Written by Sandra Fourie, Relationship & Life Coach
Sandra Fourie is a relationship and life coach known for her ability to integrate tools such as CliftonStrengths and Enneagram in the daily lives of her clients. Her workshops are based on positive psychology and design thinking, assisting clients to develop an emotional language to express themselves.
One of the most daunting things to do is let a test tell you who you are or who you are supposed to be. Most people avoid it or take a quick, free online test until the results are what they want. Does this sound familiar? As human beings, we don’t want to be put in a box, but it is exactly those boundaries that make us feel safe and give us a sense of belonging.
Humans are complex, and personal development is neither easy nor comfortable. The most effective tool for those who truly long for connection with themselves and others is the Enneagram. The Enneagram is not one of those assessments you complete, skim through, and suddenly have everything sorted. It takes effort to integrate it into your everyday life. The Enneagram is an ancient archetype focusing on core motivations, vices, and virtues. I use the metaphor of a compass to explain the Enneagram as a tool to my clients. It shows you how far you are from your “true north” and provides the formula to get as close to that as possible.
5 benefits of using the enneagram for personal growth
1. Increased self-awareness
My main goal as a relationship coach and Enneagram practitioner is to make my clients aware of certain aspects of themselves based on their profiles. Once you become aware of something, you cannot become unaware, and you have a responsibility toward the things you have become aware of. Self-awareness is not selfish and should not be confused with self-centeredness. Self-awareness means recognizing your blind spots as well as your gifts the gifts that you can and should contribute to the world around you.
2. Emotional intelligence
Once you are more aware of your profile, your motivation, your vice, and your virtue, you can develop greater empathy for other profiles. The Enneagram has nine core types, each with three subtypes, and every person has an expression center. This changes the dynamic of your core type, even if it is the same as someone you know. Understanding this, and realizing that every person is unique in how they express themselves, helps develop emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is necessary for compassion, kindness, and grace not just for yourself but for the people around you. Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is extremely important for maintaining healthy relationships with your partner, children, team members, and others.
3. Personal growth pathways
Each Enneagram type has a distinct path toward growth and development (a formula to use to get back to your true north), including strengths to build upon and areas for improvement. During coaching sessions, we focus on your stress and strain profile, using each Enneagram type's stretch or release lines to create momentum for personal growth and development. For those interested, there is also a Spiritual Growth Path, which explains each type’s prayer posture and intention.
4. Conflict resolution
Understanding personality dynamics can help resolve conflicts by promoting collaboration and reducing misunderstandings. Each type has a vice and a virtue, and we move between the two every part of every day. Understanding your vice and virtue, and how to manage them, helps significantly with conflict resolution within yourself, which automatically leads to better conflict resolution with others. This also helps identify triggers.
5. Goal setting and motivation
By knowing and understanding your Enneagram profile, you can enhance goal-setting by aligning goals with intrinsic motivations. As mentioned earlier, the Enneagram focuses on motivation, not behaviours. If you can align your strengths with your goals, the struggle to reach them will be much less. The key to achieving goals is to keep them small and consistent. Start with small tasks to avoid setting yourself up for failure. Knowing your Enneagram profile will help you determine what is small and consistent for you.
Integrating the enneagram into daily life
Being aware of the benefits of knowing and understanding your Enneagram profile, you can now go ahead and take the assessment. I am not a fan of the free assessments available on the internet, but there are a few. The most accurate one, and the assessment I use for my clients, is Integrative9.
The report is inclusive of everything mentioned above. For optimal growth, I also suggest appointing an Enneagram Practitioner to guide your growth paths. You aren’t just your core type; you are much more than that, and you need to integrate the whole of your profile.
Sandra Fourie, Relationship & Life Coach
Sandra Fourie’s coaching style is based on her own personal development journey. What started as a personal branding experience, to get clarity on her own identity, resulted in a private practice where her clients experience the same path, through facilitation, coaching and making use of certain tools. With fifteen years of CliftonStrengths experience and 5 year’s experience as Enneagram practitioner, she created a niche for herself in the life coaching industry. She combines the two tools/assessments for a holistic approach. Addressing the being as well as the doing.
Other resources to optimise your Enneagram experience and personal growth:
(Book) The Sacred Enneagram, Christopher L Heuertz
(Book) The Complete Enneagram | 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge, Beatrice Chestnut
