The Enneagram Types
The Enneagram is one of the world's most widely used tools for understanding personality. Here you get an overview of the nine types, the three centres and the arrows, and how we use it to strengthen communication, collaboration, sales, service and leadership.
The Enneagram describes nine basic personality types, nine different ways of seeing the world and nine different sets of driving forces behind what we do. Where many personality models settle for describing behaviour, the Enneagram goes behind the behaviour and explains the motivation: why we react the way we do, what we long for, and what we most want to avoid. Two people can behave the same way for entirely different reasons, and you only understand one another once you know the motive.
Each type has its strengths and resources, its blind spots and pitfalls, and a very particular pattern for how it reacts under stress and in security. When you know your own type and can read the others, it becomes far easier to communicate, collaborate, sell, lead and resolve conflicts, because you meet people where they actually are.
Click a number in the Enneagram symbol, or choose a type from the list.
Each type has a number and a couple of telling names. Click to read about characteristics, resources, stress and security, with video.
The types group themselves into three centres according to how they first meet the world.
Instinct and action. Concerned with the tangible product, fairness and practical handling. Often reacts out of anger/irritation.
Feelings and relationships. Concerned with self-image, recognition and connection to others. Often reacts out of shame/embarrassment.
Ideas and analysis. Concerned with possibilities, security and gathering knowledge. Often reacts out of fear/worry.
No one is a pure type. We are coloured by the two neighbouring types, our "wings". A type 9 can, for example, lean towards 1 or towards 8, and that gives two quite different versions of the same basic type. The wings explain why two people with the same type can still seem different.
The lines in the symbol are arrows that show how each type changes. Under stress the type moves in the direction of the arrow and takes on traits from the less helpful sides of the type the arrow points to. In security the type moves against the direction of the arrow and draws on traits from the resourceful sides of another type. In the literature the two movements are called disintegration and integration. That is what makes the Enneagram dynamic. The type is where you start, and the arrows show where you go.
Most people recognise themselves in more than one type, and that is perfectly normal. It is the motivation behind the behaviour that decides the type.
The free Enneagram test takes a few minutes and gives you an indication of your type.
Read the descriptions of the two or three types closest to you. The right one is where you recognise the motivation.
Pay attention to how you react under stress and in security. That pattern is often what settles the type.
This is where it gets practical. We translate type understanding into the work you actually do.
Adapt message and tone to the recipient's type, so it is heard, and give feedback without triggering defensiveness.
Understand why you each pull in your own direction, and turn differences into complementary strengths.
Recognise how the types react under pressure, and de-escalate before small frictions grow large.
Read the customer's type and buying motive, and adapt argumentation, pace and relationship.
Meet the customer's needs and reaction patterns quickly, even when things heat up.
Lead each employee according to what drives them, and see your own blind spots as a leader.
Know your own patterns, driving forces and stress reactions, the foundation for personal development.
Give new employees a shared language from the start, so they quickly become part of the culture.
Do you want to work with the Enneagram in your organisation? See our courses, all built on a shared 2-day intro course, where you get to know the types and find your own.
Where behavioural models stop, the Enneagram begins.
The Enneagram is one of the most widespread forms of person typology and personality typology, and it is used by both private companies and public organisations in Denmark. Many know personality tests such as MBTI (Myers-Briggs), DISC and Garuda. Those tools primarily describe behaviour, preferences and communication style, and they are very good at putting words to how we act.
The Enneagram differs by going behind the behaviour and mapping the motivation: the driving force, the core need and the thing we most want to avoid. It explains why we act as we do, and how we change under stress and in security. That is why many find that the Enneagram gives a deeper and more usable self-insight, and it can be combined nicely with MBTI, DISC or Garuda if you already use one of them. If you want to get started in earnest, an Enneagram course is the shortest path from theory to concrete behaviour in everyday life.
What people most often ask when they meet the Enneagram for the first time.
Take the Enneagram test at 360indicator, or join our intro course and find your type with an experienced instructor.