16: Enneagram 101: 8 Ways The Enneagram Builds Stronger Communication in Business

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Welcome to the Becoming Bulletproof podcast. I am your host, Tracy o'.

Malley. I'm a mom to millennials, an author.

Enneagram expert and multi million dollar entrepreneur.

And master performance and business coach.

I've gone from rock bottom to building a bulletproof business and life.

If you're looking for the unfiltered transparent truth and ethos an extra kick in the ass, you will discover that here.

Each week I'll be bringing you success stories of high level entrepreneurs as we discover how they became bulletproof and created their empire. You'll learn the story behind the glory along with Enneagram inspired truths so you can ignite your own purpose, profits and build your legacy. It's time for you to become bulletproof.

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Hello and welcome to this episode of Becoming Bulletproof. And it is Ennea Talk Tuesday. And today I wanted to talk to you about using the Enneagram in business. And there are many different topics I can talk to you about with business in the Enneagram and how to leverage it and use it so beautifully to, you know, move the needle in your company for profits, to have a better culture in your business, to have effective communication where you don't have to have as many meetings. You can really have people going where you need them to go to get the goals done that you want done. And it's, it's been something I have thoroughly enjoyed. And if you are a business owner or a leader in a network marketing company, or run a marketing team, a sales team, any kind of team in a business or organization, or even if you're leading your crew at home, know that I am a magnificent practitioner that comes in and really helps you understand this. I help you. You use this in a way that you know, gets the things done that you want to get done. So today I'm going to just share eight ways that the Enneagram is used in business. Obviously I can go into detail at another date, but I just really wanted you to think outside the box. If you're a business owner or a coach or any of the things I said, anytime you are leading people, then this is something that keeps it simple. That is a very clear map to know who you're dealing with. But here's the thing. Before you try to start using this with other people, you gotta go first. Leaders go first. And doing your own level of mastery of your own personal self awareness must come first. So that's why any team that I've gone into, help or corporation, whoever is the one leading the Charge goes first, and I work with with them.

First so they can understand. It's one of those things where, you know, how can you tell people to do something that you aren't willing to do, right? Or if you don't understand what it feels like, it's never going to translate properly. So the Enneagram is an excellent tool, honestly, to help your business grow. No matter what type of business you run, we all want it to be successful, right? We all want to make a difference in the world. I know you do. You want to do what you actually enjoy, and you want to make a living doing it. Like, how great is that? To find what you're passionate about, what you're great at, and make a living at it. So the thing with the Enneagram is it can help you to bring out the best in the people that you lead. I can help bring out the best with the owners, the management, and the staff. It can help you and your organization be at its value very, very best. Because how many times have you tried to communicate something in a way that you clearly understand? And you are talking to whoever is in front of you, and it's like the lights go out, the gloss over, you know, it's gone way over their head, and it creates frustration. And, you know, when we don't have clarity, you know, balls get dropped and then frustration builds and resentment and, you know, communication goes to shit. And all the things, right, that will have a definite influence on your profits, on your productivity, all of it, right? So it's important that you use it to learn more about yourself. Then it's really important to understand who you're working with and leading, you know, understanding what makes you tick and how your communication style might have an effect on certain people. Why do I see the world the way that you do? Why do you get along better with particular people? Why do people annoy me? Why do certain types of people annoy you? The Enneagram can help shine the light on the patterns in your life that become a problem, especially when you act them out unconsciously. And those are the ones that frustrate us so much. You know, the thing where we, like, I know better, but I'm not doing better. I know better, but I'm not doing better. And so you've heard me talk about the Enneagram before, and briefly, I'll say there are nine basic different personality types. You know, there's 27 if you've been listening to me for a while. But there's nine basics. And at an early age, you're given a personality to survive in this world, and you could not survive without that ego. The trouble begins is when you become an adult and remain unconscious of your autopilot patterns. So the Enneagram really helps you discover your type, giving you tools that you need to move beyond.

The limitations of your own personality. And here's the thing. There's no one personality that's better than the other. We've all got beautiful strengths and gifts and we've all got things that, holy heck, they can come and blindside us. They're kind of like our Achilles heel, you know? The Enneagram can help you point to where you get stuck. It's not an excuse to behave a particular way. And also I said it's not to be used as a weapon on yourself. And the good news is it shows you a way out from those patterns, from those habits and a way to freedom to helping you get stronger and embody some of the other personality types as well. The healthier you are, and the healthier the people in your business are, the more profitable your business will be, the more productivity that you will have. And so let's dive in. Here are eight ways that the Enneagram is used in business for success. So the number one thing like I've talked about, is self awareness. Self awareness of each member of the organization is so crucial to the wellbeing of any group. First of all, if you're not self aware, you're going to make poor decisions, right? You're going to just be reacting, reacting, reacting. And the Enneagram can help you become aware of your patterns that no longer serve you. So I'll quickly go through the patterns of each type very, very quickly and how this may show up in business. So one, the reformer. You always need to get things perfect, right? That definitely can hold things up. Type 2, the helper. You have a habit of ignoring your own physical and emotional needs and you create codependency. And even in a work environment, especially network marketers, I see this happen all the time. You just over give and you drag people along. And that doesn't serve a business at all. You're going to get burnt out, you're going to get resentful, all the things. Type 3, the Achiever. You are preoccupied with the need for approval. So you can kind of be a bulldozer sometimes. You can put the blinders on. So this is where you can get slipped up in business, where you kind of move the finish line thinking you're going to have this feeling when you get to a certain level of success and then it feels unfulfilling for the individualist. You often get stuck in a favorite emotion. They can be stuck in extremes of emotions. And we all know like misery loves company. Sometimes that can happen. And also you can be distracting when you're like riding high as a kite, right? And you know, being able to compartmentalize a little bit more and understand that you don't have to be so expressive at all times and just harness, you know, hone in on your gifts will be really effective for you. 5. The investigator. You have a tendency to isolate from those around you. Hoard information, hoard energy, all the things. And you guys have so much wisdom to share with the world. And here's the little tip, it won't, it won't defeat you or deplete you. The sixth, the loyalist. You have the challenge of seeing problems where there are none. So you can almost be like worst case scenario thinking all the time. And that can slow down processes, productivity.

And things like that. The seven, the enthusiast. You get bored quickly and have trouble finishing what you start. Enough said there. Eight, the challenger. You can come across as overly forceful and create quite honestly a tense work environment if you're not careful. Hint, hint, I know that this one very well. Nine, the peacemaker. You need to watch out for your tendency toward passive aggressive behavior and almost the stubbornness. So that's the one way understanding your own self awareness and how you operate will also maybe make an impact on what kind of careers you pick, businesses you run, jobs you take people that work alongside you better. And here's the thing, you don't necessarily want a team full of you. That is the number one thing I can tell you. You don't want a team full of you because the goal is to have people with all different gifts working together. The key is to be at the highest health level that you can with your within your type. Number two, how we use the enneagram in business is communication. This is my number one superpower. I can communicate with anyone and I'm here to tell you if I can. This is possible for anyone because I was like I said, you guys know I'm an eight the challenger. I pretty much didn't give a shit what anybody else thought and that doesn't really bode well for communicating. So the more you learn about your type and the types of those around you, the better you are able to communicate. You know, everybody leads, everybody wants to be seen, heard and understood. And when you can communicate in a way that everybody around you, especially those that you lead, feel seen, heard and understood. You're going to bring out the best in them. You're going to help make those around you better. And you're going to be able to be compassionate. And when people feel like you have compassion for them, they will do anything. The Enneagram helps you understand why each of us sees the world differently. When you understand that each personality type maybe see things differently and it isn't maybe. I know I was guilty of this. I believe people were disrespecting me or trying to hurt me. And it really is just. They see things very, very differently. And when you can understand that and you aren't taking things as personal and you aren't resentful, you can speak what's in it for them all the time.

I've said this before. When you can speak to people in their language of their type, you are going to be more effective. You're going to get less frustrated. You're going to get a lot more done. And we all know what that does. It increases products, culture, profits, culture, productivity. All the things that really matter in a successful business.

Working with the Enneagram also helps you to own your own stuff. It always takes two. Always, always, always. It helps you from. It prevents you from reading into other people's behaviors, like I said. And it helps reduce the chance of serious conflict. Now, we're human. We're all going to have moments where we disagree, and that's totally okay. But when we can understand the come from at least on their basic type. I'm telling you right now, I never take anything personal, ever. And let me tell you, I get a lot more done because I'm not like wrapped up in the energy of conflict. Which takes me to number three. Conflict resolution. Anytime you have people in a room, organization, business, team with different ideas, you're going to have conflict. The challenge is to use the conflict constructively. And the Enneagram can point each type to see where you get stuck. It gives you tools to free yourself from your own stuff that often get in the way of resolving issues. Sometimes when you're stuck in your personality, it's difficult to resolve any conflict because your bag of tools is limited. So imagine that you only have 1/9 of the tools available to you when you're stuck in your personality with all these other personalities that can help you bring clarity. Your toolbox expands and. And as you get healthier in all the nine types, your life tool bag expands to deal with the complexities of interpersonal conflict. You are more able to hear what your colleague and partner and teammate is or child or spouse is trying to tell you. You have the skills to deal with difference of opinions and you can see where everybody can win win and that benefits everyone. Self care. You ever wonder why you have such a difficult time balancing your needs and obligations in life? Yep. Me too. The Enneagram can help you understand why you have particular challenges and finding that balance. You know. For example, if you identify with the type 2 personality called the Helper, you can become so focused on helping others that you forget that you have your own needs. If you recognize with the type 5 personality, you might remember your need to take care of your body with exercise and good food. So that self care requires you to find harmony within your three intelligence centers, which last week's podcast was about the triads, right? Your body needs you to pay attention because it will tell you when you're out of balance. And how is this effective in business? Because if you aren't in balance, you're going to make decisions based on reactions and you won't maybe be paying attention to your heart. And your heart will guide you to love yourself and those around you. Your quiet mind will help you to learn to trust your inner guidance system. So it's really, really.

Important for our self care. Reason number five, the Enneagram is powerful in business is your organizational structure. And this is one of my favorite things to do with businesses. I love going in. It's like putting a puzzle together. Because a healthy organization requires people to use their gifts, most careers, jobs, teams in an organization relate closer to a particular Enneagram type or at least one of the TRI types, right? The intelligence centers, the specific type of jobs require people with certain personality types. For example, you probably don't want a person doing customer service that is a type 8, right? Because we can quickly overwhelm a customer. I was in customer service a long, long time and I actually did pretty well. But.

You know, we can we speak at an intensity level so it can overwhelm a customer. A type 9 is a peacemaker or a type who's are really good at details so they just might be the better fit for the job. This is not to say honestly that only one specific type can work in certain jobs. A healthy person, somebody who's healthy in their personality and type, who has the strengths of all nine types, could work just about any job. But each person will find different jobs more appealing because the position requires them to use their superpower, right? If this is like one of your things, like it's, it makes it so much easier to do a great job. Now, you can learn other ways, but we want to do what comes natural and what our superpowers are. But a healthy business requires a diversity of skills and personalities to help the organization as a whole. So what I love is when I'm going into a team with a business or an organization as a whole, or like network marketing teams and executive teams, I love being able to let everyone know who is in the room. And especially when we have certain tasks and you have certain goals that you want to hit as a team, knowing what you're working with allows you to put the right people in charge of the right things. And when people are doing things that they're good at, confidence gets built. And when confidence gets built, they're more productive and they're happy. Right? Because when you have the right people in the right positions, the organization is more likely to work together harmoniously. And let's just be real, a harmonious team is a more profitable one, which that's what we all want. We want to be effective when our time is being used for business.

6. The management style. I love this one too. I love going into organizations and helping a healthy manager. And a healthy manager is one that knows themselves well. So usually before I come in and help with the team, I will work very closely with the person in charge, the leader, the parents, whatever. Because in order to effectively lead, you have to lead yourself first. And the Enneagram can help each person in charge be at their best. And let's just be real, whether you're a parent or somebody that leads people, people will do what we do, not what we say to do. And if you are mastering your own kind of posture, even if the people around you have different personality types, they're going to follow your lead because you're going to be able to identify maybe some of your shortcomings or where you kind of go off the rails a little bit. And when they. When people that are looking to you for guidance and direction, when they see you owning your shit, not beating yourself up, they're going to follow your lead. So this tool can help you as a leader to identify your own strengths and weaknesses. It provides you with suggestions as what you need to work on to be more productive. A leader that knows their team well will find absolutely the best ways to encourage each of their teammates. So here's the thing. Let's say you have a team, you know, and you do recognition. There's going to be people in your team that could give a shit about recognition. I'm one of those people. You're going to have people in your team that are driven by quality time and clear direction. You're going to have some people in your team that are all about the fun factor, and none of them are wrong. But when you, as a leader, understand who you are working with and can feed their motives, you're going to bring out the best in them. And when you learn the best ways to work with each of your teammates, each person, depending on their personality and their emotional health, are going to need different skills. And you're going to discover those strengths of each of them and be able to encourage them to continue working on the things that are holding them back. And it won't be coming from this critical place. It will be coming from a place of seeing, hearing, and understanding them. And they will feel that compassion that you have.

Number seven. And this is a big. I mean, we're all in business because of the bottom line. We are all concerned with the bottom line. I don't care if you say no. I just want to make an impact. No, you know, let's just be real. Cash is king and money is as important as oxygen. And all businesses are concerned with the bottom line. And a company that has a group of healthy leaders and people are going to be the ones that make the most money and have the satisfaction of making a difference in the world. Healthy and satisfied teammates will require less sick leave. So if you're running an organization, you want to have people calling out a lot less, create a healthy and satisfying environment. And you know, when you understand them, they're going to want to show up. They will be more efficient, they will do great work. Customer service will get stronger. People will stay in your organization longer because they are happy and satisfied with the work they do. You will lower your need to find new people as often as you have before. And I've told this story before, but when I was building my network marketing business, I needed a lot less people to do the job of what a lot of teams needed. About four or five times the amount of people that I had. My first 82 people I leveraged to make a million dollars. That is usually not done, but because I could understand everyone and communicate with everyone and know how to speak to them in a way that brought out their very best, which built their confidence and excitement and joy and purpose, I was able to do that and keep them around a long, long time. They do great work.

A healthy team that does excellent customer service and love and caring for Everybody involved is going to become popular with customers. People will keep coming back to your organization and let's just be real retention and return customers always add to the profit line. They become our most significant advertisers because they recommend you to people, places, friends, family, all the thing, all the things. The important part also for the Enneagram in business is casting a vision. Because the Enneagram helps you to vision with a body that's present, a heart that is open and a mind that is calm. And when you are leading the charge and creating casting vision for people, visioning requires you, your teammates to be present. Anyone that is stuck in their own personality is going to get in the way of your business's health team. Players who are stuck.

Will allow their own personal stuff to get in the way of their ability to do their beautiful work. Which I know we all want to do a good job, but when we are stuck, it feels like we're in concrete or quicksand and we can't move at the pace that we're supposed to to get the job done. So the Enneagram can help you connect with your higher self. So when you're casting that vision, it's you're open to that wisdom within you. When you are at your best self, not just within you, but around you, new ideas emerge that have the potential to take you and your company in new and exciting directions. The Enneagram for business can help you and your organization to be healthier, happier, meaningful, responsible and productive. You'll create a culture that people will want to show up for every day. You know, if you think about it, many of us have come from homes or environments that didn't quite have a culture that we felt good in. And if you can create.

A culture in your organization, in your business that people enjoy showing up to, it's going to be great for everyone.

You know, when you and your team are bringing their best forth into the organization, the self confidence improves, creativity is brought to the forefront, conflict is more easily resolved.

Working together is honored and actually it becomes a fun place to be. And when people are having fun and feeling empowered, everybody, everybody's happy. So what I love about the Enneagram in combination with coaching and the guidance and practitioner stuff that I do, it can become a productive long term program. It helps owners, management, team leaders and staff teammates all to be aware and also to be in the best position for them and the company. Honestly, it supports all in the business to have excellent skills and communication and you know, some of this stuff they can bring back into their families and with time and dedication and really investing in learning the Enneagram or having somebody come in and facilitate this for you, which I highly recommend, because there's a lot of components to the Enneagram. You guys have been listening for a while now and like, holy moly. It's, it's overwhelming. And yes, it can be. And that's why I strongly recommend if you maybe think you have your typewrite or you have your. You think you have your typewrite but you're not using it effectively, or you know, you keep going in the wrong direction and you're getting frustrated, I highly recommend you booking a session with me. I love doing typing sessions. I love coming in to organizations and teams. You know, if you run a successful organization.

But you might have a lot of conflict, this will make the work that you do, the work that you are destined to do, the work that you're passionate to do, much easier. And when you are coming from a place of enjoyment, that's going to have a ripple effect around, around those around you. So like I said, it will help you and your company, your organization, be a happy place and it will enhance your profits. You know, I've been using this for eight years now in my home and in my businesses. And you know, using this skill set made it pretty effortless. And you know, my kids were in their teen years when I was learning this. It's not really the most ideal time to switch up communication, however.

Because I mastered my own self awareness first, my kids followed my lead. And then in business, network marketing and other traditional businesses, I've been able to show up in a way of my own mastery that had a effect of everyone around me in a positive way. You've heard it said, environment is stronger than willpower. And when you use the Enneagram to create environment where people are thriving, feeling empowered, confident, happy, fun.

There'S no limits to what you can do. So those are some of the ways that the Enneagram is used in business. And you know, I love coming in. If you run an organization, you have a business or you know somebody that does, you know, real estate teams, law firms.

All types of businesses. Anybody where you need to get along and work together, you need me to come in and help you out. Especially if there's a lot of conflict or the culture maybe isn't where you want it to be, or even if it's good. Good is the enemy of great. Let me come in and help you. If you are loving what you're hearing, I would love it. If you screenshotted this and shared it, shared it with me, let me know, tag me, let me know what you're loving about this information.

You can always, always always go into my DMs on Instagram traceyomalley I spend a few hours a day in there answering questions. I want to help you understand this. I want you to know that this is much more than a trendy little thing that is online and cute funny memes and it's more than stereotypes. This, when used effectively and integrity and properly, you can change everything about your business and help you gain the productivity, purpose, passion and profits you desire.

As always, you can find me on Instagram traceyomalley on Facebook on all the things. I would love to hear what you are getting most out of these episodes because I want to know how to bring you more of what you need. So keep the questions coming, keep the feedback coming. I always welcome them even if it's not positive. I'm always looking to improve and growing in my challenger type too. So with that I hope you have a beautiful day. Let me know how you're using the Enneagram in your business. And until next time, stand on the front line of your life because that's how you become bulletproof.

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