The Enneagram in the Global Context Guest Blog by Jayson Morris, PCC A year ago, one of my former work associates emailed me with a fascinating and daunting proposition. Having just become a certified integral coach, she left her career in international philanthropy to create a new leadership development program for nonprofit leaders in East Africa. A native Kenyan herself, her newfound passion was to prove to funders that a nine-month coaching intervention would catalyze stronger grassroots leaders and build more effective teams. And she wanted to partner with me to kick off their programming with the Enneagram to enhance their self-awareness. Having seen the power of the Enneagram with my coaching clients over the past few years, I was thrilled with the opportunity to work with leaders from some of the global south countries I had served as a nonprofit and philanthropic leader. And I was nervous that I would fail. “The Enneagram works effectively across cultures because it looks inside at our core motivations and fears” is what I had been taught. If you do not focus on behaviors but instead on each person’s inner world, the model and the nine types will hold true. But would they? A year and 90 leaders across three countries later, I can confidently say the Enneagram works across cultures. However, it requires the practitioner to stay curious and avoid the temptation to type others based on behavior. It also necessitates some cultural understanding to help translate aspects of the type to the cultural context. For example, the Type 8, often known as The Challenger for their bold assertiveness, comfort with confrontation, and with anger as an emotion, will look very different in a U.S. context versus in Uganda. The level of overt assertiveness in the Ugandan Type 8 will be more muted than their American counterpart, but they will appear the most assertive type within the Ugandan context. It all came together when a fellow consultant introduced me to Erin Meyer’s Culture Map work. The graphic shows the difference between U.S. and Ugandan culture across seven themes. Photo Credit: Erin Meyer If we zoom in on DISAGREEING, we notice that the U.S. has a significantly more confrontational culture than Uganda. As the type most comfortable with confrontation, the Type 8 American (blue) sits much further on the side of overt confrontation than their Ugandan counterpart (yellow). [Note positioning is not exact but rather is an illustrative comparison). Therefore, how they look and sound in the office will be different, but relative to the other types and to their culture they will be the most comfortable with confrontation. Similarly with all other eight Enneagram types, we must spend time understanding the inner world and the culturally appropriate expressions of motivations and strategies to help people find their type. My favorite moment was conducting a debrief with an Enneagram Type 2 (known as The Helper) who did not like the term ‘seduction’ that is often used in describing one of the strategies certain Type 2s use. ‘Seduction’ in this day and age, particularly in U.S. culture or one that is influenced by U.S. media, has a strong sexual connotation. However, in its purest form, it means “to win over; attract; entice.” When I explained this, she lit up and said: “So you mean that if I come into the office every morning one week and say hello to a colleague, knowing that at the end of the week, I am going to need to ask them for help…” BINGO! We had a good laugh. One of the things I most love about the Enneagram is what makes it challenging to facilitate and dangerous for the uneducated to use, but also what makes it a globally powerful tool: it’s not the behaviors you observe that tell you about someone’s type, it’s what’s happening on the inside. It’s the core motivation, fears, and patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that matter most. Jayson Morris is an executive coach and leadership facilitator working with leaders and rising talent in the corporate, nonprofit and philanthropy space all around the world. He is ICF PCC certified and holds Enneagram Certifications from two world renown Enneagram training institutes – Integrative Enneagram Solutions and Chestnut Paes Enneagram Academy. He also studied with the Enneagram Prison Project and The Narrative Tradition. You can find Jayson at www.linkedin.com/in/jayson-morris/ or at WithInsight Coaching www.withinsight.coach Blog Series: The Enneagram: Connecting Ancient Wisdom to Global Transformation The Enneagram and Neuroscience: Growing New Neural Pathways The Enneagram: Nine Points of View and Core Motivation Creating a Championship Team with the Enneagram The Enneagram in The Global Context
Launching the Vista Global Blog Coaching and Consulting for a better world… I am thrilled to enter the blogosphere to share what I have learned over the past 25 years in the nonprofit sector as a CEO, Program Officer, Consultant and Coach. I look forward to learning from you as well, as we venture toward that horizon of making a … Continue reading “Launching the Vista Global Blog” Coaching and Consulting for a better world… I am thrilled to enter the blogosphere to share what I have learned over the past 25 years in the nonprofit sector as a CEO, Program Officer, Consultant and Coach. I look forward to learning from you as well, as we venture toward that horizon of making a difference in the world.
