Learning to listen: How Enneagram coaching is helping me – and Knak

I’ve always been interested in anything that makes me a better leader.

Books, mentors, coaches, courses – there’s a lot to choose from.

But of all the approaches and techniques out there, one really resonates with me right now: Enneagram coaching.

I’ve been blown away by the self-awareness the Enneagram approach has given me – so much so that we’re now using Enneagrams across all of Knak. I’m very pleased with the results, both for me as a leader and for the company as a whole.

What it is

The Enneagram approach is all about understanding yourself and the people around you.

Put very simply, it classifies people into to nine different personality types:

1. The Strict Perfectionist; 

2. The Considerate Helper; 

3. The Competitive Achiever; 

4. The Intense Creative; 

5. The Quiet Specialist; 

6. The Loyal Skeptic; 

7. The Enthusiastic Visionary; 

8. The Active Controller; 

9. The Adaptive Peacemaker.

Each person falls into one of the nine types, and each type has certain traits. So knowing your personality type – and the personality types of people you work with – builds awareness and understanding. You learn what motivates people, what sets them on edge, and how they react under stress.

The name given to each personality type varies depending on which source you consult, but their characteristics are always the same. The names listed here are from Integrative Enneagram Solutions.

You find out your type by taking a personality test. Here are a couple of options for taking the Enneagram:https://www.integrative9.com/

https://enneagramcompass.com/

How we came to use the approach at Knak

About two years ago, some former Shopify employees joined our team. They started talking about how the Enneagram approach had been useful at Shopify and suggested we try it at Knak.

In hindsight, I think they probably recognized there were some growth areas that the Enneagram could help me with. But I didn’t really connect the dots (or have enough self awareness) at the time to realize that!

It took some convincing, but eventually I took an Enneagram test. In fact, we offered the test to everyone in the company in advance of an annual company onsite.

I’d never been a big believer in tests like this, but when I got the results, I was blown away! The Enneagram test nailed my personality.

I was pegged as a Number 8 – The Active Controller, which is also called The Challenger, or The Leader, or The Assertive Type, or The Boss.

Here’s part of the description of a Number 8 from the Chestnut Paes Enneagram Academy, a site recommended by my Enneagram coach, Suzy Lister.

I really see myself here.

“Eights focus their attention on creating order out of disorder, the big picture, and who has the power. They have big energy, which can be intimidating to those around them, but they can often underestimate their impact on others.”

I then began Enneagram coaching with Suzy, which led me to understand why I do things in a certain way.

Knowing why I act and react the way I do increased my self-awareness, and that knowledge has helped me modulate my management style.

What I learned about myself

My goal as a leader right now is to be the best leader that my direct reports have ever had.

Until Enneagram coaching, I didn’t realize how my approach could be off-putting to people who look at life through a different lens. In some cases, my approach actually worked against me.

Number 8 is an active controller, in charge and laser-focused on problem-solving.

That’s great for an entrepreneur.

But it was a bit of a jolt to realize that the flipside of active controllers is that they don’t want to give up control, nor do they find it easy to collaborate.

All of a sudden, comments about me being a micromanager started to make sense!

Before I got Enneagram coaching, if someone came to me with a question or a problem, I would just give them the answer.

Now, I try to take the time to listen to their ideas, ask a few questions, and consider their solutions.

None of this is easy. It takes work. (If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?)

It’s mentally draining to be constantly aware of how you show up for others, or to realize your negative tendencies have just manifested themselves despite your best efforts.

I didn’t have time to start serious work on myself until a few months ago, once we had a new sales leader in place that gave me a bit of room to breathe for the first time in 10 years of running Knak. That’s when I started to work more consistently with Suzy.

The payoffs are huge

Here’s one example of how a shift in my approach has been beneficial to me and to the company.

If I saw a junior employee giving a demonstration of Knak to a potential customer at a trade show, I used to rush in and take over. I felt that the stakes were too high, and that no one but me could do a good job of selling Knak.

Thanks to my Enneagram coaching, I have learned to keep myself in check.

At a recent event, I saw a junior employee start giving a demo to a very big customer. Instead of pushing him aside, I forced myself to stand back and watch from the sidelines.

You know what? I was super impressed. That employee did an awesome job! And afterwards I told him so, which I hope was a boost to his confidence.

Before Enneagram coaching I would have undermined my own employee by taking over.

I can now see that my style and approach used to create problems instead of solve them. I was sometimes doing the exact opposite of what I should have been doing.

That’s a tough thing to accept.

So I’m learning to bring out the positive attributes of my personality type, and recognize and contain the negative attributes. I’m also learning to trust people.

Learn about yourself, learn about others

The other big thing I’ve learned from Enneagram coaching is how to work with people to bring out their best.

Everyone is motivated by different things.

Having my leadership team work with Suzy has helped us understand each other better.

Because she has such a good grasp of what makes them tick, she’s able to help me gain a better understanding about where they’re coming from and what they care about.

That knowledge is very useful for all of our employees.

As I said earlier, we had everyone in the company take an Enneagram test; in fact we’ve started using it during onboarding, as a tool to help understand the personalities of new hires.

We’re using that information to support how people interact internally.

For example, every employee is identified by Enneagram type in BambooHR, our human resources management platform, and in Slack. So when you’re Slacking with someone, you can see what kind of person you’re dealing with. That’s proving to be very powerful, because people can understand how their colleagues approach problem-solving, or how they react when stressed.

Assessing the limits of the Enneagram approach

As we explore the Enneagram approach, we get a better understanding of its uses and its limitations.

I find it’s been most helpful in supporting individuals to understand what makes them tick.

But while it is useful for inter-personal relations, Enneagram typing has its limitations.

That’s because Enneagram types are a complex and rich assessment. While it’s helpful to know one colleague is a Strict Perfectionist and another an Intense Creative, that doesn’t mean everyone is up for diving into that kind of complexity. There are a lot of different layers to each type, and different elements come out when a person is stressed.

Another limitation is its usefulness in hiring.

I wondered at one point whether Enneagram typing could help us by narrowing down options during the hiring process. Were all the best salespeople, for example, always one Enneagram type?

After looking at the data, we found that wasn’t the case. We had successful employees in all departments of each type.

The only thing we did find was that there was a high proportion of Type 7 people at Knak. These are Enthusiastic Visionaries. These people are risk-takers, so perhaps it’s no surprise to find a lot of them at a start-up!

Building Enneagrams into our culture

For me, the advantages of the Enneagram approach outweigh any limitations.

That’s why I want to keep working with the enneagram. In particular, I want to learn how to show up better in relation to the personality type of the person I’m dealing with. For me, that’s the next level: Being aware of who I’m working with, and adapting my approach to who that person is.

I also want to work on controlling the negative traits of my Number 8 type that emerge when I am stressed. I’ll know I’ve made real progress when I can master myself in stressful situations.

Overall, I think Enneagram coaching is one of the best things I’ve ever done to improve my leadership skills.

It’s also been surprisingly beneficial at a personal level, which was an added bonus!

And I know our employees like it.

I plan to continue to shine the light on the Enneagram approach at Knak, and work with intention to make it a permanent part of our culture.