Page 260 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

Make Optimal Decisions 235

emphasize development, but the way this proposal currently is
worded will be taken as a threat. This is not the best decision.”
The president and the other team members sat in stunned
silence, because they knew she was right. The fact that this
was coming from someone who was not perceived as
making decisions based primarily on their potential impact
on people made the others pay even more attention. Beth’s
comments caused the team to review the strategy and
change the intent and wording entirely.

Five leaders tend to make decisions on their own, relying on
their own understanding and analyses rather than involving oth-
ers in various stages of the decision-making process. This can be
an asset, because Fives often stand firmly behind their decisions.
However, this approach can also be a liability, particularly when a
decision requires input from a variety of sources or when partici-
pation in the process would encourage people to accept the deci-
sion more readily.
Unlike Beth in the preceding example, Five leaders tend to place
insufficient emphasis on others’ reactions when making a decision.
Because most Fives don’t normally have strong emotional
responses themselves—which might be thought of as their having
an underexplored Heart Center—they often assume that other peo-
ple will or should have the same nonemotional types of reactions.
In addition, the unfamiliarity or discomfort that some Fives have
with in-depth feelings can make it more difficult for them to antic-
ipate and/or empathize with the emotional reactions of others.
Finally, many Five leaders do not move to action quickly enough
because they want to be sure that they have secured all of the rel-
evant information and analyzed it extensively before making a deci-
sion. However, some decisions require quick action, while others
involve such large quantities of data that it is impossible to know
everything in advance.
The following example involving Beth illustrates the potential
pitfalls: