Field guide · The Enneagram at work
Effective communication using the Enneagram
Each of the nine Enneagram types tends to communicate in a recognizable way, and each has a blind spot: something everyone else can see and they cannot. This guide is a brief look at all nine, with special emphasis on those blind spots, so that people can understand themselves and one another with more insight. Used with positive intention, it is a first step toward a more attuned emotional intelligence.
The four things to look at
- Speaking style
- The overall pattern by which we talk, in addition to what we actually talk about.
- Body language
- Posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, body movements, energy levels, and hundreds of other nonverbal messages we send.
- Blind spot
- Unconscious and unintentional information we convey to other people that is visible to them but invisible to us.
- Distorting filters
- The listener’s unconscious mental models or assumptions that alter how we hear what others say.
Type 1
How the One communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
Be direct, concise, and logical, and provide evidence on the right way to do things, as well as anything that is critical. You are already highly critical of yourself. Humor and lightness work well with you.
- Speaking style
- Precise, direct, exacting, concise, detailed. Shares task-related thoughts and reacts quickly to ideas. Uses words such as should, ought, must, good, excellent, wrong and right. Defensive if criticized.
- Body language
- Erect posture. Taut muscles. Eyes focused. Body language may reveal a negative reaction. Clothing is well-coordinated and pressed.
- Blind spot
- Appear critical, impatient, or angry. Tenacious regarding their own opinions. The impact of their anger on others.
- Distorting filters
- Being criticized by someone else. Preoccupation with their own ideas. Whether, in the One’s view, other people are behaving correctly and responsibly.
Type 2
How the Two communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
You may need time to sort out what you need and want. You appreciate it when others ask how you are feeling, and you appreciate affirmation and positive feedback when it is given authentically.
- Speaking style
- Asks questions, gives compliments, focuses on the content of others with few references to self. Soft voice. Angry or complaining when they don’t like what others are saying.
- Body language
- Smiling and comfortable. Relaxed facial expressions. Open, graceful body movement. When agitated, furrowed brow and facial tension.
- Blind spot
- A secondary or hidden agenda may lie beneath their generosity, helpfulness, and attention-giving. If uninterested in the other person, they disengage precipitously. Use of flattery to further their agenda. Secret criticism of others.
- Distorting filters
- Whether the other person likes them. Whether they like the other person. Whether they want to help the other person. The degree of influence the other person has. If they feel the other person plans to harm someone they want to protect.
Type 3
How the Three communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
Focus on results for improved communication. You do care even if it appears you are distracted; really you are preoccupied. You have a hard time slowing down, especially when it comes to emotions.
- Speaking style
- Clear, efficient, logical, and well put together. Quick on their feet. Avoids topics where they have limited information, especially anything that reflects negatively on them. Uses concrete examples. Impatient with lengthy conversations.
- Body language
- Looks put together. Appears confident. Breathes deeply into the chest. Keeps shoulders high. Actions may appear staged for effect. Looks around regularly to check the reactions of others. Lets others know when their time is up.
- Blind spot
- Impatient when they perceive others are not as capable. Avoids discussing their own failings. Appears driven. Seems to rush or dismiss others. May appear abrupt or insincere.
- Distorting filters
- Whether the information will make them look good. Whether the information will interfere with their goal achievement. The apparent confidence and competence of the other person.
Type 4
How the Four communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
Checking in with you makes you feel supported and understood. You are emotionally sensitive, for good and for bad. You value authenticity above almost everything.
- Speaking style
- Frequently self-referencing, with words like I, me, my, and mine. Comfortable discussing feelings and sharing personal or painful stories. Asks personal questions. Word choice may be precise and deliberate.
- Body language
- Intense. Urgent. Appears focused inward, as if analyzing the words they say. Communicates that they want undivided attention. Eyes may appear moist or sad.
- Blind spot
- Pulls the conversation back to themselves through self-referencing. Needs to fully complete a conversation even when the other person no longer wants to discuss an issue. May appear overly dramatic or contrived.
- Distorting filters
- Personal rejection. Being slighted or demeaned. Not wanting to appear defective. Being misunderstood.
Type 5
How the Five communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
You are more sensitive than you appear. You prefer to process emotions alone. Just because you aren’t communicating doesn’t mean you aren’t engaged.
- Speaking style
- Speaks tersely or in lengthy discourse with highly selective word choice. Limited sharing of personal information. Shares thoughts instead of feelings.
- Body language
- Expresses thoughts with limited emotional content. Appears self-contained and self-controlled, with unanimated body language.
- Blind spot
- May not exhibit warmth. May appear aloof or remote. May say too much and lose listeners, or use too few words and not be understood. May appear condescending or elitist.
- Distorting filters
- Demands and expectations. Feeling inadequate. Overwhelming emotions from the other person. Trust in the other person to maintain privacy. Physical proximity that feels too close.
Type 6
How the Six communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
It takes you a while to develop trust, so being consistent and forthcoming helps. You actually want to poke holes in plans as a way of trying to ensure success.
- Speaking style
- Starts with analytical comments. Speech may alternate between confident and hesitant. Discusses worries, concerns, and “what if” scenarios.
- Body language
- Eyes may be bold and direct, and the Six may appear warm, engaging, and empathic. Alternatively, eyes may dart back and forth as if scanning for danger. The face shows worry, with quick nonverbal reactions to perceived threats.
- Blind spot
- Negative scenarios read to others as negativism, pessimism, and a “can’t do” orientation. Self-doubt and worry can cause others to question the Six’s competence. No matter how hard the Six tries to mask the worry, it is still apparent.
- Distorting filters
- Whether others’ use of authority is proper or improper. Projection of thoughts and feelings onto the other person. Issues of trust related to the other person.
Type 7
How the Seven communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
You are sensitive to criticism even though you don’t show it. You fear getting stuck or trapped in negative emotions. Your focus on fun is an avoidance of painful feelings.
- Speaking style
- Quick and spontaneous, words released in a flurry. Tells engaging stories, shifts from topic to topic, reframes negative topics of all kinds. Easily distracted. A sharp tone of voice when angry.
- Body language
- Smiling and bright-eyed. Highly animated face and numerous hand and arm gestures. May walk around and pace while speaking. Easily distracted.
- Blind spot
- May not have absorbed all of the information they believe they have mastered. Fails to see that their own behavior causes others to take them less seriously. Constant shifting of ideas and animated body language is distracting to others.
- Distorting filters
- Having their competence demeaned. Thinking they know what the other person is going to say, so they stop listening. The possibility of having limits placed on them. Being forced into a long-term commitment they do not want.
Type 8
How the Eight communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
You usually don’t mean to be intimidating and often don’t know your own strength. You care a lot about moving things forward, protecting others, and fighting against things that are wrong.
- Speaking style
- Bold, authoritative, big-picture, strategic, impatient with detail. Raises the intensity of language until they get a response. Blames others if blamed. May display anger directly. May use profanity or body-based humor. May say very little and give intense nonverbal cues instead.
- Body language
- A strong physical presence, even when silent. Modulates voice tone for maximum impact. Gives intense nonverbal cues.
- Blind spot
- Many people, not just timid people, become intimidated by them. Their energy is far stronger than they realize, even when they are holding back. Not everyone grasps the big picture as quickly as Eights can. Their vulnerability may show at times when they are not aware of it.
- Distorting filters
- Protecting others the Eight believes truly need protection. Weakness in others. Control issues. Truthfulness. Feeling blamed.
Type 9
How the Nine communicates
What others should know about communicating with you
You avoid conflict and discomfort, and also avoid awareness of conflictual feelings. You may not tell others what you are thinking or doing, and may not even know what you want.
- Speaking style
- Gives highly detailed information in a sequential style. Makes the effort to be fair and present all sides. May say yes but mean no. Uses agreeing words such as “yes” and “uh-huh.” Easygoing and relaxed, with few displays of strong emotion.
- Body language
- Easygoing and relaxed. Smiling. Few displays of strong emotion, particularly negative feelings. The face, not the body, is animated.
- Blind spot
- Prolonged explanations cause the listener to lose interest. Presenting multiple viewpoints weakens their influence and possibly their credibility. Fails to make their true desires known. Passive-aggressive tendencies.
- Distorting filters
- Demands on them to change or do something. Being criticized, ignored, or put down. Someone holding an opposing view. The possibility that anger from another person will be directed at them.
Want your whole team’s types?
Reading nine descriptions is the start. Knowing which ones are sitting in your Tuesday meeting, and which of the three subtypes each person is, is what changes the meeting. Our free five-minute team diagnostic maps the nine inner worlds you hired, and Emma keeps working with the team after that.
Common questions
Each type has a recognizable speaking style (what they talk about and how), a body-language signature, a blind spot (what they convey without knowing it), and a set of distorting filters (assumptions that change how they hear you). Ones are precise and exacting; Twos ask and affirm; Threes are efficient and results-first; Fours self-reference and go to feeling; Fives are terse and contained; Sixes analyze and raise what-ifs; Sevens are quick, animated and story-driven; Eights are bold and intense; Nines are sequential, fair-minded and agreeable.
Unconscious and unintentional information you convey to other people that is visible to them but invisible to you. An Eight’s energy lands as intimidation they never intended; a Six’s worry shows no matter how well it is masked; a Two’s helpfulness can carry an agenda the Two does not see. Naming your own blind spot is the fastest emotional-intelligence gain there is.
The listener’s unconscious mental models or assumptions that alter how they hear what you say. A Three filters for whether the information makes them look good; a Five for demands and intrusion; a Nine for pressure to change. If you know someone’s filters, you can say the same thing in a way that actually arrives.
The type-level patterns here hold broadly, but the three subtypes of each type differ in how strongly they show. A Social Eight is warmer and less openly intense than a Sexual Eight; a Self-Preservation Four is far less self-referencing than a Sexual Four. We work at the subtype level in team engagements because that is where the exceptions live.