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
245. He Didn't Want to Be at the Enneagram Workshop. Then He Took the Assessment.
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Not everyone walks into an Enneagram workshop excited to be there.
In fact, there are usually a few skeptics in the room, and that’s okay.
In this episode, I’m sharing a recent experience from an Enneagram team workshop in Nashville. One participant admitted that he didn’t want to attend the workshop and didn’t want to take the Enneagram assessment. But after receiving his results and learning more about his Type 8 pattern, his reaction changed completely. He described how surprisingly accurate the Enneagram felt, not only in identifying his strengths, but also some of the things he knows he struggles with.
And it gets even better.
He went on to become one of the most engaged people in the workshop, asking great questions and adding perspectives that made the experience better for the rest of the group.
It was a great reminder for managers, HR and L&D professionals, and anyone facilitating the Enneagram with a team:
Skepticism doesn’t have to be the enemy of a good workshop.
You don’t need everyone to arrive already believing in, or even liking, the Enneagram. You need to create an experience that is credible, relevant, useful, engaging, and strong enough to earn their participation.
In this episode, I share:
- Why I don’t try to talk skeptics out of being skeptical
- What changed for this particular participant after taking the assessment
- Why his skepticism ultimately contributed to the workshop
- What managers can learn from this experience when they’re worried their team won’t “buy in”
- Why an Enneagram workshop doesn’t require everyone to walk through the door excited about personality typing
If you’ve thought about bringing the Enneagram to your organization but wondered, “What if some people on my team are skeptical?” this one is for you.
Thinking about an Enneagram experience for your team? Visit Enneagram MBA to tell us a little about what’s going on with your team, and we’ll help you explore an experience that fits.
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