Page 295 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

Take Charge of Change 269

for engineers—for example, by basing their salary increases
and bonuses, in part, on their ability to collaborate with
other groups.

When Fours are fatigued, either by overwork or by personal
issues, they tend to overpersonalize resistance to change. Unfor-
tunately, when resistance to organizational change occurs, it is
sometimes expressed as personal criticisms, unfair speculations
about a leader’s motivations, and worse. Whether these accusa-
tions are public or private—and the latter is often more painful
than public criticism, as it is more insidious—they are especially
hurtful to Fours, who often have few filters or defenses with which
to protect themselves from such criticisms.
The Four’s sensitivity can also limit his or her ability to take
charge of change in another way: Four leaders can be especially
sympathetic to employees with whom they have strong bonds,
whom they perceive as having suffered, or with whom they iden-
tify in some regard. If one of these employees is going to be
adversely affected by the forthcoming change, Fours can feel
deeply troubled, sometimes to the point of making special accom-
modations for this other person; this mirrors how Fours them-
selves would want to be treated. A Four can also feel distressed by
having to choose between inflicting pain on an individual that he
or she cares about and doing what is best for the organization.
Libby’s personal sensitivity can be seen in the following example:

When Libby first received the consultant’s feedback, she was
reluctant to make any changes. However, after the consultant
told Libby that the feedback on her overall leadership
performance was excellent and that employees throughout
the company respected her as an engineer and a leader, and
also liked her as a person, Libby became emotional and told
the consultant about a painful event that had occurred years
earlier in another organization: during a 360º leadership feed-
back session, Libby’s scores had been marginal, and she was