Enneagram Personality Application - Case Study Example

Your name Tutor Subject Date of submission Enneagram personality application Enneagram personality is a kind of personality classification which comprises of nine different types of personality. Each one of the nine categories embodies other distinct characteristics such as desires, virtues, self-motivation and fears. The nine different types of personality are believed to have three sub types personality based on the fact that an individual’s instinctual energy is more developed and conveyed on the outside. It is always believed that people have all the three types of instinctual energies, but there is one which usually dominates the others. Below are some characteristics expressed by two individuals discussed, the interpretation of these different characteristics and the suggestive words of counsel to the individuals using enneagram. Person A Vivian works as a senior administrative officer in a big computer engineering company. She is currently taking her master’s degree in Computer Science and Pure Mathematics. Upon any task involving team work, she has always been at the fore front as she is always contacted whenever complex decisions are needed. She has been the ability to develop new ideas in her area of work. Recently, as the company was reviewing the Company’s Vision, she came up with suggestions and additions for the vision. This made the company work easier as her contributions were of great importance to the management. The office systems were recently up graded and this led to staff training. Every staff member was trained though not everyone was able to grasp anything on how to use the new system. Much to our surprise, Vivian was able to offer every staff some procedural explanations for the system usage. She is a quick learner, a team worker and she has a challenging ability to grasp ideas at the first instance. As one of the responsible officers in the company, Vivian demonstrates kindness, mercy and compassion in everything that she does. As a responsible officer, other departmental employees usually think of Vivian as a free person who normally face office crisis in a humble way. Unlike most of the staff members, Vivian always demonstrates the need to be humane and always comes to their aid without hesitation. She attends to everyone with a sense of humility. She portrays the same character in and outside the office perimeters even while dealing with relatives and friends. Her office work entails mingling with many people including strangers. The management is contented with her cordial relationship with everyone and especially at the season where the organization accepts industrial interns. Because of her personal nature, all interns are normally redirected to her office for induction and training thereafter. Currently At her age, not many young women have achieved what Vivian has achieved so far. She has a good paying and respectable job and he is on her way to complete her master’s degree in a very marketable field. Even after all this, she is still looking up for everyone’s, especially his parent’s approval or complement for her achievement. Recently, Vivian has been considered for a promotion for her PR and the raising of the Company’s image. This has seen her being assigned extra duties in the office. Vivian is aware of how the management values her and she would rest at nothing to secure the promotion. This has given her some insecurity from those around her as she always thinks that anyone seen around the boss is eyeing her position. This has led to (once in a while) bad blood between her and some of the office colleagues as she has been capitalizing on one’s small mistake to ensure there is a distance between most of staff members and the boss. As a matter of fact, recognition is one thing many people like Vivian adore, given her relationship with the management. She however overdoes this and in most cases will find her responding to mosquito bites with a hammer. On a slight error or even suspicion of it, one might regret its source especially if it were to land on Vivian’s desk. As in every other office, office gossips are not ruled out in the company office and she would be comfortable if you are the topic rather than her being the center of the topic. She would not hide her anger in case of such and would find herself confronting to the root source of any such gossips. One will be unlucky if any finger points at him or her as she cares less. Even to her boss, even though in some instances the boss is always right, not in Vivian’s school of thought as she will not let you go scot free simply because you are her boss. In one instance, she stood by every staff member when the head of her department refused to take everyone to the yearly end of the year staff party. She stood tall and at the end of it all, every staff member headed to the venue of the yearly party, thanks to her. It is in human nature to be angry once in a while, but it is how anger is managed that counts. Some people express anger through rage while others choose to shut it inside and others choose to talk about it. Vivian rarely gets angry or chooses to keep the anger in and try to brush it aside. But the truth is keeping anger boiling inside oneself is like a “time bomb” waiting to explode and when it does it scathes both the innocent and the not so innocent. Just the other day, Vivian had confrontations with one of his closest friend since childhood and it tore her inside with frustrations which was replaced by a haze of despair which was oozing despair ,dejection ,regret ,misery and she let it out on everyone in the office. As a high tempered person, she would hold onto anything but she wouldn’t let anything tame her tempers once let out of hand. She unknowingly one day came to the staff’s defense when wages to employees were being distributed after an argument ensured between one wager and the office. Her high tempered character was confirmed as her nature when on a different occasion, an employee had bad mouthed her. The efforts to calm her fell on deaf ears and she called the employee in the office for ‘disciplinary’ measurers. This did not auger very well with the rest of the staff members as the decision she was making was as a result of her quick temperedness. In a recent telephone conversation with one of her sisters, she could not hide her wrath after a bitter conversation. She bitterly dropped her mobile phone as a result of the bitter exchanges between the two of them. Also to depict this in her employee file is a glittering warning letter that she earned after she confronted a guard who had locked her guest at the main gate. Interpretation of the problem cause We find Vivian as a person who is kind, team player and cordial but also high tempered and confronting in her work. She grew up in a family of three, with two younger brothers. Her parent’s ensured their children got the best in life. They attended best private schools in the state, got private tutors at home and mingled with the best in the private club during the weekend. Growing up, his parents set very high expectations for her and his brothers. Their expectation was very high and their parents displayed little or no affection and set strict code of conduct and rules for the children in and out of the house. The strongest bond in the family was in their ability to read countless books, debate on current political and economic affairs, and assist each other in complex passwords. Vivian’s family, including his extended family is that of high achievers from her parents to her little siblings. As a first born, she is the one everybody is looking up to set the standards for the rest of her siblings. As a close family, they always do everything according to the rules. The whole family is basically comprised of type one’s personalities which has even started to be expressed in her little sibling’s behaviors. She has taught herself to be always the best and to be competent. Vivian is a type one person – a perfectionist person. According to Garner (2012: pg.17) ‘the one’s are perfectionist who wants things to be done right’, they help bring order and discipline in any organisation something that elevates any organisation to greater heights. Vivian is an accomplished individual who has high standards and ethics in work and does not compromise easily. Her upbringing and lifestyle made her to be obsessed about what to do and what should be done. Vivian values being the best and consequently bringing out the best in other people. She has a gift of balancing and completion of things around her. The problem she has is portrayed by her liking to show the word to acknowledge her achievements just as she expects her parents to do. She has a self-preoccupation of self-righteous, displacement of anger towards what appear to be legitimate which can sometimes develop into criticism and this is something that she doesn’t like. An Enneagram description of all parties involved Anthony (Vivian’s boyfriend), with many years as the chief executive in an IT company has demonstrated positive energy in his work. In him there is never a dull moment not saying that of the real situation but the ability to conjure up any not so good moment or appalling event. Anthony is a number two in the enneagram personality description. He is a success-oriented person who is ready to assist other people as a motivator. He motivates the less fortunate. He adorns memberships to local volunteer groups such as being a member of his family local church. He is positive thinker, and who portrays what can be simply termed as helpful. The ability to put the plight of others before his own desire or aspiration is demonstrated by his volunteering spirit in the church as members step forward to motivate others, visit the sick in hospitals, and donate foodstuffs and clothing to the local children home as well as the destitute in the society. Gratitude and appreciation is part of his helping spirit. His social, emotional and physical hand in time of need is manifested through the little deeds such as a smile, simple thank you or an occasional compliment. In his words ‘when the situation is as that of a choppy and stormy sea, when life seems to be throwing hurricanes, twisters and typhoons at you, believe you me, a helping hand is all you need at that dire time of need’. Anthony is optimistic, very optimistic in life. Optimism is the art or is it science of always having a cheerful spirit flaunted by buoyancy that generally generates an aura of confidence that acts as a trigger switch in times of gloom. With the world viewed as being of a negative or pessimistic nature, it would take someone the narrow beaten path to just be the opposite i.e. happy, genuine hence much easier to be of the world and adapt to stick to the highway of being what the society depicts of every one to be. Anthony’s optimism can be described as a happy person who shows love, brightens the room and shows that every minute lived is worth the moment. As a senior accomplished executive in an IT company, Anthony has risen steadily through the ranks, faster than anyone in the organization’s history. His knowledge, maturity, neatness, time-consciousness and management skills are whispered in every corridor of the organization. Generally, he is easy going, sociable and always willing to help. His speaking style is very content oriented, carefully choosing his words and tone of voice. However, he does not take criticism well and one will find him frequently withdrawing and becoming defensive at the slightest provocation. Anthony puts little or no effort to know his workmates beyond the office and prefers to maintain a professional approach to all his interactions at work. Current problem Vivian view Anthony with his willingness and want to be at the forefront of trying to help as an egoistic person who is insensitivity, self-centeredness and selfish. She wants him for herself and their relationship. She views Anthony as somebody who cares for the world and leaves her behind. Anthony has a keen eye on details and wants to lead from front as well as adopting on a systematic way of doing things. Vivian fears that there will be no good in trying to confront him as this will be countered by the cultural mind set as stipulated by his altitude on her. Every now and then, the two, Anthony and Vivian meet for dinner in order to discuss their personal and career progress and if any of them have a problem or need to be guided. This practice has been ongoing for sometimes, but Vivian feels that Anthony is neglecting her. Generally, Anthony is ambitious, attractive, and self-confident. A lot of people look up to him and have generally not been disappointed so far yet, under stress, he tends to disengage and not face his problems but rather ignore them. We view Anthony as a number two in the enneagram personality description. He is a motivator who is success-oriented and who is ready to improve other peoples careers and relationships, (Condon, 2003), yet we find him neglecting some obvious important things like his relationship with Vivian. He has a fear of responsibility. He fears the outcome of their relationship and he doesn’t want to show Vivian that he doesn’t love her. This creates a dictatorial way of thinking, slow to accepting change and creation of an elite kind of thinking which as is known to create animosity, anger, feeling of hopelessness, and low self-esteem. Suggestive Counseling Vivian’s manifestation of anger comes from her preoccupations and her principles. She confuses discernment with judgment. She should learn to control her emotions as emotions are the sentimental feelings, sensations, mood, disposition or frame of mind human beings experience on encountering negative expectations. Emotions are meant to aide us adapt and adopt to the different scenes that we experience both socially, economically, physically, spiritually as well as psychologically. Emotions act as a link between our mind frame/Psychological and our Physical being. In Anthony, their lies an open minded person who is willing and adept to embrace any new idea whether it’s in his favor or not, This is what creates a positive environment that makes every gathering of venture rub off everyone in a vibrant and a well cultured manner. With or without any gain whether socio-economic; there is guarantee of putting the best of his energy into it without complaining or expecting anything but a smile back with a warmed up heart. Anthony needs to balance his tendency to withhold or withdraw from people by reaching out to others. He should try and overcome his fear of responsibility being engulfed and invaded by others. His efforts should be synthesized to demonstrate the strength of gentleness and that he is strong enough to be kind (Condon, 2003, pg.15). Finally, he should seek a state of omniscience which is gained through the non-thinking state of mind as a way that merges his awareness of present and future possible events. Anthony needs to identify what he wants to happen in his own life but not spend most of his time trying to please others by creating peace. ‘Often high expectation leads to disappointment’, this is a saying that is pertinent to a type two personality (Waters et. al 2007) Anthony most of the time takes his precious time to make his environment happy and he should learn to accept the truth that in a society there is bound to be conflict in one way or another from different areas. He should give himself freedom and space; this will enable him pursue his personal objectives and to be the way he wants to be. He should be open in his ability to assert himself and his need for independence. He should avoid the thought of being afraid of what could happen or his needs could ruin the harmony and equilibrium he thinks to have in relation to his girlfriend, Vivian. This approach can give both of them a temporary sense of ease and freedom from the difficulties and challenges around them. At times, they might find themselves in a different path than what they had planned. They need to learn to make choices in life, about life. Vivian and Anthony are in a stable relationship. They need to meet regularly so as to help each other in their difficulties. They should not shy away because of their fear of failing and socializing, rather they should learn to interact healthily with everybody around them without making judgments. These two individuals have a bond of friendship holding them together. They should learn to accept their current situation and to do this they need to seek as much help as they can find so as to accept their personalities and who they are. Vivian and Anthony will learn to accommodate each other, their workmates and their friends in their lives without involving their own life and career competitions and expectations. With this in mind, they will continue their courtship and eventually bring the best out of life. Every Individual is unique in how he/she adapts to the passions, sensations and is governed by the social norms so as to help cohabit harmoniously with everyone. In conclusion in order to understand one’s personality, the nine enneagram types helps in categorizing different characters manifested by different people in different situations. Ultimately, when one knows the personality of his friends, workmates and relatives, there is creation of truth and acceptance for all parties. Both positive and negative characters play a major role in the society and it’s important to know how to accept and use them to individual’s benefit and for those around. List of references Eric Garner., E. (2012) Understanding Personality Types. New York: Bookboon Condon, Thomas (2003). The Enneagram’s Nine Personality Styles, Change-works INC, Bent Waters, J, Ronna P. and Susan R. (2007) the Everything Enneagram Book: Identify Your Type, London: Everything Books. Read More

She portrays the same character in and outside the office perimeters even while dealing with relatives and friends. Her office work entails mingling with many people including strangers. The management is contented with her cordial relationship with everyone and especially at the season where the organization accepts industrial interns. Because of her personal nature, all interns are normally redirected to her office for induction and training thereafter. Currently At her age, not many young women have achieved what Vivian has achieved so far.

She has a good paying and respectable job and he is on her way to complete her master’s degree in a very marketable field. Even after all this, she is still looking up for everyone’s, especially his parent’s approval or complement for her achievement. Recently, Vivian has been considered for a promotion for her PR and the raising of the Company’s image. This has seen her being assigned extra duties in the office. Vivian is aware of how the management values her and she would rest at nothing to secure the promotion.

This has given her some insecurity from those around her as she always thinks that anyone seen around the boss is eyeing her position. This has led to (once in a while) bad blood between her and some of the office colleagues as she has been capitalizing on one’s small mistake to ensure there is a distance between most of staff members and the boss. As a matter of fact, recognition is one thing many people like Vivian adore, given her relationship with the management. She however overdoes this and in most cases will find her responding to mosquito bites with a hammer.

On a slight error or even suspicion of it, one might regret its source especially if it were to land on Vivian’s desk. As in every other office, office gossips are not ruled out in the company office and she would be comfortable if you are the topic rather than her being the center of the topic. She would not hide her anger in case of such and would find herself confronting to the root source of any such gossips. One will be unlucky if any finger points at him or her as she cares less. Even to her boss, even though in some instances the boss is always right, not in Vivian’s school of thought as she will not let you go scot free simply because you are her boss.

In one instance, she stood by every staff member when the head of her department refused to take everyone to the yearly end of the year staff party. She stood tall and at the end of it all, every staff member headed to the venue of the yearly party, thanks to her. It is in human nature to be angry once in a while, but it is how anger is managed that counts. Some people express anger through rage while others choose to shut it inside and others choose to talk about it. Vivian rarely gets angry or chooses to keep the anger in and try to brush it aside.

But the truth is keeping anger boiling inside oneself is like a “time bomb” waiting to explode and when it does it scathes both the innocent and the not so innocent. Just the other day, Vivian had confrontations with one of his closest friend since childhood and it tore her inside with frustrations which was replaced by a haze of despair which was oozing despair ,dejection ,regret ,misery and she let it out on everyone in the office. As a high tempered person, she would hold onto anything but she wouldn’t let anything tame her tempers once let out of hand.

She unknowingly one day came to the staff’s defense when wages to employees were being distributed after an argument ensured between one wager and the office. Her high tempered character was confirmed as her nature when on a different occasion, an employee had bad mouthed her. The efforts to calm her fell on deaf ears and she called the employee in the office for ‘disciplinary’ measurers. This did not auger very well with the rest of the staff members as the decision she was making was as a result of her quick temperedness.

In a recent telephone conversation with one of her sisters, she could not hide her wrath after a bitter conversation.

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