Page 221 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

196 What Type of Leader Are You?

often impedes the team’s ability to develop self-reliance and self-
confidence. Share your ideas, but be genuinely open to others’
reactions and to ideas. Involve team members more directly, and
be willing to shift course as a result.

Enneagram Style Fours

Four leaders enjoy the thrill of aligning a team
behind a common and compelling vision, utilizing
and bringing out the talent within the team, and
developing a team architecture to match the team’s
deepest intentions—all in order to help the team
deliver high-quality goods and services. Fours
embrace team goals that are important and mean-
ingful to them, and they prefer to break down big projects into
smaller pieces so that the team’s efforts do not feel too daunting.
The Four leader’s team architecture and processes are usually
designed to maximize creativity and self-expression at both the
individual and the team levels. For this reason, Four leaders tend
not to overstructure or overorganize work for others.
Fours usually manage their teams in such a way that issues that
need attention are expressed and dealt with. They feel comfort-
able helping a team discuss difficult issues in a constructive way,
and they believe that every team member is important as an indi-
vidual. Fours also develop close one-on-one relationships with all
team members whenever possible.
The following story about Don illustrates a Four team leader in
action:

Don adores leading what he describes as “messy” teams. He
develops new teams well, but he is most excited when he
takes over a team that is in disarray. Don understands that
teams with undiscussed issues and unresolved conflicts do
not perform effectively. He takes a dysfunctional team and