The Enneagram: An Excellent Tool for Examining Relationships

by Gale Martin, Director of Marketing and Membership, S. Dale High Center for Family Business

Do you continue to be challenged by people do inexplicable things and act in ways you find inherently uncomfortable?

Besides, the DiSC, the Myers Briggs, and the Kiersey Temperament Sorter, another tool to help you address your inexplicable discomfort with those who don't behave like you is the Enneagram.

The Enneagram is a study of nine basic people types that helps explain why human beings react and behave in certain ways. Besides pointing to specific directions for personal growth, the Enneagram can also improve relationships with family, friends, and coworkers, and can have double the impact when your family members are your co-workers.

The roots of the enneagram hearken back to many centuries earler. Though its exact origin isn't known, it is thought to have been taught orally in secret brotherhoods in the Middle East.

Dale High, Executive in Residence at the S. Dale High Center and Chairman of the High Companies, has studied the Enneagram in depth and had this to say about it:

“I have found the Enneagram to be another of those tools that is helpful for self knowledge and personal growth. One is able to not only discern one’s own strengths and weakness through the applicable number but also to use it as a means of personal transformation. It is useful also in understanding the personality profile of others and improving our interactions with them as a result.”

Though the Enneagram can merit intense study, for those who want to tap into a little of its wisdom without devoting months of study, it has been made accessible in a book by Renee Baron and Elizabeth Wagele called, The Enneagram Made Easy.

According to Baron and Wagele, the nine types are as follows:

#1 The Reformer-- motivated by the need to live their lives the right way, which feeds their intrinsic need to improve themselves and the world around them.

#2 The Giver--motivated by the need to be loved and valued and to express their positive feelings toward others.

#3 The Achiever--motivated by the need to be productive and achieve success while avoiding failure.

#4 The Artist--motivated by the need to experience their feelings and to be understood, to search for the meaning of life and to avoid being ordinary.

#5 The Observer--motivated by the need to know and understand everything, to be self-sufficient, and to avoid looking foolish.

#6 The Questioner--motivated by the need for security which can manifest as a phobic questioning and counterphobic questioning.

#7 The Adventure--motivated by the need to be happy and plan enjoyable actitivities, contribute to the world, and avoid suffering and pain.

#8 The Leader--motivated by the need to be self-reliant and strong and to avoid feeling weak or dependent.

#9 The Peacemaker--motivated by the need to keep the peace and avoid conflict.

In any typical working environment and in any family environment, you're likely to see encounter an array of types. Helping understand what makes people tick can help you understand and respond to their behavior more constructively and to be more accepting of who they are and how they differ from you.

Though I can lapse into other modes depending on the circumstances, predominantly, I'm a #4--The Artist. And how about you? Which types do you clash with the most? Get along with the most?