How Enneagram Helps to Identify Motivations, Communication Styles, and Conflict Triggers

Let's continue our series on using personality assessments as a tactic while navigating change to dive into how the Enneagram assessment fits into the mix.

At its core, the Enneagram is a framework that has multiple components:

• 9 core personality types arranged as a polygon (think: stop sign with an extra edge) that are split into three triads
• Each core personality type has a relationship to two other personality types that are not adjacent to it, and is influenced by its wings, which are the two adjacent personality types
• An Enneagram result consists of a core personality type and one of its wings (e.g. 1w2 pronounced "one wing two")

The beauty of this framework is that it is not overly complex and taking an assessment is not extremely time consuming. You can easily spend 15 to 20 minutes after reading this to figure out what your type is.

My intent is not to make you an expert on Enneagram, rather to expose you to this framework and how it relates to change management.

So, if you're interested in learning more about the Enneagram, take a look at either Truity or Eclectic Energies, both of which offer a free assessment.

Our intent behind using the Enneagram is to understanding how an individual (including oneself) participates and reacts to change. This allows us to proactively plan the involvement for groups of stakeholders within an initiative.

There are three areas that have a strong influence on the journey and outcome of an initiative, and are always present in organizations:

1. Motivations reveal what drives someone to engage with or resist change, and by understanding motivations, we're able to align work with people that will foster adoption and express enthusiasm
2. Communication styles inform how someone prefers to share and receive information, which could be entirely different (e.g. collaborative and indirect, assertive and direct), thus by incorporating these, we're able to tailor messaging that resonates and reduces the likelihood for misunderstandings
3. Conflict triggers identify how someone might disrupt or cause tension, and by knowing what types of triggers exist, we're able to proactively mitigate potential conflicts

Let's see how these work in practice by exploring each of these areas through my lens as a 1w2 (one wing two) interacting with other personality types.

Motivations

• My core motivation is to improve things while helping others, ensuring that the results are ethical and effective
• When working with someone whose core type is 7, I need to recognize their drive to explore new ideas and avoid routine or repetitive work
• To encourage their participation in providing regular status updates, I can frame that as an opportunity for them to showcase their creativity and tie their enthusiasm to initiative's progress and the impact they have on the success thus far

Communication Styles

• My communication style is precise and direct and focused on finding the "right" way to do things
• When working with someone whose core type is 9, I need to recognize their preference for harmony and desire to avoid confrontation
• To ensure that I keep them engaged, I can ask open-ended questions and provide clear, actionable feedback that avoids unnecessary criticism

Conflict Triggers

• My conflict triggers are inefficiency, lack of accountability, and seeing quality or ethical standards be dismissed
• When working with someone whose core type is 3, I need to recognize their focus on results and tendency to prioritize outcomes over a process or specific details
• To mitigate conflict, I can emphasize how adhering to quality standards supports their goal of being successful and receiving recognition from others

TLDR: Enneagram helps identify the motivations, communication styles, and conflict triggers (along with other things) that influence how a person feels and deals with change.

As for what comes next in this series:

• On Wednesday, we're going to explore how Doshas relate to energy and stress
• On Thursday, we'll explore how those assessments complement one another in practice
• On Friday, we'll inject generative AI into the mix to see how it can improve how you and your team interact with stakeholders based on the assessments