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
238. Why Enneagram Type 9s Might Not Speak Up in Meetings (Even When They Have Something to Say)
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Your Type 9 coworker may have an opinion.
They may even have a strong opinion.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to hear it in the meeting.
In this episode of Enneagram at Work, we’re looking at why Enneagram Type 9s can sometimes stay quiet in group conversations, even when they have something valuable to contribute.
For a Type 9, the issue isn't necessarily that they don't know what they think. They may still be processing their thoughts, considering everyone else's perspective, questioning whether their point is important enough to interrupt the conversation, or deciding it isn't worth disrupting the direction the group is already moving.
And sometimes, by the time they're ready to say it…the meeting has moved on.
In this episode, we explore:
- Why a Type 9's silence shouldn't automatically be interpreted as agreement
- What may be happening internally when a 9 doesn't speak up
- Why interruptions can make it especially difficult for some 9s to reclaim the floor
- How Type 9s can contribute earlier without needing a perfectly formed thought
- What managers and meeting facilitators can do to create more space for quieter voices
- Why not every Type 9 will look quiet or reserved—and how other factors, including Instinctual Bias, can influence how Type 9 shows up at work
One important reminder:
Participation isn't always a good measure of how much someone is thinking. And silence isn't necessarily agreement.
Try This
If you're a Type 9 and notice yourself waiting until your thought feels completely ready, practice entering the conversation a little earlier with:
“I'm still thinking this through, but one thing I'm noticing is…”
And if you're leading the meeting, instead of only asking:
“Does anyone have anything else?”
Try:
“What haven't we considered yet?”
Or, if someone gets interrupted, intentionally hand the conversation back:
“I think you were about to say something. What were you thinking?”
Sometimes better team communication isn't about getting people to talk more.
It's about creating the conditions where more of what people are already thinking makes it into the conversation.
Learn more about bringing the Enneagram to your team: https://www.enneagrammba.com/enneagram-team-workshops
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