Page 81 - Using the Enneagram System to Identify and Grow Your Leadership Strengths and Achieve Maximum Success

60 What Type of Leader Are You?

staff’s performance that when he was no longer available to
them, even though they did not literally need him, the result
was a leadership vacuum in his group that made its members
so anxious that it destabilized them. Although this surprised
Anthony because his staff was so able, he learned that even
mature staff members become dysfunctional when the person
they consider their “rock” seems to disappear.

Development Stretches for Eights

EMPOWER OTHERS TO TAKE ACTION Because you move to action
quickly and others are used to following your lead, the more you
do, the less others are inclined to take action on their own. If you
want to empower others to take the initiative, you need to act less
often and less quickly. When you use this approach on an ongoing
basis, others will eventually rise to the occasion. For example,
don’t always be the first to express an opinion. This will reduce
people’s reliance on you as a thought leader. When someone else
suggests a good idea, affirm the person and ask him or her to
explain it in more detail.

PUT YOURSELF IN CHARGE OF WORKING WELL WITH EVERYONE It has
been said that Eights do not suffer fools gladly, nor do they like
being around people whom they perceive as incompetent or as
not taking responsibility for their own behavior. However, since
we can all be “fools” sometimes and very few people always take
full responsibility for their own behavior, it is important that you
learn to be more accepting or, at the least, not to give people the
impression that you don’t want to make time for them. Try to find
something you appreciate in people whom you find troubling; this
will help you to respond to them in a warmer way.

HAVE MORE FUN This may be the biggest challenge of all for
Eights, who tend to be serious at work, especially when the work
demands are high (and this always seems to be the case when