How the Enneagram can help you become a better coach!

I first came across the Enneagram when I attended a women’s retreat in Asheville, NC, USA many years ago.

I identified as a Seven Type, and was very happy because this Enneatype appeared to have the most fun out of all of the nine numbers!

I really didn’t need another personality assessment tool. I was already accredited with several other well-known tools that I used in my consulting and leadership development work (DiSC, MyersBriggs, etc.). But…

…there was something about the Enneagram that made me curious.

I bought The Wisdom of the Enneagram – by Riso and Hudson, from a local bookstore in Asheville, and read more about my type on the plane journey home.

Back then, my professional coaching and training focused on leadership development. I helped people to improve or develop their skills and performance as leaders. My clients often found that they were struggling with the mindset and the behavioral challenges of being in a leadership role.

We all view the world through a different lens.

Interestingly, I noticed that mindset issues weren’t the same for each person, even though the learning goal was the same – individuals struggled in different ways because of the automatic conditioning they’d developed through life.

The Enneagram revealed to me specific patterns that people use as defense mechanisms that help us to show up and interact in the world. These patterns limit our thinking. They no longer serve us, or they help us to get in our own way!

All my clients were all trying to get to the same destination: being a successful leader, but they were navigating their journey through different lenses.

I realized that their individual struggles were related to the fixated aspect of their Enneagram type.

The missing piece in my coaching practice.

I began to understand the 9 enneagram types, subtypes, wings, movement and nuances. I noticed the subtle and sometimes not as subtle energetic differences in each type.

Firstly, I used the Enneagram in the background of my work. I’d reflect on sessions and explore the patterns I was seeing and then coached clients around their specific patterns. It worked!

Using the Enneagram in an intentional way, I found that I could help my clients from a much deeper place, because I confidently understood the nature of their internal struggles, and helped them move beyond their limitations, to make better choices and achieve their intended goals.

My clients became more aware of their impact on others and, by understanding themselves better, were able to work through their stuck spots, ego patterning, and move through any fear or resistance to release old conditioning that held them back.

For the first time I was able to see myself and others clearly, truthfully and without judgment, and end the challenge of struggling to decipher how others think, feel and act in different ways. This was the missing piece in my deep coaching practice.

Most personality assessments provide a light touch label. There’s no lasting understanding of what this means or how to apply it in your daily life.

The Enneagram helps me to coach deeply and get to the heart of the matter because it offers a unique insight into my client’s inner experience. It opens up new possibilities that they didn’t know were possible.

As a coach, I know that it can be frustrating when you get someone so close to a breakthrough with a client, but you know that you haven’t gotten deeply to the heart of the matter and you’re not sure what to do to get them there…

Great coaching reaches far beyond simply what works and quick fixes. Engaging your clients in a more in-depth process of self-exploration and discovery, so they can recognize their own automatic patterns and release them, is the key to successful transformational coaching.

The Enneagram has profoundly transformed my life both personally and professionally. Its wisdom consciously runs in the background of my daily life. I can’t imagine coaching without it.

It is the foundation of all my coaching, teaching, and consulting work and exactly why I created and teach my Certified Enneagram and the Coach program to coaches, therapists, consultants and service-based business owners.

If you feel there’s something missing in your coaching work, but you’re not sure what you need…

Learning about the Enneagram can deeply transform your coaching (like it did for me)!