The Enneagram in Coaching

What if people had spent centuries considering the patterns of motivation that sit outside people's awareness and support the choices they make? The Enneagram is a system with deep roots that has been developed through many years and many contexts. It is more than an exercise in personality typing: it is a way of identifying core patterns of motivation and behaviour so that you can make changes that work.

As a coach, you facilitate change in clients. Some of those changes stick and some of them are harder to sustain. The Enneagram is one way to think about which changes work and why the pattern of change that works for one client can have different results for a client in a similar situation. People can follow the same patterns of behaviour for different reasons. The better your tools for identifying the motivations that are driving behaviour, the better your chance of producing positive and sustainable change.

Learning about the Enneagram has the same benefits as other learning that takes you deeper into the human condition. It allows you to recognize some of your own unconscious choices and to understand more about the impact you are having on others. For some people, the Enneagram even has spiritual dimensions. For coaches, there are more specific reasons to add the Enneagram to the tools and perspective they bring to their clients.

Coaches who learn the Enneagram will be able to:

1. Uncover the benefits of particular behaviours for an individual; no one changes a behaviour unless they know they can continue to get the same benefits in another way
2. Maintain a picture of the whole individual while influencing particular attitudes or behaviours
3. Change motivation and behaviours simultaneously.

Have you ever coached a client who seemed to be at least two different people? The Enneagram offers a unique perspective on how people move to different personality styles under different conditions. It is a dynamic model that represents the complexity we have all experienced in relating to ourselves and to other people. If you have ever wondered "was that really me?" - or if you have ever coached both Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - then you will be deeply curious about the model offered by the Enneagram.

Most significantly, perhaps, the Enneagram recognizes that our greatest strength may also become our area of greatest vulnerability (and, conversely, that our problems may hold the key to new opportunities). It makes us aware that we need to live with all of our qualities. We cannot simply get rid of characteristics; we need to reframe them so that they work for us. Using the Enneagram helps coaches and their clients to become more tolerant of a range of characteristics and to isolate the points at which change is possible and desirable.

Individuals and organizations around the world are reading books, taking courses and hiring Enneagram consultants. It is useful wherever different people wish to interact more effectively: it can be applied in small community groups and in major corporations. If you are curious and want to know more, begin at www.squidoo.com/enneagramexplorations.

Linda Ferguson, Ph.D. is a senior partner at NLP Canada Training Inc. in Toronto, Canada. With her partner, Chris Keeler, Linda develops training that allows people to experience stronger integrity and better results. Clients experience rapid, sustainable change and long-term learning about how their thinking drives success. Drawing on fields from the arts to business to neuroscience, NLP Canada Training Inc. provides spring-training for the mind: clients sharpen their perceptions, focus their efforts, and become better at knowing what they want and communicating to get it. Read more from Linda at http://www.nlpcanada.com