The Enneagram is like Nine Knives in the Kitchen

When Jessalyn and I were first married we were gifted a block of knives. I’m not sure if we still have them around, but the block held 8 to 9 different knives. Each knife had its own purpose in cooking.

I am not a chef, but I do eat, and for most of our marriage there are only three knives that I have ever really used. And it works for me.

Then there are those others in the block that I have rarely used. Like that big butcher knife as I’m afraid that I will sever a finger trying to cut the turkey. Or the little itty bitty one, which I think is for pears (why else is it called a paring knife?).
Clearly, I have my three go-to knives and have learned to use them to get things done in the kitchen, even if they aren’t technically the right knives to use in given situations.

Most of Us Aren’t Professional Chefs

Most of us aren’t professional chefs but we have developed enough skills with two or three tools to be effective in the kitchen.

Like cooking, leaders tend to lean on 2-3 dominant styles of influencing and motivating others and apply these to all situations. For the first part of their career this has worked well, but as the world gets more complex and the demand on leaders raises our initial success with these styles tends to feel more like cutting with a dull knife.

In leadership, there are 9 different styles of influencing and motivating others, which are represented in the 9 Enneagram Styles. Like when cooking, most leaders have only ever really developed or led with 2 to three styles, which likely works well 80% of the time.

However, eventually, these styles become overused and aren't as efficient as they once were. At other times, we bring the wrong knife to the table. For instance, we bring a butcher knife (enneagram 8 style) to spread butter on toast or a butter knife (enneagram 2 style) to cut a steak. Both can get the job done, but one leaves the impression of overkill with a high-risk potential (butcher knife) and the other needs to be cut 5-6 times.

The Enneagram is a Powerful Leadership Tool

The Enneagram is a powerful leadership tool to help leaders sharpen their innate leadership styles, be more mindful of how and when to use other styles more effectively and overall how to become more effective as a leader. As a successful leader, you will want to be able to bring more flexibility in your ability to use different Enneagram styles rather than just relying on your go-two top three!

Key Takeaways

- Get to know your enneagram main style by taking an assessment (this is my preferred assessment - https://bit.ly/3UHiBRp).

- Reflect, where are you over-relying on one style to get things done?

- Be purposeful in mixing it up this week on your one on ones and try a different style!