Managing Personality Types

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Managing Personality Types
Enneagram Personality Types
MTL Course Topics
ENNEAGRAM
PERSONALITY TYPES

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MTL Course Topics
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MTL Course Topics
ARE YOU READY?
OK, LET’S START!

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MTL Course Topics
INTRODUCTION
A study of human personality types such as the Enneagram
has three benefits for managers of people.
Firstly, it enables them to identify the key characteristics
that will affect how people do a job. We know, for example,
that a One will do a piece of work conscientiously, while a
Three will make it look good and a Seven will take a great
interest in it.
This knowledge leads to the second benefit: helping us
predict how people will behave in certain roles at work, for
example, as team leaders, as team players, as selection
interviewers, as trainees.
The third benefit of an understanding of a typology such as
the Enneagram is that it can give us clues as to how people
can best be developed and thus enable us to make better
decisions about personal change and growth.

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MTL Course Topics
PEOPLE PROBLEMS
All workplaces experience people problems. It is the
inevitable consequence of bringing people together with
different viewpoints, different frames of reference and
different personalities.
In many cases, these people problems can lead to misery.
Conflict may simmer below the surface for a long period of
time. People can play endless games of winning and losing.
Or the differences can erupt into outright hostility, stand-up
rows, open conflict and even verbal and physical violence.
When such problems go unresolved, or are badly handled,
everyone suffers. Individuals hate coming to work.
Managers lose control. Productivity and service suffer.
Managers owe it to themselves, their staff and their
organisations to manage people, and, by implication, their
personality differences.

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MTL Course Topics
AWARENESS
The wrong way to go about managing people is to ignore
the differences between people that derive from personality
type. To pretend that everyone should be treated the same
and in turn should perform the same is a denial of the
diversity of personality types.
The manager who demands that a Four should stick to petty
routines, or that a Five should be more upfront, or that a
Three should take a backseat role, is ignoring the way
people are. He or she is likely not only to have poorer
results but a disenchanted and demoralised team.
The way to manage people and their personalities is to work
with the way people are. This means an awareness of the
unique contribution people bring to the team; an
acceptance that personality type is a reality that you cannot
change; and a desire to develop people and their
characteristics to get the best out of them.

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MTL Course Topics
THE VALUE OF WORK
Each of us values work from the perspective of our own
personality type.
A One values work that is purposeful, organised, well
thought-out, practical and the result of effort.
A Two values work which involves collaboration with others.
A Three values work which helps them to achieve the
admiration of others.
A Four values work which uses their talents.
A Five values work which collects information and leads to
more knowledge.
A Six values work which is authorised by someone in power.
A Seven values work which gives them chance to explore
new ideas, new possibilities, new openings.
An Eight values work which results in overcoming a
problem.
A Nine values work when it requires little effort and flows
naturally, easily and as part of the way things should be.

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MTL Course Topics
TYPES OF LEADERS
The Enneagram enables us to distinguish nine leadership
types.
1. the prescriptive leader who leads by moral principle (eg
Cromwell; Montgomery)
2. the group or team leader (eg Abraham; Lord Nelson)
3. the success leader who is charismatic and attractive (eg
Alexander the Great; John Kennedy; Tony Blair)
4. the inspirational leader (eg Mahatma Gandhi; Lawrence
of Arabia)
5. the intellectual leader (eg John Harvey-Jones; Einstein)
6. the managerial leader who leads by administrative
control of resources (eg Clement Attlee; Bismarck)
7. the adventure leader (eg Sir Walter Raleigh; Sir Richard
Branson)
8. the conquering leader (eg Winston Churchill; Golda Meir)
9. the gentle leader (eg John Major; Nelson Mandela)

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MTL Course Topics
TYPES OF LEARNERS
The Enneagram enables us to distinguish nine different
types of learner and learner style.
1. the organiser who likes to learn "by the book"
2. the interacter who likes to learn with others
3. the adapter who likes to learn by copying what works
elsewhere
4. the discoverer who likes to learn by experimenting
5. the picturer who likes to learn by visualising
6. the authority-seeker who likes to learn from authoritative
information ie verifiable facts, figures and statistics
7. the performer who likes to learn from doing
8. the reactor who likes to learn from testing and seeing
reactions
9. the natural who likes to learn intuitively.

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MTL Course Topics
TYPES OF INTERVIEWERS
types of recruitment interviewer.
1. the stickler, who likes to do things according to policy
2. the helper, who likes to get an instinctive feel about
others
3. the achiever, who likes to select winners like themselves
4. the prober, who likes to find out what makes the
interviewee tick
5. the observer, who likes to get an overall picture
6. the questioner, who likes to check out the credentials of
each applicant carefully before committing themselves
7. the side-tracker, who likes to share enthusiasms and
passions with applicants
8. the boss, who likes to put candidates under pressure
9. the avoider, who likes to stand back and see what
happens.

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MTL Course Topics
TYPES OF TIME MANAGERS
types of time manager.
1. the perfectionist, who spends time doing error-free work
2. the socialiser who spends time mainly with others
3. the producer, who spends time on work that has a
productive result
4. the artist, who takes time to create unique work in his or
her own time
5. the analyser, who spends more time on thinking than
doing
6. the doubter, who procrastinates, hesitates and questions
rather than take the plunge
7. the hurrier, who is always busy with things to do
8. the rebel, who likes to overturn the constraints of time by
running late and ignoring conventions
9. the wanderer, who dislikes keeping to time and the
deadlines of time.

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MTL Course Topics
TYPES OF TEAM PLAYERS
types of team player.
1. the person who reminds the team of its rules (the moral
role)
2. the person who most looks after team spirit (the
relationship role)
3. the person who wants to hit the goal (the winner role)
4. the person who stirs things up and questions the way
things are done (the creative role)
5. the team's eyes and ears (the observer role)
6. the person who ensures that the team is working to plan
(the checker role)
7. the person who makes sure all the little jobs get done
(the go-fer role)
8. the person who inspires everyone else (the leader role)
9. the person who identifies with everyone else and keeps it
all together (the co-ordinator role).

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MTL Course Topics
ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance of the way people are is the second stage in
managing personality types. Acceptance bridges the gap
between Awareness of type and Development of type.
Accepting the way others are is not always easy. In industrial
organisations, people were required to conform to
standards, obey the rules and meet the targets. That was all.
Personalities were irrelevant and confusing. It was better to
treat everyone the same and ignore the things that made
them different.
As our workplaces emerge from the industrial age into a
new information age, managers need to look on people in a
different light. People are now the key resource. Their
individual contributions are the new added value. If we are
to make the most of the people who work for us, we cannot
ignore and deny what makes them the way they are. We
need to understand and accept them.

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MTL Course Topics
PERSONALITY AND GROWTH
Personal development and growth is the third step in the
management of personality types. We arrive at personal
development following an awareness of who we are, or
what personality type we are, and an acceptance of the
present characteristics in our make-up. The Enneagram
offers a number of signposts to help us grow.
George Gurdieff believed that we are not born as one
personality type but actually work our way around the
points of the Enneagram in a quest for personal fulfilment.
Thus, we may start, say, as Sixes, but by development, move
to an ultimate position of point Three.
Oscar Ichazo, on the other hand, saw each category as an
independent reality. He believed we are born a type and
stay that type throughout our lives, moving away only by
conscious effort to develop ourselves. The fascination of the
Enneagram is that it allows us to treat each type as separate
yet capable of evolution.

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MTL Course Topics
PATHS TO GROWTH
The Enneagram as a model of personality types offers three
main ways in which we can grow.
1. We can move along the spectrum of psychological health
within our own personality type. For example, the self-
obsessed four can develop ways to convert their sensibilities
for the benefit of others, perhaps in artistic endeavours.
2. We can recognize the limiting aspects of our personality
type and lessen our reliance on them. Thus, the compulsive
tendency of ones to produce perfect work can be lessened
by accepting work that is just good enough.
3. We can identify those points on the enneagram that are
our integrating points and consciously learn to develop
ourselves in line with them. Thus, the Two can learn that at
point Four, their integrating point, they can develop an
awareness of their own needs and feelings.

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MTL Course Topics
TO INTEGRATE OR NOT?
Our moods, feelings and physical comforts mean that we
are never in a state of complete psychological wholeness.
We are either moving in the direction of psychological
growth, integration, or in the direction of psychological
decline, disintegration.
Integration occurs when we move towards awareness and
acceptance of ourselves and others. We become more
whole by adding those bits to our personalities that we
usually deny. At our integrating points, we feel more open
and assured. We act spontaneously. It is what we feel when
we let go of our compulsions and loosen up.
Disintegration occurs when we lack awareness of ourselves
and others, refuse to accept who we are with all our faults,
and through fear and hostility, either blame others or
ourselves. In disintegration, we feel victims. We become
fragmented personalities.

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MTL Course Topics
TOWARDS WHOLENESS
The Enneagram's significance for those who manage others
is that it offers clues as to how people can take the lifelong
and never-complete journey of moving towards
psychological wholeness.
Implicit in the idea of integration or wholeness is that our
personality types limit us in some way. This is because they
are essentially defensive mechanisms based on a view of
the world as hostile. When we move towards our
integrating points, we no longer see the world as
threatening but as safe and trusting.
At our integrating points, we overflow with creativity. Here
we suddenly become more attractive to others. In many
ways, we are going against our natural or learned strategies,
but in doing so, we become more human. It is here that we
start to fulfil our potential.

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MTL Course Topics
PATHWAYS TO WHOLENESS
One of the secrets of the Enneagram is that it allows us to
discover pathways along which we can develop our
personality types in the direction of wholeness.
There are two separate cycles corresponding to the
mathematical structure of the model. The equilateral
triangle at the centre moves in a clockwise direction: 3 to 6
to 9; the numbers on the hexagon move from 7 to 5 to 8 to
2 to 4 to 1 to 7.
1's at 7 open up possibilities ("I'd like to" not "I must")
2's at 4 look inside themselves not just out to others
3's at 6 think about others not just about themselves
4's at 1 connect with solid facts not just emotions
5's at 8 are willing to act not just watch
6's at 9 trust others not just weigh them up
7's at 5 stop and think not just rush on
8's at 2 become compassionate not just power-seeking
9's at 3 act on what they want not just on what others want.

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MTL Course Topics
TOWARDS ALIENATION
At some time or another we all move to our points of
disintegration. This can occur when we feel fed up (possibly
from doing too much of one type of activity); alone (from
not making connection with others); overwhelmed (when
we let our emotions, thoughts or anxieties get the better of
us); and tired (when we lack energy).
In most healthy personalities, the movement to
disintegration points is only temporary. Indeed, it may be
the best way for us to deal with stress. Once we have had a
period of being at the negative point, which may be like a
period of the blues or a spell of self-pity, we usually return
to our type point. In cases of serious psychological disorder,
however, people may remain at their disintegration points.
In these cases, they may need specialist help.
The Enneagram model helps us track the disintegration
points for each personality type.

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MTL Course Topics
PATHWAYS TO ALIENATION
Just as the Enneagram model gives us pathways to
wholeness and connectedness, so it also gives us pathways
in which personality types move towards alienation and
conflict. These pathways move in an opposite direction to
the healthy directions.
On the central triangle, the types move anti-clockwise from
9 to 6 to 3. On the hexagon, they move from 1 to 4 to 2 to 8
to 5 to 7 to 1.
1's at 4 get melancholic instead of practical
2's at 8 become bossy instead of helpful
3's at 9 become indecisive instead of dynamic
4's at 2 become dependent instead of self-possessed
5's at 7 spew out ideas instead of thinking them through
6's at 3 charge ahead instead of weighing things up
7's at 1 stick to a rigid way instead of playing with many
8's at 5 become withdrawn instead of bold
9's at 6 become suspicious instead of trusting.

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MTL Course Topics
A PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE
The Enneagram provides us with a model of action for
dealing with a difficult member of staff, eg a disciplinary
problem or a personal problem.
Point One: find out what's wrong; check rules and
procedures; ask what should have happened that didn't
Point Two: talk to the person one-to-one; get to know them
Point Three: find out the effect of the problem on their
performance and the team's performance
Point Four: get to the bottom of things; ask how they feel
Point Five: try to get all the facts; get the big picture; start to
form some kind of view
Point Six: check the organisation's policy; the boss's view
Point Seven: take action to put things right
Point Eight: if the case points to an injustice in the system,
fight to put it right
Point Nine: leave well alone and see how things turn out.

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MTL Course Topics
TAKING A DECISION
The Enneagram provides us with a model for analysing the
issues we might consider before making a decision.
Point One: what should I do? what is the right way to go?
Point Two: what do other people think I should do?
Point Three: what is the best way to reach my goals?
Point Four: how do I feel about the options?
Point Five: what are the key facts? do I have all the
information?
Point Six: what are the risks?
Point Seven: what action will I need to take?
Point Eight: what do I really want to do, if there was nothing
stopping me?
Point Nine: what is the easiest route?

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MTL Course Topics
THE BUSINESS CYCLE
The nine points of the Enneagram offer us a way to look at
the nine stages of the business cycle. Each stage
corresponds with the themes of that point on the
Enneagram.
Point 1: the vision of a new goal.
Point 2: how does the project help others?
Point 3: decision: can it succeed? Will it work or not?
Point 4: confronting difficulties: forging something unique
and special.
Point 5: creating a mental model: mapping out systems,
procedures and structures.
Point 6: decision: weighing up the risks: do we go on or give
up?
Point 7: intense activity; no doubts; application of skills.
Point 8: conquest and triumph: an intense period of getting
what we want until the goal is achieved.
Point 9: decision: do we rest content or start something
new?

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THE AGES OF MAN
The nine ages of Man, from birth to death, are like a journey
through the nine points of the Enneagram.
Year 0 to 7: the need to be loved by others (point 3)
Years 7 to 14: the need for outside structures (point 6)
Years 14 to 21: the need to understand the world (point 5)
Years 21 to 28: the need to be needed by others (point 2)
Years 28 to 35: the need for material comforts (point 7)
Years 35 to 42: the need to have control (point 8)
Years 42 to 49: the need to fulfil one's potential (point 1)
Years 49 to 56: the need to leave one's mark (point 4)
Years 56 to 63: the need to find peace (point 9)

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MTL Course Topics
THAT’S
IT!
WELL DONE!

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MTL Course Topics
THANK YOU
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn

Managing Personality Types

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