|
9
Ways of Working
Books
on the Enneagram
|
Questions
and Answers with the Author
The
9 Ways of Working:
How to Use the Enneagram to Discover Your Natural Strengths and Work More
Effectively
by Michael
J. Goldberg
Questions
for the author
1. What
is the enneagram (pronounced "any-a-gram")? Enneagram means "nine points"
in Greek. Developed by Pythagoras and Plato, it describes the nine basic
personality styles used by the ancient Greeks. These nine styles have
influenced how everyone since has looked at people and relationships.
The enneagram is also recognized as having connections with the Jewish
Kaballah and the Islamic Sufi tradition. The 9 Ways of Working returns
to the original nine types and makes them practical and modern.
2. What is
a personality style? We all have basic drives that influence everything
we do, whether it is relating to others, making decisions, or leading
a large corporation. One drive is naturally the strongest. It could be
the drive to have power, or knowledge, or to be successful or creative.
From that comes our personality with its special strengths and blind spots.
3. Why do
you need to know your style? The style operates whether we know about
it or not. When we don't know our style we're under its spell. We think
we see the world clearly, but we don't see our own biases. But when we
know our style, then we no longer operate on automatic. For example, the
tendency of "The Sage" type is to go for more information. But sometimes
you just need to punt and get on with it, come what may. When you're not
operating out of your automatic habits, you can do what the situation
requires.
4. How does
it help to know somebody else's enneagram style? When you know somebody's
enneagram style, you can see them from the inside out, the way they see
themselves. You can see what motivates them, what will influence them,
and what results will satisfy them. You can respond to their unspoken
concerns. For example, if you're a "Connoisseur" type you want to explore
your deep, soulful feelings and you like to be creative. But "Perfectionists"
are very different: they just want to know what the rules say. They want
to go by the book. To motivate a Perfectionist you show them the "right
way," you don't probe their deep feelings and you don't ask them to be
creative.
5. How do
you tell someone's type? Type is not so much about what people do, but
rather why they do it. People may get angry or frustrated, but for different
reasons. For one person it's because the right procedures were not followed,
for another its because their contribution wasn't appreciated, for others
because the relationships are not what they want. When you know the reasons
why someone acts the way they do you can respond to it. You may think
a person is cranky or difficult, but each person's behavior makes perfect
sense to them.
6. Do organizations
have types? Yes, organizations have personalities too. Everyone who works
in an organization has to respond to their organization's type, just like
a relationship with a person. For example, "Producer" type organizations,
like MacDonald's, are concerned with getting it done quickly, while "Troubleshooter"
organizations, like General Motors, take extensive time-perhaps too much-for
preparation and figuring out what the competition is up to. You're bound
to have serious problems if you misunderstand your organization's enneagram
style.
7. Can you
give an example of how someone can use the enneagram to work through a
conflict with a co-worker? First you need to know your own type well.
Each type has behaviors that drive the other types crazy. For example,
if you're a Visionary you have lots of ideas and enthusiasm but you're
unfocused and weak on finishing the job. For Visionaries, simply staying
with the task at hand is sure to resolve problems with others. Second,
when you know the type of the person you're working with you can see what
problems you're likely to have with them. Top Dogs are great at powering
through a large project but they like to "mix it up" with their co-workers
to test them. If you run away from a Top Dog, they'll think you're weak
and unreliable. They want you to stand up for yourself.
About Michael
J. Goldberg, author of The 9 Ways of Working
Michael
J. Goldberg is an organizational consultant whose clients include the
Central Intelligence Agency and Motorola, as well as many companies, not-for-profits,
and governmental agencies. Goldberg specializes in leadership, communication,
problem-solving and interpersonal and work-team dynamics, and is a leading
authority on workplace applications of the enneagram, the classic system
of personality styles. His enneagram work has been reported in New York
Newsday, World Business, Fast Company, Men's Health, Organizational Research/Management
Science Today, the International Personnel Management Association's News,
and Human Resource Executive. The American Management Association's official
newsletter Getting Results called his work "practical and immediately
useful." He has been featured on CNN-FN and on Fox News Channel and internationally
in the London Daily Mail, the Scotsman, the Australian Broadcasting Company,
and on the BBC. Mr. Goldberg has taught law at American University, organizational
behavior at Antioch University, and mediation at Pacific Oaks College.
A mediator certified by the Los Angeles County Bar Dispute Resolution
Services, he has used the enneagram to mediate hundreds of disputes, including
large-scale community controversies. He has written more than fifty articles,
including "The Enneagram: A Key to Organizational Systems" in The 1994
Annual: Developing Human Resources. His book, The 9 Ways of Working, has
been published in the U.K. and translated into Chinese, Korean and German.
He was a longtime chairman of the board of Emperor's College of Oriental
Medicine, one of the oldest and largest acupuncture schools in the country,
and he has been a board member and director of programs for GREX, the
professional group relations society. He was one of the organizers of
the First International Enneagram Conference at Stanford University in
1994. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.
Order
$13.95 ISBN 1-56924-688-2,
320 pages, 5.5" x 8.25"
|
