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Welcome back to another episode here on the Enneagram at Work Podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Wallace, founder and managing director here at Enneagram NDA. And I'm wondering if you can relate to this question at some point in your Enneagram journey, specifically your typing journey when you were first trying to figure out your type and probably even beyond. And I'm wondering if you can relate to some version of the question. Well, I feel like I'm a type blank at work, but at home, I'm totally different. Is it possible to be two different Enneagram types? Or which one, when I'm answering the questions on a quiz, which one should I be thinking about? Because in certain situations, I would answer it with A. And in other situations, if I'm at home, I might answer it with a B. And so, you know, of course, at work, you're probably going to be a little bit more organized, a little, maybe a little bit more decisive. Maybe you're a little bit more polished. Um, maybe you even are a little bit more restrained in the workplace. And then you get home and you're a little bit more spontaneous, maybe a little bit more revealing of emotions, uh, maybe messy, or maybe you're, you know, a little more quiet, whatever it is. Um, and then people, you know, ultimately kind of ask, well, you know, which one's the real me, or which one should I be be thinking about? Well, they're both you, right? They're both, they're both you. You can absolutely show up differently. And that doesn't mean that your Enneagram type has changed. And when we're in our workshops, we do a little bit of, you know, we do some disclaimers before we introduce each of the nine types and we start talking about common tendencies, common behaviors. But it is a little risky to be talking about behaviors because it's easy for somebody to think, well, I don't do that, so I must not be an eight, or I don't do all of those things, or oh, I do many of those things on the eight list, so I must be an eight, when in reality, maybe you're a two, or maybe you're five, or you know, some other type. And so we have to get, we have to be very careful, very careful about typing ourselves based purely on behavior alone. Because of course, at work you're you're gonna be behave differently. And, you know, your workplace behavior is gonna be influenced by your specific role and what responsibilities that role has, your company culture, your manager is gonna have a big impact on how you show up, um, the expectations that your organization has around professionalism, who has authority on the team within the organization, who's rewarded, what is rewarded and what is discouraged. Uh, and then who, you know, who's around you and and what are they doing? Whereas at work or at home, a lot of those constraints are going to disappear, right? You might have the freedom to be more tired, to be more, you know, joking around and silly, you know, freedom to be more impatient, uh, maybe freedom to be more affectionate or disorganized or a little bit more outspoken or maybe a little bit more withdrawn. And and hopefully you do behave a little bit differently, you know, in a Monday morning leadership meeting than you do sitting on your couch on a Saturday night, right? Those behaviors are going to be different. But different behavior doesn't necessarily mean a different type. Um, it does mean that you are a human who responds to context. So that's a great, that's a great thing. Um, and I think the other thing to remember here is that the Enneagram isn't primarily about measuring behavior either. So we do talk about common tendencies, common behaviors, but we we do that with a lot of uh disclaimers when we when we do talk. And there are other assessments out there that maybe capture behavior more accurately. The Enneagram is not one of those tools. It cannot predict behavior. It can be descriptive and it can be prescriptive, meaning it can give you guidance on uh if you're overusing your strategy or another strategy. It can give you some pretty specific guidance on on how to remedy that or some things to look at, but it cannot predict future behavior. Um and because it it is it is not a behavior measuring tool. Ultimately, is it is a problem resolution framework. So it really looks at um kind of the patterns underneath what's going on. So we always say, uh, you've probably heard me say this at least once if you are a returning listener, that two people can can do the exact same thing, but for completely different reasons. And so if that logic is true, then the other, you know, side of this is you can have one person do two completely different behaviors, but maybe for the same underlying reason. And so at work, you might have somebody who is extremely prepared and organized and on top of every detail. And then at home, that same person might be much more relaxed and flexible. So if we only looked at behavior, then they could very much look like two different people. But underneath both of those, there might be, there probably is going to be some sort of consistent strategy, some sort of um pattern that you start to notice around, I need to know I've done my part. I want to feel competent, I don't want to disappoint people. I need to main contain, I need to maintain control of what I can. I want to keep my options open. So that's where when we start to look at those underlying strategies, kind of life philosophies, that's when we can get a little closer to that Enneagram type and that core logic. Um, we want to look for the repeating patterns or the repeating strategy, not necessarily identical behavior. So, you know, instead of do I act like this at work and at home, start to ask yourself, okay, what am I trying to accomplish underneath my behavior in both places? You know, a couple of examples might be at work, I avoid challenging my boss directly. At home, I might openly argue with my significant other. Well, those behaviors can look completely different, but probably underneath both is some concern with maintaining an important relationship. So you've just learned, you know, that different relationships require different approaches. Um, another example might be you are so detail-oriented, so meticulously prepared for a presentation. Um, and then maybe at home, you're over here also researching every detail of a vacation. So different activity, but probably similar strategy here. I've, you know, you might be thinking, I feel better when I know what I'm walking into. Right. Um, another one might be at work. Oh, I'm volunteering to lead a new project. Um, and at home, I'm the person kind of planning everyone's weekend. So different setting, similar theme, whereas I want movement, I want possibilities, I want options, something to look forward to. So, you know, we don't always want to be uh so focused on the behaviors. And so this also extends to the examples that I just shared. You know, I don't want you to type yourself based on based on these examples either. This is these are just simply kind of examples of how to look beneath your behavior. And I would say sometimes work might actually make that pattern or that strategy even more obvious. So a lot of times we tend to think, and and I've even said this in the past, and when we're we continue to kind of tweak this messaging where, you know, historically you might think, oh, at home, that's the real me. And then at work, that's kind of the fake professional me. But work can create pressure, right? You can have a lot of stress at work. There can be some really high stakes. Um, you also have to be navigating hierarchy, you have to be navigating uh deadlines, competition, uncertainty, uh, all kinds of, you know, tension, interpersonal dynamics is happening at work. And so sometimes that pressure can make those repeat patterns really obvious. You know, maybe at home you have a little bit more freedom to express yourself, whereas work gives you more opportunities to really see that strategy or those patterns in action. Neither environment necessarily is the real version of you. They're they're just, you know, again, you're just a human who is navigating context. You're you're you're showing up in the way that you you do based on home context versus you know work context for all the reasons uh that we talked about. All right, so I have a little exercise that you can do. So what I'd like for you to do is think of one recent situation at work where you had a strong reaction for whatever reason. And then I want you to think of a completely different situation outside of work where you had a similar internal reaction. I don't want you to compare necessarily what you did, but that internal reaction. And then I want you to think about what did I want in those situ those different situations? What was I trying to avoid? What felt threatening or threatened? Um what outcomes was I trying to create? And what strategy again, striving to feel perfect, connected, outstanding, unique, detached, secure, excited, powerful, and or peaceful. What strategy did I instinctively reach for? And so this is where the Enneagram can really get interesting when you really start to do this self-reflection. And that's why, you know, the typing process can be so frustrating because we cannot simply take an assessment and 100% rely on it to be 100% accurate. It can give us some data, it can help us narrow down our options. Um, but the Enneagram typing process is very self-reflective. And that's part of the growth. You know, you you get to you get to be helped by it. You get the benefits before you sometimes even understand what type you are. And that is really could potentially be a little kind of fun. Sometimes I know it's frustrating, um, but it hopefully is forcing you to ask yourself questions that maybe you haven't considered before, maybe you haven't reflected on before. And so the those are some questions that you can kind of think of in those two situations. You know, you do not in this typing process, you do not need to figure out which version, home, work, you know, whatever environment, whatever other environment, the traveling you. Um, you don't need to figure out which version is the real you. You're like you are all of them, right? The question that the Enneagram is asking of you isn't, do you behave exactly the same everywhere you go? Because of course you don't. You're a complicated, complex human being. It's more, okay. Across all of these different situations, what patterns keep showing up underneath what I do? It's the what patterns, patterns keep showing up underneath what I do? What are the patterns underneath the behavior? And ultimately, that is what the Enneagram shines light on. We have our we have our behavior out here in the front that people can see. Then we have our thoughts, that thinking that influences those behaviors. And even before we get to the thinking that influences the behaviors, we have that core logic, that feeling need that is influencing the thinking and ultimately the behavior. So if your behavior changes based on your environment, congratulations. You know, that that's adaptability. The goal isn't to become so consistent that your coworkers and your family get the exact same version of you, right? That that is not the goal. That would be really hard. And that's just not the goal. The goal, well, at least with the Enneagram, is to become more aware of this strategy that you're bringing to both. So, you know, as we sign off, we have historically, I have even been guilty of saying this, you know, at home, you're likely to be your true self. And I understand where that comes from. Um, because at home, you do have the freedom to express yourself. Whereas at work, your behavior is going to be a little bit more filtered through your role, culture, expectations, professional environment. Um, but both can tell you something about your pattern. So if you happen to be a leader or an Enneagram enthusiast with inside your organization, and you would like to bring content like this, guidance like this around understanding yourself and understanding those that you work with, ultimately starting to recognize your own patterns and the patterns of your teammates. That is exactly what happens inside of our Enneagram workshops and our Enneagram programming, um, where you can bring this to your team, you can bring it to your team and you know, uh two or three other teams that you work closely with so that you can all understand each other better. I'm gonna invite you to check out those options over at EnneagramNBA.com. Thank you for being here, and I look forward to seeing you in the next one.