No matter what your role is at work, if you need to interact with colleagues, customers, suppliers or bosses you will need to navigate what happens when different personalities come into contact. Some people are detailed planners while others are more spontaneous. Some like to solve problems by discussing them with colleagues while others prefer to develop plans alone and then present hem to other. Some need proof before they believe things while others follow their “gut instinct”. Some see rules as absolute black and white while others think situationally and believe that sometimes rules need to be bent.

These are some of the ways personality is defined when using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the Keirsey Temperament Indicator. (References to both can be found in other blog posts here. Just use the search field.)

There is another way to assess personality which has been around since the Sufi people, the ancestors of the Persians, developed it. The original teaching may go back as far as 2500 B.C. to the kingdoms of Babylonia, and the wisdom school of the Sarmoun Brotherhood. In the 14th and 15th centuries it was passed on to Islamic mathematicians who incorporated it into their mystical teachings.

The word Enneagram is from the Greek and means "nine points". It defines nine personality types but recognizes that each person is defined not only by their main type but by two types which are connected to it. According to one interpretation of the Enneagram, the nine types are:

THE REFORMER - The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and perfectionistic
THE HELPER - The Caring, Interpersonal Type: Demonstrative, Generous, People-Pleasing, and Possessive
THE ACHIEVER - The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptive, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious
THE INDIVIDUALIST - The Sensitive, Withdrawn Type: Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental
THE INVESTIGATOR - The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated
THE LOYALIST - The Committed, Security-Oriented Type: Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, and Suspicious
THE ENTHUSIAST - The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Distractible, and Scattered
THE CHALLENGER - The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational
THE PEACEMAKER - The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent

We are all on a search to understand ourselves better and in so doing to understand others. Here is a link to a review of ten books about the Enneagram. Depending on what you want to achieve in learning about the Enneagram, one or the other of these might catch your attention. There is even one about how each of the nine types functions as a leader. https://nerdycreator.com/bookclub/best-enneagram-books/

Enjoy your journey to self-awareness.