One of the common objections that we hear about the Enneagram relates to the issue of “typing”. From time to time comments emerge like: “The Enneagram seems to limit people to a single Type, and I find that very constraining. Surely I’m much more than a number on the Enneagram!”
Perhaps you’ve heard comments like these, or maybe you’ve even voiced them yourself!
If you’re unsure about how to deal with this kind of concern, then there’s probably a need to revisit some fundamental themes related to human beings and to the Enneagram itself – and that’s exactly the purpose of this short article.
Let’s look at a couple of basic principles:
Principle 1: Categorizing Human Behavior as “Type”
If I were to follow you around for a while, observing your behavior (your actions, your language, your responses to the world around you, what you pay attention to; etc) I would eventually notice a broad pattern of responding. After a while, I might even be able to predict with some accuracy how you’re likely to behave in certain situations. It’s this patterned way of responding that is, in part, what is referred to as “Type”. In the Enneagram model, each patterned response, or “Type”, is allocated a number (i.e. Type 1, Type 2, etc), each with its own strengths (developed through frequent practice) and limitations.
From an Enneagram perspective, the concept of Type includes much more than the external behavior patterns that you can observe people displaying. The idea is that we each develop particular “ways of being” - habits of thinking, feeling and doing; we develop a particular focus of attention, a way of seeing, interpreting and responding to the world around us. This includes internal patterns of thought and emotion. Most of the time, the process of making sense of what is happening around us and responding to it, is done unconsciously – without awareness – and therefore is said to be reactive or mechanical.
The Enneagram, amazingly, describes our ways of being - our patterns of attention, thought, emotion and action - and it does so with a great degree of accuracy. An individual’s specific way of being is largely represented by his or her dominant Enneagram Type, and is flavored by influences such as “Wings”, “Level of Integration”, and “Sub-Type” (or “Instincts”). This dominant Eneagram Type is a person’s unconscious, default modus operandum and represents the “box” that does, in a sense, constrain and limit the individual. It’s important to also recognize that, in spite of the constraints, a person develops important skills and abilities related to Type. But notice that the individual has developed this pattern for him or her-self long before coming into contact with the Enneagram. The “box” isn’t created by the Enneagram –it’s already there!
The Enneagram is an incredibly valuable “tool”. It can be a mirror, or meta-distinction used to alert an individual to the “box” (which is initially invisible to the individual) that he or she is already living in. So the Enneagram describes and makes predictions about what already is; this is a very important point. Human beings have a natural desire for freedom rather than constraint and so we regale against any mirror that implies that we are predictable or stuck in patterns of thought, emotion and behavior. Yet this mirror is one of the great gifts of the Enneagram. The challenge is: How ready and able am I to receive this gift?
It’s in this context that the Adfen E-Scale has been designed. In a sense, the Adfen E-Scale is a vehicle enabling the mirror of the Enneagram to reflect data back to the individual in order to begin the process of deepening personal awareness. This process is as much about discovering and acknowledging a person’s natural strengths as it is about clarifying current constraints (i.e. the “box”). It’s also about discovering previously unseen possibilities (i.e. new choices that can lead to different, more effective outcomes).
Principle 2: The Enneagram of Possibilities
Let’s take a very simple example that illustrates a point. Imagine that, unbeknown to me, my shoe laces were untied. At that point, I would have no awareness of this fact, and consequently there would be no choices that I could consciously make regarding my untied shoe laces. It’s only from the moment that I become aware of my untied shoe laces that a number of conscious choices become available to me. It’s only then that I can take a deliberate action. The critical point is: with awareness comes choice; and without awareness there is no choice.
Let’s relate this back to a person’s characteristic, patterned ways of responding, and I’ll use myself as an example. Only when I become conscious of my strengths and constraints, including how I limit my own potential by living inside the particular “box” that I’ve built, can new possibilities (conscious choices) emerge. It’s as if I realize for the first time that I’m looking at the world through a small window in the side of my “box”. This window provides me with only a partial view, supplying useful yet limited data about what is really happening out there. In other words, I become aware that my view is restricted and that I really don’t have the full picture. (Actually, according to the Enneagram model, I may only be able to see as little as one ninth of the picture!) This is a very powerful realization. This awareness is likely to stimulate my interest in expanding my view and I’m probably going to get curious about what the other eight-ninths looks like!
From this new realization, I can see that my particular perspective causes me to make sense of the world in a very specific way, based on limited data. I notice, perhaps through specific self-observation, that my way of “sense-making” causes me to react or respond in certain predictable, patterned ways. Sometimes my behavioral pattern gets great results, but sometimes it doesn’t. And when it doesn’t, I might experience an emotional reaction such as frustration, sadness, or anxiety. This can easily lead to judgmental thoughts, and the inevitable apportioning of blame on others or on myself. All in all, I end up feeling pretty negative.
As my awareness deepens, I reach a point where I realize that everyone else is living within their own “box”. In fact, some people are looking at the world through windows that offer very different but still only partial views of the world outside. None of us seems to have the full picture. Each window seems to provide a different set of data. The data we each focus on informs our individual sense-making processes, and because the data is different, we make different behavioral responses. Once I notice this, my interpersonal awareness is deepening. My blaming of self and others is transforming into compassion for our respective strengths and constraints.
The Enneagram suggests at least nine very different world views each with a particular habit of thinking, feeling, and acting. At one level then, the Enneagram is a map revealing various ways of attending and responding in any situation. This opens up a land of possibility, offering an assortment of choices that I could consciously make in the moment, if I were self-aware, present, and skillful. (In fact, a great benefit of development processes like coaching is to help me see the world through different “windows” which provide different data leading to new possibilities for action and new solutions to existing challenges.)
In summary, the Enneagram, using the vehicle of the Adfen E-Scale, enables people to recognize, often for the first time, their strengths, and also the self-imposed constraints that they already operate within. Then, through a process of deepening personal awareness, new possibilities, and choices emerge that could lead to different outcomes. Some of these choices may require the development of new competencies or qualities, and this provides a focus for individual development plans.
Our Task as Enneagram & Adfen E-Scale Practitioners:
The work of the Enneagram, and Adfen E-Scale community that you’re part of, is extremely worthwhile. It has the potential to make a significant contribution to individuals, teams, and the global condition at a time when people in many parts of the world are in deep crisis.
Unhealthy conflicts, unrest and suffering are often the result of compulsively seeing only one way – the mechanical way of default, and unconscious habit. When things stop working the way we’d like, we revert to blame, retribution, scape-goating, and judgment because we simply can’t see another way.
Perhaps there has never been a more appropriate time for leaders everywhere to self-observe, reflect and become deeply curious about new possibilities. This requires much courage, compassion, humility and a true forgiveness of our human condition. The Enneagram calls forth these noble qualities of spirit. In a sense, the real work that we collectively do lies in enabling these qualities to emerge and to powerfully impact our world.
Colin Adam
Professional Certified Coach (PCC)