Personal Development

Leadership begins with one’s own person. Only with personal integrity, character, and the wholeness of person, can the challenges of a manager’s responsibility be suitably met.
Due to the importance of personality in management, personal evaluation and development experts have long worked with various models of personality, such has the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), HDI (Herrmann Dominance Instrument), DISC (Dominant, Initiative, Steady, Conscientious), or the TMS (Team Management System). One model, which has been used for a while at the Institute for Personal Development BBS with success, is the 9 personality types model, or Enneagram.

It has been recognized in psychological counseling, religious institutions, in social domains and coaching for decades, and is used more and more in business settings. The reason is simple: it ties the discoveries of modern neurological research on cognitive function with the patterns of learned behavior in a unique way. Additionally, it uncovers a possibility of development for managers and employees, which is by far, more dynamic than other models. Moreover, it permits a profound insight into personal development.

The most important thing of the model is that a structure is defined that permits true respect for other people to a degree that has until now not been attained. The model is simple and easily understood. More importantly though, for each personality type personal development opportunities are presented, which could form the basis of a long lasting personal pursuit.

The advantage of the Enneagram in business lies in knowing and understanding how oneself and how various coworkers think, feel, and sort and evaluate information.

Because interpersonal frictions can be enormously lessened though heightened mutual understanding, this knowledge forms the basis for productivity increases and cost reduction. For managers, this model offers an optimal framework and convenient instrument for orientation and intervention when coaching.

The 9 personality types model is used as background information to address topics such as teamwork, training and development, management style, negotiations and time management. Its usefulness is however especially large when dealing with topics such as “decision making” or in the context of strategic planning, i.e. “thinking about the future”. Each and every personality type has its very own way of taking (or not) decisions. For these personality types, personal goals, way of thinking, and criteria for evaluating what information will be given what weight, are exceedingly different, and even partially diametrically opposed. Observing and processing these differences is hardly possible without a structure.

Managers, who because of their career development perform activities requiring behavior that is structured in opposition to the disposition of their personality, suffer much more often and quickly from burnout.
David Daniels, M.D., a professor at Stanford Medical School in Palo Alto, is of the opinion that literally every business, which is sincere about human resource development, can profit from employing the Enneagram.
Michael Ray, a professor at Stanford Business School and recognized author states: “The Enneagram is one of the most efficient and human systems for reaching the compassion and leadership needed in business today.”
Through seminars, in-house workshops, research, and consulting services, we support you with the following topics:

Determining One’s Situation

• One’s own strengths and weaknesses
• One’s own pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting
• Exercises for observing and self-observation

 

Using and Applying the Model for Specific Topics

• Effective communication
• Giving constructive feedback
• Conflict management
• Developing a high-performance team
• Improving the impact of one’s own leadership
• Initiating change
• Making optimal decisions
• Solving problems
• Striving for results
• Knowing business: strategic thinking and action
• Striving towards personal mastery

 

Balanced Use of the 3 Intelligence Centers

• Body – Instinct center (movement, action, gut feelings)
• Heart – Emotional center (relationships, compassion, attention – as the basis for functioning social systems)
• Mind – Mental center (planning, insight and analysis)