How to Use the Enneagram to Make Better Decisions At Work and In Life

Life is a series of decisions. From what you eat to whom you marry, your choices profoundly influence your future. Sound decision making is one of the most foundational and important aspects of a happy, well-balanced life. 

The bad news is that a single bad decision can alter the course of your life forever, sending you down a difficult path that may be hard to recover from. The good news is that tools like the Enneagram can help you avoid these mistakes by offering tips and techniques for making wise choices. 

When applying the Enneagram in decision making, it is important to work with the three centers of intelligence: the heart, the head and the body. Every Enneagram type is dominant in one of these centers, but each of us has access to all three. The heart center helps us to feel, the head center helps us to think analytically, and the body center helps us to take action. Drawing from each of these three centers is key when trying to make wise choices. 

For example, if you are trying to decide about a career move, you want to consult your heart to determine which option excites you, your head to analyze the practical aspects like which job pays better and has the easier commute, and your body to determine your gut feeling about your potential new boss. You can do the analysis in any order but make sure you cover all three.  

While that’s a general example, the Enneagram helps you get even more specific. Below we offer you how to make better decisions, based on your Enneagram type.

Type 1 Perfectionist: Be Flexible

Your Type One superpower is your drive for efficiency and improvement. You are great at adding structure to situations and creating order from chaos. But when making an important decision, you are at your best when you resist the urge to control the process and instead allow room for new information or options to emerge.

• Heart center: Access your feelings more and tune into the emotional state of others. Work on cultivating empathy even if it leads to “less efficient” decision making. Place a higher value on your relationships and the emotional world.
• Head center: Don’t overplan or over organize the situation. Focus on themes instead of details. Analysis is great, but overanalysis just creates confusion and might cause you to lose sight of the bigger picture.
• Body center: Sit quietly and ask yourself “what do I know to be true?” about the situation. Learn the art of deep listening and learn to honor your body’s wisdom.

In practice: Imagine you are working on the itinerary for your family vacation.  Consider the feelings of your spouse and children and not just the most efficient way to plan the trip. Choose a main place to visit each day but allow for spontaneity for the balance of the time. After you’ve got your outline, sit quietly and ask yourself “is this the holiday I want for myself and my family?”  

Type 2 Giver: Stay Objective

Your Type Two superpower is your ability to connect and understand the feelings of others, but this superpower can become your Achilles heel when you let your emotions cloud your judgment. We love how you are able to tune into the emotional world, but when making an important decision, try to be more objective. 

• Heart center: Consider both your own and other people’s feelings, in depth. When you come to clarity about a decision, be completely honest with the other people involved about your reasons for your decision.
• Head center: Look at the cold, hard facts and do a practical analysis of your choices, stripping out any emotional charge. Focus on the data.
• Body center: Learn the art of timing so you know when to act, when to pause, and when to do nothing. Let your body lead and have the courage to trust your gut.

In practice: Imagine you are reviewing care options for your aging parents. Consider not just the feelings of your parents, but also your own feelings about the choices. Assign some importance to your own self-care. Do an objective analysis of the choices, focusing on data. When you’ve got a clear path forward, take a few deep breaths and check in with your body before you decide how to communicate your decision.

Type 3 Achiever: Slow Down and Feel

Your Type Three superpower is your ability to achieve your goals and while this serves you well in many aspects, if you aren’t careful you can lose sight of the more important aspects of a situation.  You can be overly speedy in your decision-making and sometimes you inadvertently favor a good image over a good choice.

• Heart center: Spend time considering your own feelings and those of others. Let your feelings rise and try to recognize and name them. Factor those feelings into the equation. You have a big heart, and your best decisions are compassionate ones.
• Head center: Slow down when making important decisions. Consider all data, including feelings, that you might have overlooked. 
• Body center: Tune into your body and listen to its signals.  If you’ve got a pit in your stomach, that might not be your best choice. You’ll know you are on the right track when your body relaxes.

In practice: Imagine you are deciding  whether to take a new job or stay at your current one.  Make a pros and cons list for both options but make sure to add in your feelings (excited, bored, hopeful, etc.) to the lists.  Consider what your family members might be feeling and add those too. Add your body’s reaction to the pros and cons list.  Do you feel tense and anxious with one choice? Relaxed and expansive with another? Use all of this information as you review your options.

Type 4 Individualist: Be Consistent

Your Type Four superpower is to deeply read into situations and understand what is true but not being said. This ability to “read the air” is useful, but it can cause confusion when it comes to making important decisions.

• Heart center: Remember that the emotional world is only one of the factors to be considered. Check yourself to see if you might be misinterpreting the motivations of others. Try to be open to hearing directly from other people what they say and mean. 
• Head center: Think through your choices using logic as well as intuition. If the answers are in conflict, ask yourself which is likely to produce the best result. Honor your rational mind.
• Body center: Use your body’s innate wisdom to balance your head and heart. Ask yourself regularly “What do I feel on a consistent basis? What is my immovable truth?”  If the answers are vague, consider a physical practice (walking, dancing) to get more in touch with your body.

In practice: Imagine you are considering moving to a new apartment. Think through your choices in a logical, analytical way. Consider practical elements of your potential move, not just the emotions you imagine you will feel in a new place. Get feedback from other people and listen to them with an open heart.  Check your body for clues and ask yourself “what do I feel on a consistent basis? What option feels right every single day for days on end?” 

Type 5 Investigator: Factor in Feelings

Your Type Five superpower is your ability to stay focused on the facts and data without letting emotion cloud your judgment. We love your cool-headed, objective perspective, but it is important to remember we are having a human experience, and the emotional world is a big part of that. 

• Heart: Work hard to bridge the communication barriers between you and others. Resist your tendency to withdraw. When you are making a big decision, share your process so others understand your thinking better.
• Head: Make sure your analysis includes information about feelings, not just facts. Remember that logic can have its own bias so try hard to include the world of emotion in your decision-making process.
• Body: Be flexible and reconsider decisions you have made only with your mind. Learn your body’s signals so you can listen to your “gut” instinct.  Include this gut instinct in your decision-making.

In practice: Imagine you are deciding to get a family pet. Get feedback from your family members and try to consider their emotional needs.  Make your “pros and cons” list but share your process with everyone involved. Let them participate too. You might be surprised to learn what is important to other people. Before coming to a decision, sit with yourself and listen to your body. What does your gut say?

Type 6 Skeptic: Be Balanced

Your Type Six superpower is your ability to see danger and prepare for what could go wrong. Your habit of attention helps keep the rest of us safe but when it comes to making important decisions, you can get a little lost in the negative. 

• Heart: Remember yourself and factor your opinion into your decision-making. Too often you look outside yourself to come to a conclusion. Be as compassionate with yourself as you are with others as you consider your own position on a topic.
• Head: Notice if you are anxious and creating negative loops in your mind. Plan for both positive and negative outcomes. When considering negative outcomes, ask yourself “Is this real? Is this likely? What else could happen?”
• Body: Use your gut instinct to bypass overthinking and overanalysis in your head. If you are unsure about what to do, engage in physical activity (for example, walking) and then tune into your gut instinct.

In practice:  Imagine you are considering which preschool is right for your child. Schedule site visits not just for practical reasons but also to see how you feel about the various options.  Get feedback from others but place some importance on your own impressions as well. Rather than just focusing on the risks, make a list of the positive aspects you see with each potential school. 

Type 7 Enthusiast: Keep Your Feet On the Ground

Your Type Seven superpower is your ability to see the expansive possibility in a situation. You naturally see what could go right and while we love your positivity, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. When making an important decision, work hard to keep your feet on the ground.

• Heart: Try to relate through your heart as much as through your head. Examine your own feelings about your options. Search hard for any negative feelings you might be avoiding. Think about the potential impact on others for all the alternatives you consider. 
• Head: Get the full data, not just the highlights. Gaining insight takes time and reflection so don’t rush the process. Try to focus your mind and think all the way through each option.
• Body: Slow down your decision making pace so all the choices have a chance to surface. Develop your gut knowing so you can draw from your body’s intelligence as well as that of your mind.

In practice: Imagine you are deciding which restaurant you and your relatives will eat at for a family gathering. Rather than enthusiastically promoting the latest trendy restaurant that’s been on your list to try, think about all of the people coming and their food preferences. Consider their budgets. Consider the location and how everyone will arrive. Give yourself time before making a suggestion and make sure your gut instinct feels good about whatever option you offer.

Type 8 Challenger: Soften Your Stance

Your Type Eight superpower is your decisiveness and your ability to take clear action. This is a great trait in certain environments, but it can limit you in others. If you aren’t careful, you can bulldoze over others, and you don’t always think before you act. 

• Heart: Take the time to sense the feelings of everyone involved, even people you don’t like or don’t respect. This will help you take a more holistic approach to your choices. 
• Head: Ask for the opinion of others. Your drive to move quickly into action can lead you to incomplete analysis. Slow down and get feedback from others.
• Body: Trust your gut but soften your stance. You can be overly intense and bold in your decision making. Slow down and soften your stance.

In practice: Imagine you need to decide how to give constructive feedback to your direct report. Even if you feel clear about the issue, solicit feedback from other people.  Listen carefully to what they say and see if you might have misunderstood part of the situation. Consider the feelings of the person you need to give feedback to-what is happening in their life right now outside of work?  When you do sit down to give feedback, soften your speech and offer some positive feedback too. You are more effective when you are a bit softer.

Type 9 Peacemaker: Set a Deadline

Your Type Nine superpower is your ability to consider all stakeholders and positions. Your decision making can be solid because you consider all elements and angles. But considering so much can lead to indecision as well so to be at your best, you need to be crisp and clear.

• Heart: Share how you really feel about different aspects of a decision. Do this early in the discussions to avoid future misunderstandings.
• Head: Be willing to verbalize your insights about the situation. Be open to creating a structure for your decision making, including deadlines. And stick to them!
• Body:  Examine your tendency to procrastinate-where does it come from? Consult your gut everytime you make a decision but err on the side of acting too quickly. At a minimum, set a deadline and stick to it.

In practice: Imagine you need to do layoffs at the company you lead. When you meet with human resources, share all of your concerns.  Then create a decision making framework and follow it. Set a firm deadline and don’t let your discomfort with the inevitable conflict of a layoff deter you from making the choices you need to make. Be crisp and clear when you finalize the layoff list.

Final thoughts

As you can see, there is an art to effective decision making, and the Enneagram is a great tool to sharpen your skills and develop discernment. When you access all three centers of your intelligence with intention, you leverage your full potential and ultimately arrive at  decisions you can stand behind and feel good about.