Enneagram Workshop for Teams: Planning and Execution Guide

An Enneagram workshop for teams is a structured session in which team members explore the Enneagram framework, including the nine personality types this typology system recognizes, to better understand themselves and their colleagues. The main goal is to foster empathy and improve collaboration, communication, conflict management, and overall team cohesion and effectiveness.

If your team could use some help in any of these departments, keep reading. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of running an effective Enneagram team workshop so your organization, too, can reap the benefits of increased employee self-awareness and mutual understanding.

How to Prepare for an Enneagram Workshop

Preparation is key to a successful Enneagram workshop for teams, which is why you should choose a facilitator, define workshop goals, and have team members take the personality test before the session.

Let’s take a closer look at these preparatory steps:

#1. Have Team Members Take an Enneagram Test

First things first, ask team members to take an Enneagram test so they come into the workshop with a general understanding of their personality type. This way, you can dedicate more time to meaningful activities, such as reflection on team dynamics and real workplace applications.

Designed by experts, our Enneagram test can help teams identify their personality types in a matter of minutes. For maximum accuracy, encourage participants to answer each statement honestly, without overthinking; their answers should reflect their natural tendencies rather than how they wish they behaved or how they believe they should respond.

#2. Define Workshop Goals

Clearly defining the goals you want to achieve with the Enneagram team workshop enables the facilitator to plan the session effectively and tailor exercises to the team’s specific needs. In other words, it is essential for ensuring that the workshop delivers relevant results for the team.

Here are some examples of common Enneagram workshop goals:

• Boosting team morale
• Enhancing communication
• Strengthening collaboration
• Reducing workplace conflict
• Improving leadership effectiveness

If your team faces recurring conflict, for example, you may want to focus more on Enneagram conflict styles when planning the workshop to help team members understand their triggers, communication blind spots, and find constructive ways of resolving disagreements.

#3. Choose a Facilitator

Choosing the right facilitator for the Enneagram team workshop is crucial — you want someone with a strong understanding of the Enneagram system. Otherwise, the workshop might be too superficial and fail to translate theoretical insights into practical applications.

You can choose an HR specialist or a team leader to facilitate the workshop, provided they’re familiar with this personality framework. However, it is even more effective to hire a company specializing in Enneagram workshops for teams, as they typically have trained, certified professionals supporting teams.

Step-by-Step Guide to Running an Enneagram Workshop for Teams

Below is a step-by-step guide to running an Enneagram workshop for teams that ensures a rich and engaging experience and lasting outcomes:

Step 1: Introduce the Enneagram Framework

First, you (or your chosen facilitator) should introduce the Enneagram framework to the team to ensure everyone has a shared understanding of it.

During the introduction, it’s important to:

• Explain how the Enneagram system works and how it impacts workplace dynamics
• Provide a brief overview of all nine personality types and their core motivations
• Emphasize that the Enneagram is a typology system aimed at increasing self-awareness, rather than a diagnostic tool

Step 2: Review Individual Team Profiles

Once you’ve introduced the Enneagram framework to the team, you’re ready to review individual team profiles. To make the most of this, invite team members to share their personality type and detail which parts of their description resonated most with them, which didn’t, and what surprised them the most.

From there, you can share the overall team type distribution to help everyone see the mix of personalities within the group. Pay special attention to the diversity of personality styles and the patterns that emerge. You may notice, for example, that most of the team belongs to a particular Enneagram triad, which can help explain shared workplace behaviors and challenges.

To foster inclusion, appreciation, and collaboration, highlight how diverse types contribute unique strengths and perspectives to the team instead of focusing too much on their differences.

Step 3: Explore Team Dynamics

Next, explore team dynamics by discussing how different Enneagram types interact, including their typical communication strengths and weaknesses. You can cover each type separately, briefly explaining how they interact with the others.

When talking about Type Fours, for instance, you can mention how they bring emotional depth and nuance to discussions. While community-oriented Twos and Sixes usually appreciate their insights, results-oriented types, such as Eights, may find them irrelevant and impractical, especially in fast-paced settings, which could cause tension.

From there, you can make this part interactive by encouraging team members to:

• Share the communication challenges they face at work
• Reflect on their experiences and share relevant examples
• Identify how personality differences affect the overall team dynamic

When discussing team dynamics, focus on the Enneagram types present in the team. If, for example, no one belongs to the Enneagram Type 3, you don’t need to go too much into detail about it.

Step 4: Facilitate Interactive Activities

The next step is to facilitate interactive activities for the team, moving from theory to practical exercises that bring Enneagram insights into action.

Here are some ideas for interactive activities for your Enneagram team workshop:

• Collaboration exercises, where you divide the team into smaller groups consisting of diverse personalities and analyze how they solve a problem or make decisions together
• Type-based group discussions, where participants discuss how their Enneagram type affects their approach to teamwork, communication, stress, and other relevant workplace behaviors, helping them recognize their strengths and blind spots
• Communication role-play scenarios, in which participants use Enneagram insights to practice giving feedback, resolving conflict, and navigating other communication challenges

Step 5: Build Team Action Plans

The final step in an effective Enneagram team workshop is helping the team identify specific actions they can immediately take to achieve the workshop goals and better support different personality types at work.

Because each team has different personalities and faces different issues, each action plan should be tailored to the team’s unique dynamics to ensure relevance and applicability.

Common focus areas of action plans include:

• Collaboration strategies, such as delegating tasks based on strengths or pairing compatible types
• Communication guidelines like adjusting feedback styles based on the Enneagram
• Problem-solving strategies (e.g., assembling type-diverse solution groups)
• Practices for building empathy, such as perspective-taking
• Conflict management strategies (for instance, having people belonging to the peace-seeking Type 9, rather than the confrontational Type 8, mediate conflicts)

Sample Enneagram Workshop Agenda for a Full Day

Here’s a sample full-day Enneagram team workshop agenda you can use for inspiration:

Benefits of Using the Enneagram for Team Building

The main benefits of using the Enneagram for team building are improved self-awareness, empathy, and communication. A study by Inely Cassía Cesna found that this framework can help de-escalate conflict and facilitate constructive dialogue. By contributing to effective conflict resolution, it can also promote harmonious collaboration within teams.

Furthermore, another study done by Sutton et al. suggests that the Enneagram typology is a powerful tool for employee development, as it helps people identify their hidden potential. Therefore, Enneagram insights can be useful for professional growth at both individual and organizational levels.

With this in mind, let’s explore the advantages of Enneagram workshops for teams in greater depth:

• Increased empathy. By helping team members understand their coworkers' core motivations and behavioral patterns, these workshops promote compassion and reduce interpersonal conflict. According to a study by David Weafer on leadership, the Enneagram, and emotional intelligence, college student leaders report increased empathetic concern following Enneagram training. Similar results may also be achieved in workplace settings with Enneagram workshops for teams.
• Deeper self-awareness. Enneagram insights can help employees gain a deeper understanding of their own strengths, limitations, and behavioral patterns. In doing so, it enables them to take responsibility for their behavior, break unhealthy patterns, and make more conscious decisions in the workplace.
• Smoother communication. The Enneagram framework recognizes that each personality type has a distinct communication style, thereby allowing team members to tailor verbal and nonverbal communication to their coworkers. For example, Twos working with Eights, Threes, or Fives may want to adopt a more direct communication style, as indirect speech may frustrate their efficiency-oriented teammates. This helps reduce misunderstandings, improving team collaboration, efficiency, and morale.

4 Proven Tips for Making Your Enneagram Workshop More Effective

Encouraging openness, focusing on positive aspects, using real-world examples, and following up with the participants are four powerful tips that can make your Enneagram workshop for teams even more effective.

Here’s how they can contribute to your workshop’s success:

#1. Encourage Openness Without Pressure

Sharing insights is key to making the most of an Enneagram team workshop, as it allows team members to learn from other people’s experiences and reflect on their own behaviors. For this reason, it’s essential to create a safe, supportive space where everyone feels comfortable opening up.

However, it’s best to refrain from forcing people to share personal reflections. This may backfire, especially with more introverted types, such as Enneagram Fives, who may withdraw from the activity. Encouraging voluntary sharing and respecting personal boundaries goes a long way in building trust and creating a welcoming workshop environment.

#2. Focus on Strengths and Growth

While your Enneagram workshop may include an exploration of challenges and blind spots of different Enneagram types, it’s best not to emphasize negative aspects too much. Instead, highlight their strengths and growth potential to empower them and encourage personal and professional development.

Otherwise, some team members, especially those who already struggle with self-criticism (e.g., Enneagram Ones or Fours), may feel discouraged and focus excessively on their perceived flaws. For this reason alone, facilitators should maintain a supportive, growth-oriented approach that emphasizes potential rather than deficiency.

#3. Use Real Workplace Examples

To make the most of the workshop, include practical, job-related scenarios to show participants how this typology system works in their day-to-day professional interactions.

While learning about the Enneagram at work can be insightful in and of itself, real-world examples make those insights more relatable, actionable, and therefore valuable.

If you’re a third-party facilitator, you can encourage team members to share examples of real situations they experienced at work, such as miscommunication, missed deadlines, and so forth.

Then, you can ask them to reflect on their behavior and how it relates to their Enneagram type. To make this exercise even more practical, ask them to share what they would do differently if they faced this challenge again now that they know their own and others’ personality types.

#4. Follow Up After the Workshop

To ensure your Enneagram workshop for teams creates a lasting impact and has ongoing value, it’s critical to follow up with participants after the session.

You can start by encouraging them to reflect on the workshop with a brief follow-up email that includes questions for self-reflection, such as “What did you discover about yourself?” or “What did you learn that can help you collaborate better with your coworkers?”

If possible, you can also schedule a short follow-up session after a month or two to discuss what changes they’ve made, what worked and what didn’t, and how Enneagram insights have affected their team dynamic.

Gain Insight Into Team Dynamics With EnneagramTest.com

With our free Enneagram test, your team members can identify their personality types and uncover their workplace behaviors in minutes!

Final Thoughts

That covers everything you need to know to run a successful Enneagram workshop for teams!

To close on a positive note, consider including a round of gratitude or celebration in which each participant expresses appreciation for a team member or celebrates their progress.

Keep in mind that this insightful personality framework extends far beyond the nine core types; it also encompasses Enneagram wings and instinctual variants that can give you an even more nuanced understanding of different personalities.

However, too much information can overwhelm participants. So, if you want to explore these additional layers in greater depth, it’s best to reserve them for a follow-up workshop.

Enneagram Workshop for Teams FAQs

#1. Are Enneagram workshops effective for remote teams?

Yes, Enneagram workshops are highly effective for remote teams since you can adapt them for digital environments and conduct them online. Even if your team members only interact online, Enneagram insights can improve their collaboration by fostering empathy and reducing miscommunication.

#2. Is the Enneagram appropriate for corporate training?

Yes, the Enneagram is appropriate for corporate training. Enneagram career insights are especially useful for helping employees tap into their leadership potential, improve communication, and strengthen teamwork.

#3. How long should an Enneagram team workshop be?

An Enneagram team workshop can be anywhere between 2 and 8 hours long. Short sessions (2–4 hours) are ideal for introducing the framework. However, running a full-day workshop may be the best option if you’re looking to provide a deeper exploration of this personality framework, as it allows more time for self-reflection and practical exercises.