by slide, you're gonna know what to say. Um, it has team discussion prompts. We have icebreakers to warm up the crowd beforehand. We have discussion prompts throughout. And then uh for the breakout activities, there is uh post-workshop activities like I just shared. The the How to Work With Me blueprint is included in this kit. Um, you have a clear structure to follow that you can feel more confident about following and delivering. Um, and then when you get the DIY kit, it always comes up until this point, it always comes with a bonus call with a member of our Enneagram MBA team to help you plan your specific event and then any questions that maybe are keeping you stuck or you're unsure of, just so that you're going into your workshop feeling confident. Um, because you you got it. You know, you know, you know, there's nothing that you can say that unless you try to, you know, judge people, label people, which I know you're not, you're not gonna do that. Um, but there's really nothing that you can say that that you're gonna just completely mess it up, but it's still a little nerve-wracking if you're not learning about talking about the Enneagram every single day, like we here we are here at Enneagram MBA. Um, so this is just a way to kind of boost the the confidence that you have going into that, ideally boost your delivery. Um, this is the same framework methodology that I personally use with our corporate clients, and it is packaged in a way so that you can run it yourself. Um so if if this is something where you kind of want to save time, um, you want something that is built specifically for teams, corporate teams, um, workplaces, this DI kit, DIY kit is is probably gonna be the easiest place to start. Um, I'm gonna include the link to it below. And then I mentioned for our podcast listeners for the month of February 2026, you are also going to get a free the free um additional lesson where it is the pet peeves and workplace preferences training. So the the core that we have for our slide deck for the DIY kit really focuses on what is the Enneagram, um, how to use it in the workplace, workplace strengths and overuse strengths. Uh, the different lenses that each type is looking through, which is plenty, but there's also some really great conversations that are had when you say what many people maybe have felt or weren't sure how to articulate when we talk about workplace, pet peeves, and preferences, and it's not a way to stir up drama or stir up friction, but rather the opposite. Hey, going into this, this is what bothers me, or this is what really means a lot to me. This is how I feel appreciated, this is what makes me not feel supported and having those conversations and your teammates not going to get it right all the time, but it's a way to kind of open up the door for a conversation, maybe that's been needed to be had for quite a while. Um, so we always get a lot of great feedback during our own workshops, and then when people add this on about the additional insight from the Workplace Petpeeves and Preferences. So when you buy the DIY kit in the month of February 2026, you are going to automatically get that additional slide deck with the additional um question prompts and discussion activity after that. So that link will be in the show notes. Um, click on that to get your special podcast listener offer. Um, some questions that we'll get, we've gotten in the past about the DIY kit. You know, can anybody run an Enneagram workshop? Yes, you do not need to have any sort of, you know, specific Enneagram training, leadership training, facilitator training. Um, we have found people who just really enjoy and are interested in the Enneagram can just be the most, can be the most wonderful um facilitators of something like this, um, especially for an internal team development. Um, so as long as you have some sort of clear structure, practical talk content, and then you're giving your group time to discuss, I mean, you're gonna be just fine. Um, do you need a paid Enneagram assessment? Not necessarily. Um free quizzes can be great for that initial awareness. Um, paid assessments typically have a little bit more depth. You'll get a report. Um, but you know, reflection that initial awareness matters more than exact typing in in the beginning. Um, other questions might be, might include or do include, I guess, how long should an Enneagram team workshop be? Um, I mentioned earlier, it's really hard to do anything really meaningful in an hour and have that meaningful discussion. So I would recommend at least 90 minutes to a half a day, um, depending on your goals and your group size and how much participation and discussion you want to have. Um, what is the biggest mistake that people make? Um, I would just say overcomplicating it. Um, you know, thinking that you have to be an Enneagram expert, um, including too much theory. And I have made this mistake myself. So if it this might be what is your biggest mistake? This is this has been mine in the past. Um, too much theory and not enough conversation. So you want to give, you want to find that sweet spot of delivering enough information so that it's meaningful, people have that awareness, people have a basic understanding of the types. And then you also want to balance it with those meaningful conversations and bringing it to life in your team. So the best Enneagram workshops are are simple. You are talking practical ways for how to use it inside your own team, and they are focused on real human dynamics at work. And when I say real human dynamics, um, it is the people on your specific team. So again, I'll say it one more time. The intention of a workshop, the intention of the Enneagram, it is never to train other people the way that we're teaching it, right? And unless we are certifying other people on the Enneagram, well, then that would be different. But in the way that we share it and the way that you're gonna be sharing it, you do not have to make people, other people, experts on the Enneagram. You are simply there to teach them how to use a tool, the Enneagram being the tool in this case, to better understand themselves and the people that they work with day in and day out. So um, whether you want to take a stab on putting these six steps into play on your own, or you want to cut that time um in half, or I would say even probably less less than half, much less than half, um, you can check out our dream team Enneagram Workshop DIY kit. Um, and for those of you listening to this in the month of February 2026, um you'll also get that additional bonus in addition to the bonus call with myself or somebody on our Enneagram NBA team to help you plan for that event. So, with that, I would love to hear from you. If you take this and you deliver your own workshop, please let me know how it went. Please let me know any success stories. Um, if you, if it went well and you're excited about it and would like to share how it went, uh, I would love to have you as a guest on the podcast. So please stay in touch. Let me know. Um, let me know if you're willing to share your success story um with others if you happen to do that. And with that, uh, I appreciate you being here. Thank you. And uh I will see you in the next one.