This article delves into the strengths, potential hurdles, growth opportunities, and the influence of Enneagram Type 2 leaders on team members who may have different personality types. By comprehending the dynamics of the Type 2 leadership style, you can cultivate a well-rounded and inclusive work environment that encourages collaboration and individual development.
The leadership style of Enneagram Type 2 is often known as “The Servant Leader,” characterized by a unique combination of empathy, support, and collaboration that they typically bring to the teams they lead.
Strengths of Type 2 Leaders:
- Assistance and Support: Type 2 leaders typically possess an innate tendency to aid and support others. They go the extra mile to assist team members, ensuring their well-being and providing the essential resources for success.
- Cultivate Strong Relationship Building: Type 2 leaders demonstrate expertise in nurturing positive relationships with their team members. They prioritize the development of connections and the establishment of trust, fostering collaboration and a shared sense of belonging.
- Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: These leaders demonstrate proficiency in understanding and empathizing with the emotions and needs of others. Their emotional intelligence allows them to establish a nurturing work environment where team members feel appreciated, valued, and heard.
Blind Spots and Potential Hurdles:
- Excessive fusion with Others’ Emotions: Type-2 leaders may encounter difficulty in distinguishing their own emotions from those of their team members. This challenge can influence their objectivity and decision-making skills.
- Seeking Approval/People Pleasing: On occasions, Type 2 personality may actively seek external validation and harbor a fear of rejection or being underappreciated. This fear can potentially influence their capacity to offer candid feedback or address conflicts directly.
- Difficulty Setting Boundaries: Type 2 leaders may encounter difficulties in defining boundaries between work and personal life. Their keen desire to assist others might occasionally result in over-extension, leading to the neglect of their own needs.
Growth Opportunities for Type 2 Leaders
To continue to enhance their leadership effectiveness, Type 2 leaders can look at the growth areas below:
- Striking a Balance between Support and Accountability: Type 2 leaders can develop the skill of balancing their supportive approach with the necessity of holding team members accountable. Offering constructive feedback and establishing clear expectations facilitate growth and development.
- Self-Care and Establishing Boundaries: Leaders of Type 2 should give importance to self-care and set healthy boundaries. Prioritizing their own needs allows them to provide support consistently and sustainably to their team members.
- Assertiveness and Advocating for Oneself: Enhancing assertiveness skills empowers Type 2 leaders to articulate their own needs and opinions more effectively. This fortifies their leadership presence and encourages open communication.
For additional development opportunities, study Type 2s resource points (arrows in the enneagram symbol)- Type 4 and Type 8, to see what behaviours and qualities they can pull in to improve their approach to leadership. Also, please refer to the leadership strengths of Type 4 and 8.
How the 9 Enneagram types perceive leadership?
Source: theenneagraminbusiness.com/
Possible effects or Impacts on their team:
Positive impacts/Favourable effects or benefits
- Creating a Supportive and Compassionate Atmosphere: Type 2 leaders foster a workplace environment that is supportive and nurturing. They pay close attention to the needs of their team members, offering emotional support and promoting a sense of belonging and well-being.
- Compassion and Understanding: Leaders embodying Type Two characteristics tend to be notably empathetic and understanding. They engage in active listening with their team members, strive to comprehend their concerns, and offer guidance and assistance as necessary.
- Emphasizing Collaboration and Teamwork: These leaders highly prioritise collaboration and stress the importance of forging robust relationships within the team. They actively promote teamwork, encourage cooperation, and provide opportunities for individuals to contribute their distinct strengths and perspectives.
- Nurturing Others’ Growth: Type 2 leaders genuinely care about the advancement and development of their team members. They offer mentorship, provide constructive feedback, and establish opportunities for learning and skill enhancement.
Negative impacts/Adverse effects or drawbacks
- Challenge in setting boundaries: The nurturing nature of Type 2 leaders can sometimes make it difficult for them to set clear boundaries. This can result in an uneven balance between personal support and professional expectations, potentially impacting productivity and team dynamics.
- Tolerating Inappropriate Conduct: At times, the inclination to please others can hinder the ability to provide constructive feedback or make tough decisions, such as terminating someone, as Type Two Leaders often strive to recognize the positive aspects in nearly everyone. Permitting “bad behaviour” from a team member can adversely affect the morale and productivity of the entire team.
- Excessive Engagement and Dependence: Leaders of Type 2 may find themselves excessively involved in the personal lives and concerns of their team members. This could result in a dependency dynamic, where team members heavily rely on the leader for guidance or decision-making, potentially limiting individual autonomy.
- Disregarding Personal Needs: Type 2 leaders frequently prioritize the needs of others over their own. This selfless approach may result in neglecting their own well-being and possibly facing burnout, which can impact their capacity to lead the team effectively.
Conclusion
It is crucial to acknowledge that the influence of a leadership style is contingent on the particular context, team composition, and the project at hand. Striking a balanced approach that combines the natural strengths of the Type 2 leadership style while being mindful of potential challenges and blind spots can optimize its positive impact and mitigate or lessen any negative effects.
Every individual is distinct, shaped by a myriad of factors such as childhood experiences, race, culture, birth order, socioeconomic status, education level, religion/spirituality, family dynamics, and more. These elements collectively influence a person’s personality and the strategies they employ to navigate life. Utilizing the Enneagram as a framework provides a starting point for gaining a deeper understanding of oneself or others. It serves as a valuable tool to comprehend and support individuals, fostering personal and interpersonal growth.
Which leadership styles do you incorporate? Leadership is a fluid/dynamic endeavour, allowing for the adoption of various styles. Your approach evolves as you consistently aim to improve your support for both your team and the overall development of the company.
As the Chinese proverb conveys, wisdom lies in adapting to circumstances, akin to water moulding itself to suit its container. To enhance our leadership capabilities in the future, it is vital to comprehend the suitable leadership styles for diverse situations and take into account the motivational factors of those we lead.
Engaging in a leadership workshop that employs the Enneagram profiling system can aid in developing an agile/adaptable leadership style, a quality increasingly acknowledged as crucial for effectively guiding today’s workforce.
Utilizing the Enneagram in leadership enables participants to grasp the nine unique leadership paradigms, encompassing their inherent strengths and potential challenges. This approach delves into the expected behaviours demonstrated by leaders of each Enneagram type and proposes customized development activities to augment leadership capabilities according to individual Enneagram types.
Moreover, the Enneagram proves valuable in refining specific leadership competencies, including the ability to drive results, strategic planning, leading high-performing teams, and more.