How to Plan an Enneagram Workshop For Your Team

Once considered a niche personality system of spiritual origin, the Enneagram has moved into the mainstream of workplace development. Large employers in tech, retail, finance and professional services now use it to build high‑performing teams, and Truity’s Enneagram for the Workplace test is widely adopted by managers who want clearer insight into what motivates people at work and how they tend to react under pressure.

Organizations choose the Enneagram because it helps them:

• Explain why people in similar roles respond so differently to feedback, shifting priorities and time pressure.
• Spot earlier when someone is starting to struggle, using the stress patterns described for each type.
• Tailor recognition, development and day‑to‑day support to what each person finds meaningful.
• Have more grounded conversations about recurring tension and miscommunication.
• Plan meetings, projects and decisions so that a wider range of perspectives is heard and used.

Individual Enneagram reports are the starting point for this kind of reflection. People need space to review their results in the context of their own work experiences before comparing results with the team. The purpose of a team workshop is to bring those reports into a shared conversation. As the group talks, they can see where the nine styles sit across the team and start using that insight in the way they plan work, talk with each other and make decisions.

Leading this kind of workshop places different demands on you than a standard team‑building day. You are inviting people to talk about their core motivations and fears that sit at the heart of the Enneagram, and the session needs careful design to keep the discussion focused, inclusive and closely tied to the realities of your team’s work. The following steps are designed to create a workshop that does exactly that. 

1. Choose the Right Level of Content Exploration

The Enneagram is a deep, layered system. Beyond the nine core types, there are wings, instinctual variants, stress and growth lines, plus different levels of development. That richness is part of what makes it so effective, but it also means a first workshop can easily become overwhelming if you try to touch everything at once.

For an introductory session, it usually works best to stay with a broad overview of the nine types and how they show up under everyday and elevated pressure. You can position later workshops to go deeper into topics like stress and growth paths, or into more advanced material such as instinctual subtypes or leadership patterns.

When you plan, decide which layer belongs in this session and which will be held back for future work. For a team that has never used the Enneagram, a clear focus on “how our nine styles approach work, communication and stress” is often enough. Flag in your invitation that this is a first pass through the system and that further sessions can build on it, so people understand they are not expected to master the entire framework in one afternoon.

2. Plan a Space That Supports Honest Conversation

Because the Enneagram touches on what people care about and what they worry most about losing, participants often share more personally than they would in other workshops. The room setup needs to support that. 

Choose a room where everyone can see each other easily and where you can move between whole‑group discussion and smaller conversations. A layout that allows a loose circle or small clusters makes it easier for everyone to contribute. Avoid cramming the session into a time slot where people are rushing in late or leaving early for other commitments, as this undermines the sense of safety and attention you are trying to create.

3. Get Everyone’s Enneagram Test Results in Place

Ask everyone to complete Truity’s Enneagram for the Workplace assessment before the workshop, and make sure they have their reports on the day. Ahead of the session, invite participants to read the overview of their type and the sections that describe strengths, common difficulties and signs of stress. Suggest that they mark phrases that feel accurate and any that they want to bring into the discussion. This helps them arrive with a point of view.

After everyone has taken the assessment, look at your team map. Notice which of the nine Enneagram types are represented, and where there are clear clusters or gaps. Use that picture to guide the examples and questions you bring into the workshop.

For example, if your team is heavy with Types Three, Seven and Eight, you may have noticed that you’re working with a strong drive toward results and action. In the workshop, you might bring in questions about how that pace affects planning and follow‑through, or how often more cautious or detail-oriented colleagues feel pressured to move faster than is workable for them.

4. Review Our Done-for-You Training Materials

Truity’s Enneagram for the Workplace materials give you a complete, ready‑to‑use set of resources for your Enenagram workshop. We have prepared a comprehensive presentation guide and slide deck, with facilitator notes and type‑specific language that are all written for real workplace situations.

Before the workshop, take some time to read through the materials and decide what you will cover. The material is laid out in clear sections, and each one is designed to stand on its own. If you only have an hour or two, you can drop whole sections without losing coherence. 

You can also lean on the built‑in script. The notes give you suggested wording for each slide, plus sample questions you can use almost verbatim to keep the discussion moving. Use those as your default script, then tweak the phrasing anywhere it does not sound natural in your voice.

5. Have a Dry Run

Use this time to sense check how the core Enneagram content will land for this team, and what you might need to focus on if you find you cannot get through the slides in time. Pay attention to any sections that name blind spots or “shadow” behavior and practise the lines you will use to keep those conversations grounded and respectful.

As you go through the presentation, check that the examples and activities feel like real workplace situations for this group. Notice which types are likely to feel most “on the spot” and adjust your questions so that everyone has a way to participate that feels manageable. Aim to finish with a version of the workshop that you would feel comfortable attending yourself, hearing your own type described in front of your colleagues.

6. Keep the Enneagram Alive After the Workshop

Soon after the session, send a short follow‑up that brings people back to their Enneagram for the Workplace reports and to the themes that surfaced in the room. You might highlight one or two patterns the team noticed about how different types approach work, plus a small question each person can reflect on for their type, such as “What support helps me stay at my best under pressure?”

If you lead the team, think about one concrete place where you will use Enneagram language in the next month – for example, asking about preferred communication styles in one‑to‑ones, or checking in on how recent changes are landing for different types. Encouraging people to refer back to their type in regular meetings or project reviews helps the Enneagram become part of everyday problem-solving rather than a one‑time event.

You’re Ready to Run Your Enneagram Session!

With assessments complete, materials chosen and a dry run under your belt, you’re ready to bring the Enneagram into the way your team talks about work. Start with a simple first session and use what you learn to shape any follow‑up workshops you run later on.