I’ve been coaching for twelve years now; primarily in the space of behavioral change – helping leaders to shift underlying beliefs to create new positive behaviors. One thing that continues to stand out to me is every leader I work with (and largely every human being) has some aspect of Emotional Intelligence, EQ, that could be strengthened to greatly impact their world for the better. When we talk about EQ it’s primarily focused in four main areas: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. I believe where this work begins, and the superpower that every leader can harness to become their best self, lies in a deep sense of self.
It’s a powerful moment for a coach when you witness your client do or say something that you can mirror back to build more of their awareness or to gain perspective. Coaching is wonderful for this. However, everyone has blindspots and we don’t know what we don’t know. Further, the most effective change occurs when we go beneath the surface to those underlying fears, motivations, and beliefs; therefore, it can be helpful to offer a tool that provides access to the subconscious. Then you are both set up to do the real inner work making the coaching experience far more transformative vs. Transactional.
I’ve seen the most profound impact and deep insights come from the Integrative Enneagram Professional Report. I have used this assessment and report to not just build self-awareness, but to strengthen all aspects of EQ. The Integrative Enneagram provides a beautiful developmental map; 42 pages of insights about how and why you behave the way you do. It does so by reflecting what lies deep within your subconscious and identifying which of the nine core motivations drives how you think, feel, and act. Once a leader has this awareness, then there’s an opening to discuss what beliefs and behaviors are serving them, as a leader and a person, and what are not. The report is full of developmental action steps to further self-integrate improving your personal and professional relationships. It’s a spacious landscape to play in for the leader to build out their development plan with specific goals; for the coach it allows you see where the leader is on their developmental journey and meet them appropriately where they are.
I truly believe leveraging the Enneagram as a developmental map is the very superpower every leader needs to step into their most authentic and effective self; it’s precisely why my mission is to propel leaders and teams to what’s possible through a deep understanding of self.
