Page 63 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

42 What Type of Leader Are You?

Here is a quote from a 360º feedback assessment about Kelly:

“Kelly, our project leader, is an amazing person, always
making time for people, no matter what time of day it is or
what the work demands may be. Part coach and part confi-
dant, Kelly always has some useful perspective or on-target
advice for each of us. This approach always seems to bring
out the best in us, and it also gets the work done.”

The Two leader’s strength in attending to people’s needs can
also become a derailer, however. Enneagram Two leaders can
spend so much time and energy focusing on the needs of their
employees, peers, bosses, and customers that they feel caught
between the competing wishes of different individuals or, more
likely, exhaust themselves in the process of trying to accommo-
date everyone’s desires. Although Twos focus on both tasks and
people, Two leaders run the risk of placing too much emphasis
on the latter.
Twos may also have trouble giving direct feedback to individu-
als who they know are already under duress. In addition, Two lead-
ers can become angry when others do not act in a responsive,
appreciative manner or in a way that the Two thinks is appropri-
ate. They become even more agitated when they are overextended
and near the point of exhaustion, and they are often unaware that
this is occurring or that they are taking insufficient time for them-
selves and their personal lives.
Here is an e-mail from James, a Two, regarding a recommenda-
tion for someone who used to work for him. Although the e-mail
is gracious, in it you can read the implied slap on the wrist and
the writer’s undertone of annoyance for perceived inappropriate
behavior:

Rod Samuels called yesterday re: a reference for you for a
part-time teaching position at the university. I, of course,
gave you an excellent one. In the future, however, I would