The Enneagram
A self-awareness tool for understanding patterns, motivation, and the story in your head.
Whether you know the Enneagram well, or you’re just curious about it, it’s a useful way to understand what’s shaping how you think, feel, and respond, including the patterns you’ve been living inside of without realizing it.
I’m certified in the Narrative Enneagram, and I bring it into coaching when it helps someone find clearer language for what they’re experiencing. It’s one lens I use among several, not the foundation of everything I do.
When it’s used well, the Enneagram doesn’t put you in a box.
It shows you the box you’re already in, so you can step out of it.
What the Enneagram Is (And What It Is Not)
The Enneagram focuses less on what we do and more on why we do it.
It describes nine common motivational patterns that shape how people think, feel, and respond. Many people recognize themselves in more than one type, everyone leads with a primary pattern that tends to show up most consistently, especially under stress.
It isn’t meant to reduce you to a number. The point is to see your patterns clearly enough that you have a real choice in how you respond.
How I Use the Enneagram in My Coaching
I use the Enneagram as one supporting lens in my coaching.
It’s especially helpful when someone wants language for:
self-talk
their relationship to failure or success
recurring emotional reactions
patterns around boundaries, pressure, or comparison
It often helps clarify what that inner voice is really saying. From there, we look at how it affects your energy, your perception, and the choices you make day to day, which where the Energy Leadership comes in.
The Enneagram for Teams
The Enenagram is one of the most useful tools I bring into team training. Each type has a different focus of attention, which means people notice different things first. In the same meeting, one person is scanning for what could go wrong, another is tracking whether everyone feels included, and someone else is already thinking about the end goal.
Once a team understands that, a lot of friction stops feeling personal. People start to see that the coworker who seems difficult is often just paying attention to something different. Teams leave with a shared language for communication, conflict, and feedback they keep using after the session.
Enneagram team training is in person and is built around what your team is dealing with, from a single session to a multi-session series.
Questions About the Enneagram
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Online tests are not a good starting point, because they mostly measure behavior, and different types can behave in very similar ways. The most reliable way to find your type is a typing interview with a trained practitioner who focuses on motivation, which is what I offer.
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Because most tests measure what you do instead of why you do it, and several types can look alike on the surface. Your answers can also shift depending on how stressed you are when you take it.
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The Narrative Enneagram is an approach that teaches each type through people describing their own inner experience in their own words. It's where I trained, and it's why my typing interviews are conversations rather than questionnaires.
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Research on the Enneagram is still limited, and it isn't a clinical or diagnostic tool. I use it as a framework for self-reflection. It’s value shows up in how well it helps you recognize your own patterns and what drives them.
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Yes. We can explore how your patterns show up at work, in relationships, and in your decisions, or revisit your type through a typing interview if you're not fully sure it fits. The Enneagram can also become one of the lenses we use in ongoing coaching.
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About 90 minutes. I’ll share what patterns you most often fall into, and how they tie to type patterns. We’ll discuss which two or three types resonate most, and you decide which one fits.
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It can! Understanding what motivates the people close to you, and what they tend to do under stress, makes it easier to stop taking their reactions personally and talk about what's actually going on.
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Yes. Each Enneagram type pays attention to different things first, and when a team understands that, communication, conflict, and feedback get a lot easier. Learn more on my Training & Development page.
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The Enneagram looks at why you do what you do: your core motivations, which tend to stay steady over time. The Energy Leadership Index looks at how you're responding right now, especially under stress, which can change. Using both gives a fuller picture.
If you have questions about Enneagram typing or how it could help you, reach out and we can talk it through.
My Story With the Enneagram
I was initially skeptical of the Enneagram because I tend to be cautious of personality systems. I’ve always been more interested in what’s actually driving someone than in fitting people into neat categories.
Like many people, I took an online test early on and mistyped. The results focused heavily on behavior. Some of it resonated, but it felt incomplete. It didn’t explain the internal experience underneath what I was doing or why certain patterns kept repeating.
What shifted for me was learning the Enneagram through formal training and practice, with a clear emphasis on motivation rather than behavior. Used this way, it stopped feeling like a personality label and started working as a tool for awareness.
For me, the Enneagram became less about identity and more about seeing patterns I’d been unconsciously living inside. That shift changed how I listen, how I notice, and how I support clients without making assumptions.
And for the curious, I’m a type 4.
I know my type. Now what?
If you already know your Enneagram type, there are several ways we might work together.
You may want to explore how your patterns show up in daily life, work, relationships, and decision making.
You may want to revisit your type through a typing interview to deepen confidence and clarity.
You may want to integrate Enneagram insights into coaching as one supporting lens among others.
You may be curious about how the Enneagram can support communication, leadership, or team dynamics in the workplace.
If you are curious how this tool fits into my broader coaching approach, you can explore my My Approach page.
If you have questions about Enneagram typing or how it might support you, message me and we can start the conversation.
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