Why I Use Enneagram in Coaching

So why do I use the Enneagram in coaching?

About three years ago started to use the Enneagram at the beginning of my coach engagements with everybody because what I’ve found is it is a tool that shortens the coaching path. It helps us understand really rapidly where we start as leaders, what our default stance is and where we need to grow if we’re going to have the full impact.

The other reason I use the Enneagram with leaders is that it reminds us that we have brain wisdom, heart wisdom, and somatic wisdom, and most leaders don’t have access by default to all of that. Understanding where you start helps you see where else you could grow if you had access to more of your intelligence. I’m a big believer that we have to get better at leading. The problems in our world are expanding rapidly, which means we need leaders with more and more capacity to respond to the challenges in front of ’em. 

The Enneagram is one tool that helps us see really rapidly what else we need to understand about ourselves to grow our strengths, to grow our impact, to grow, our ability to show up in the world, and it shortens the path between where you are right now and where you want to be and helps you see what the steps are going to be in the way. As a coach, it helps me actually understand how that leader needs me to talk to them to be most impactful, and it helps them see what’s happening internally for them that may be getting in the way, because what I find is that as you move up in organizations, as your role gets more complex, as the number of people you engage with expands, you tend to get into patterns and use what’s made you successful. You keep using what’s made you successful, and then something new is needed and that something new is needed is a hard place for adults. 

We want to stay with what we already know, and the Enneagram helps us see what else is possible, where if by default you want to be aggressive and move things forward, that it might be time for you to breathe and pause and listen more. Or if you’re somebody who listens really well and brings in a bunch of perspectives really easily, it might be that you need to step up earlier and you need to be more direct and clear and set a vision on a course more quickly. What I love about the Enneagram with leaders is it just shortens that path to get from where they are to where they want to be.