|
In today’s post, I am so excited to be joined by special guest Jenn Whitmer! Jenn is a leadership speaker and an Enneagram coach. She helps leaders solve conflict and personality clashes. Through working with Jenn people are able to improve their communication, work through conflicts and build self-awareness with the use of the Enneagram. Her ability to approach hard topics and help people ask big questions that will help lead them to big dreams is so unique and special!
In this post, Jenn will walk us through how to own our strengths and embrace our weaknesses while becoming self-aware through the Enneagram. She’ll go into how helpful becoming self-aware is not only to your business but in your personal life as well.
Jenn started her career off as a music teacher. She was a teacher for years and then her family life grew and she decided to stay home. When she went back to work she ended up going back as an administrator at her children’s private school.
This was an amazing experience for Jenn. It was what she wanted to do, work with kids and also help train teachers. Unfortunately, the dream job didn’t stay that way, there was a change of leadership that shook up her and the community.
Around the change in leadership was when Jenn started getting into conflict resolution training and learning about the Enneagram system. After some time Jenn was fired and rehired and then ended up leaving on her own.
The main takeaway she had was her new found passion for not allowing other places to have a situation like hers. One of her goals is to help people learn how to lead in a healthy way. When she was looking into the Enneagram meaning to figure out how to help other people that is when it turned into a coaching and speaker role.
Now she’s able to help other people be better and live connected with one another.
Jenn found that she loved learning about the Enneagram meaning because she loves learning to be self-aware. It is a very powerful thing when you can know yourself and the underlying reasons you are the way you are.
There are so many things that inhibit your growth and get in the way of what you want to do. Learning about Enneagram can help you to identify why you are the way you are which can help you adjust and change it.
For Jenn, learning more about her Enneagram has helped her change the way she communicates, observes, makes decisions, appreciates, and cares for others. She believes that self-awareness and growth happen when you are ruthlessly self-honest and generously compassionate with yourself. By doing that it will extend to other people.
The Enneagram is a personality framework that helps us to understand the 9 main ways we see the world. We have 9 types of motivations, fears, desires all of which affect how we try to make our way in the world. There are 9 different Enneagram types, which Jenn will breakdown in a simplistic way below:
Type 1. is the reforming perfectionist, they have a core fear of being wrong or bad, concerned with the external standards of the world. Their core desire is to reform themselves and others. These people tend to have a strong internal critic.
Type 2. is afraid of rejection, they want to be loved, appreciated, and accepted. They try to do things to help people because if they can help others then they get what they want (appreciation, love, etc.).
Type 3. is the motivational cheerleader. They are afraid of not achieving their goals, they tie their achievements to their worth. They want themselves and others to have success.
Type 4. is always looking for a way to stand out. This is something that makes them very genuine. They are self-referencing; they are afraid they won’t be noticed if they don’t demonstrate their ability to be unique. They want to create a space for themselves and others.
Type 5. is the observer, they think and investigate. They enjoy diving deep into knowledge. A core fear for them is not knowing or incompetence. They want to be an expert in whatever it is and to have both a deep and broad understanding of the concept.
Type 6. is afraid of being physically or emotionally abandoned. They are always preparing themselves for what’s next. They concoct different scenarios in their mind so they can be prepared for anything. This can lead them to have internal angst. Their core desire is to care for themselves and others and to be at peace so they don’t have to prepare. They crave security and safety.
Type 7. is afraid of experiencing pain and being trapped in pain long-term. They have major FOMO (fear of missing out) they don’t want to miss an opportunity to make themselves happy. They want safety, security, and happiness.
Type 8. is the protective challenger. Their core fears are being betrayed and being vulnerable. They feel the need to protect themselves and others. They are intense and effective motivators but have a soft side that they keep hidden.
Type 9. is the harmonious peacemaker. They are afraid of losing connections or relationships. Their core fear is conflict, they want things to be peaceful both internally and externally so they try to make sure everyone and themselves are happy. This as it sounds is an exhausting way to live which is why these types of people have the least amount of energy.
LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS | LISTEN ON SPOTIFY | LISTEN ON GOOGLE PODCASTS
For all of us, one of these Enneagram types takes the lead and reflects our deepest motivators in how we live our life. Jenn said it took her 6-7 months to fully figure out what her number was. She recommends that you start listening to Enneagram types talk about their own types. If you can listen to people who have their own type figured out then you can see what you relate to.
The available assessments are great indicators but they shouldn’t be the deciding factor. You should get honest with yourself about your core desires and fears. What makes you uncomfortable and what are the things that keep you up at night? Doing this will help you to identify which of the Enneagram types you relate most to.
There are two main ways you can apply understanding your Enneagram meaning in your life and your business. The two things are what you do internally and the external-facing part of your business or life.
Showing your core fears and showing people the genuine ways they show up in your life is really amazing. People want to follow someone they can relate to and connect with.
You can also relate your program to your audience in a way that will help them solve their fears. Each of us is motivated by certain fears and you can show how your program will uniquely help better their lives.
Self-reflection is such a powerful tool. Uncovering your personal Enneagram is an amazing way to practice self-reflection and understand the reasons behind our motives and fears. Jenn Whitmer believes there are so many things that inhibit our ability to grow.
Learning about our Enneagram type can help us to identify why we are the way we are, to help us make the necessary adjustments and changes we need to move forward. We should all learn to own our strengths and embrace our weaknesses.
And finally, as always, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay #PrettyAwkward!
I hope this post helped you see how effective uncovering your Enneagram type can be for you and your business. You can connect more with Jenn over at her website and also connect with her on Instagram.
Apply for one of my next level coaching offers here (Limited spots available through the summer): https://meganyelaney.com/next-level-support
Take the Find Your Unique Coach Approach Quiz here: www.meganyelaney.com/quiz
Join the Free FB Community with exclusive live trainings here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/impactfulpassiveincome
I have helped HUNDREDS of women get their unique coaching voice and find their soulmate (clients that is!)
Because I’ve been there too. I went from wanting to be a health and fitness coach...trying to take awkward booty pooping selfies, to embracing my #prettyawkward style and scaling my coaching business past six figures.