Why I Use Enneagram in Coaching

Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and flow.

Why I use the Enneagram in coaching

About three years ago, I started using it at the very beginning of my coaching engagements with everyone. What I’ve found is that it’s a tool that shortens the coaching path. It helps us understand, very quickly, where we start as leaders, what our default stance is, and where we need to grow if we’re going to have the impact we want.

Another reason I use the Enneagram with leaders is that it reminds us we have three kinds of intelligence: brain wisdom, heart wisdom, and somatic wisdom. Most leaders don’t have natural access to all of that. When you understand where you start, you can 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 what’s in front of them. The Enneagram is one tool that helps us see, quickly, what else we need to understand about ourselves, so we can grow our strengths, grow our impact, and grow our ability to show up in the world. It shortens the distance between where you are right now and where you want to be, and it helps you see what the steps are along the way.

As a coach, it also helps me understand how a leader needs me to talk to them to be most impactful. And it helps them see what’s happening internally that might be getting in the way. What I find is that as you move up in organizations, as your role gets more complex and as the number of people you’re engaging with expands, you tend to rely on the patterns that made you successful. You keep using what’s worked in the past. But eventually something new is needed, and that “something new” can be a really hard place for adults.

We want to stay with what we already know. The Enneagram helps us see what else is possible. If your default is to be aggressive and move things forward, it might be time to pause, breathe, and listen more. If you naturally listen deeply and bring in lots of perspectives, it might be time to step in earlier, to be more direct, more clear, and set a course more quickly.

What I love about the Enneagram is that it shortens the path. It helps leaders get from where they are to where they want to be with more clarity, more awareness, and more choice.