Enneagram at Work
Welcome to Enneagram at Work, your Saturday leadership download. We're bringing you insights for your weekend so you're ready for Monday.
This is a podcast about understanding people at work and navigating professional relationships. We spend so much of our time at work, why not make it more enjoyable by working on creating more enjoyable relationships with our teammates?
Listen in each week to gain self-awareness, relationship management, leadership development, personal growth insights, and real-life application ideas through the lens of the Enneagram inside educational episodes and interview conversations.
Learn about bringing the Enneagram to your organization or group and view the current workshop menu at: enneagrammba.com
Enneagram at Work
185. The Type 6 and Type 8 Leadership-Team Dynamic
This weekend, we’re diving into one of the most common (and possibly the most fascinating) team-leadership dynamics we see in team training sessions: the relationship between Type 6 (Striving to Feel Secure) and Type 8 (Striving to Feel Powerful).
It shows up again and again: Type 8s in leadership roles who are focused on getting things done, moving fast, and protecting their teams... and Type 6s (often the largest group on the team) asking for more clarity, more information, and more certainty before they take action.
This gap in pace and perception can cause friction, but it can also be one of your team’s biggest strengths if you learn to leverage it.
When you listen in, you'll hear more about:
- The core motivations and behaviors of Type 6 and Type 8
- How their instinctual subtypes (Preserving, Navigating, Transmitting) shape how they show up
- Why this pairing often causes miscommunication or frustration
- How to turn this tension into trust, balance, and better decision-making
- Reflection prompts to improve collaboration between these two types
Whether you're a leader, a team member, or somewhere in between, understanding how these two styles operate can be a game-changer for your workplace culture.
Resources Mentioned:
- Read the full blog post: Understanding Type 6 and Type 8 at Work
- The start of the Instinctual Bias series
Listener Reflection:
- Are you more of a “move fast and lead” or “make sure it’s safe first” kind of person?
- Who do you work with that shows up differently, and how could this episode help you meet them where they are?
Have a request for a future episode? Drop a text here!
🗓️ Book an Enneagram Workshop for your team retreat at work:
https://www.enneagrammba.com/enneagram-team-workshops
✏️ Get an overview of all nine types inside the Understanding People at Work Cheat Sheet
https://www.enneagrammba.com/cheatsheet