Good Neighbor Podcast: Auburn and Opelika

Ep.#62:Unlocking Self-Awareness: Amy Nabors on Enneagram Coaching and Leadership Growth with Growth Essentials Coaching

• Susannah Hodges at Village Centre Press

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Discover the transformative power of Enneagram coaching with our special guest, Amy Nabors from Growth Essentials Coaching. Amy shares her journey from a college fascination with personality frameworks to becoming a certified Enneagram coach and facilitator for the six types of working genius. She reveals how understanding the core motivations behind behaviors can enhance team dynamics and individual leadership. Throughout our discussion, Amy passionately debunks common misconceptions about the Enneagram and illuminates how it serves as a valuable tool for personal growth and effective communication within teams.

Speaker 1:

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Susanna Hodges.

Speaker 2:

Welcome. My guest today is Amy Neighbors. She is with Growth Essentials Coaching. Amy, tell us a little bit about your coaching business. What do you teach people?

Speaker 3:

tell us a little bit about your coaching business. What do you teach people? So I am a certified Enneagram coach and a certified facilitator for the six types of working genius, and I help teams and leaders learn to lead themselves better so they can lead others with less stress. I do team and group workshops using the Enneagram Enneagram workshops. I also do six types of working genius workshops, but I also do one-on-one coaching with individuals.

Speaker 3:

So what is Enneagrams? So the Enneagram is a personality framework and it really unlike other personality frameworks. It looks at why you do what you do, not just your behavior characteristics. So it helps you understand on a deeper level why you get stuck, why you keep reacting the same way, why your communication style is what it is, and what your strengths and weaknesses are as a team member, as a coworker or as a leader, and also what your strengths and weaknesses are as a team member, as a co-worker or as a leader, and also what your stress and conflict triggers are. And so it's a really valuable tool to use with your teams, especially when you want to help your teams communicate better, because a lot of our stress comes from communication or miscommunication and not understanding what triggers stress for your co-workers or other people and so yeah, so the Enneagram is just a personality framework, but it's a much deeper one and I really love it.

Speaker 2:

I can imagine how that could just help you just on an individual level, as well as dealing and interacting with others.

Speaker 3:

Yes, yeah, it can really help you when you understand why you're doing something, when you can name it, that you know that it looks at your core motivation, so your core fears, your core weakness, your core longing and your core desire. And especially that core fear can keep us stuck. It can keep us in that same you know behavior pattern that you're like why, why do I keep reacting that way, you know, and so it can really sabotage us in our personal growth and keep us stuck when we don't know that about ourselves.

Speaker 2:

And once you name it, you know it starts to lose its power over you, so you understand yourself a little bit better. Well, how did you get into this type of business? What led you to this kind of coaching?

Speaker 3:

so I've always been interested in personality, well, since college, so 25 plus something years ago, um, I, um someone introduced me to the Myers-Briggs, um, typing in indicator, that framework, and I was like, oh wow, this is really interesting and um, but then, you know, graduated, got married, had a child, just you know, still interested in personality stuff, um, anytime I see just any stupid little personality stuff, like I'm gonna take it like you know which Disney princess are you, you know, and so just to see, cause I think they're just fun. But about 12 years ago I started learning about the Enneagram and it really just opened up a better understanding and it's been a, you know, I've learned little by little over the past 12 years. But about four years ago, um, I decided to go through a coaching course for the Enneagram and so, um, and it wasn't long after that, I started learning about, like strengths finders, what are your strengths, like you know, and then spiritual gifts, and I really could see how those work together and how they just connected everything and it was all. It's all just very fascinating to me. I love to, I don't know, like see what makes people tick, like why you know why they do what they do, and but it wasn't long after I went through the Enneagram coaching program that I started going through a very stressful season and a job that really led to burnout, and I started realizing the connection between how understanding ourselves in that way and understanding why we do what we do along with your strengths and maybe not working in your strengths you know that, how it really impacted our stress levels and how, understanding that and naming it, you could start to manage your stress a little bit better.

Speaker 3:

And then it wasn't long I guess it was probably about a year and a half ago I discovered the six types of working genius, which is more of a strengths-based framework when it and it really relates to work, the work you do, like the different stages of work, and so if you're not working in the stage of work that is your genius, it's going to frustrate you and it's going to you're going to end up burning out. And so just connecting those two really was really an aha moment for me and it really helped me understand, during that season of stress and burnout in that job, how I was not leading myself well, I was not taking care of myself, I was overworking, I wasn't setting boundaries with work and so. But then when I finally started realizing, oh, I'm not leading these people, but I need to lead at work. Well, because I'm not leading myself.

Speaker 2:

And that is so true. If you're not taking care of yourself, it will affect your ability to interact with others exactly so.

Speaker 3:

It just really has. And that's why I love I love working with teams, but I also love working with individuals, just to help them, because we go a little deeper. When it's, you know, with an individual, we can really look at what are your habits, what are your? You know your daily rhythms, your weekly rhythms, like where do you need to set boundaries? Where you know are?

Speaker 3:

Do you have like a practice of silence and stillness whether it's just a medic, you know, or do you meditate? Do you have a quiet time? Do you like? Are you taking time for that and making sure that is? You know you're having that so that it can help because that helps you manage your stress too. And then just looking at things like mindset, you know, and so I love doing both. I love working with the teams, but I also love working with individuals, with it been understanding how our personalities and our strengths and you know our daily things, how that really affects our stress and how, if we are not leading ourselves, we can't lead others in a way without it being extremely stressful.

Speaker 2:

So you've been doing this for a long time now. Have you come across any misconceptions that people have about what you do?

Speaker 3:

Probably it's mostly when it comes to the Enneagram.

Speaker 3:

A lot of people they they've heard of the Enneagram and there's like, oh, it's just that fun thing and or it's more spiritual, it's more for churches or whatever, and they don't realize how much benefit it can be to a team or to just yourself.

Speaker 3:

You know, but especially teams and in businesses like it really it helps you understand. You know not only why you do what you do, which can help and it, but when you learn about all the types and you learn about your coworkers types, you can have more compassion for each other. But it also helps you understand about your communication styles and your stress and conflict triggers, like I said before. And so when you understand that about your coworkers, it can make for a much more peaceful work environment and so. But that's I think the biggest misconception is I hear people like, oh, they don't understand why they would use the Enneagram with their teams and it's like it is really good benefits. It's not just for your spiritual growth or anything like that, so I mean it can be, but it's definitely definitely beneficial to use with teams.

Speaker 2:

So when you're not working on coaching others, what do you do personally for fun?

Speaker 3:

um, well, I am um extremely introverted, and so I like to have a lot of a long time to recharge, so I read, I read a lot. I read a lot, um, when it's warm enough, I'm usually planting flowers and working in my flower garden, um, but mostly reading a lot of reading lately.

Speaker 2:

So I'm very similar in that way. I'm I like. I don't have a single problem being by myself. I don't either.

Speaker 3:

I don't either, and I think a lot of people don't understand. They're like you know. Give me all the alone time I can, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So you know you started this business. Part of the reason I do this podcast is encourage others to start their own businesses. So what is some advice you could give to people thinking about, you know, starting their own business? Was there any kind of hardships that that you overcame, either personally or business wise, that made your business stronger, or you stronger as a person?

Speaker 3:

or business wise. That made your business stronger, or you stronger as a person. I think it's probably a personal thing for me.

Speaker 2:

It has.

Speaker 3:

My biggest challenge has been to overcome the negative self-talk and see my own worth. And see my own worth and go. And you know what. It may not look like you want it to look right now. It may be a slow growth, but you're, you know this. It may not look like you want it to look right now. It may be a slow growth, but you're, you know this is something you're passionate about and instead of getting down on myself and that negative self-talk, that's probably been the biggest thing I've had to overcome throughout my life, you know is getting overcoming that negative self-talk and really seeing my own worth.

Speaker 2:

Right I think that's something that's very common with everybody is getting control over your negativity. Yeah, well, what is one thing you wish listeners knew about growth essentials, coaching that they might not know? Yeah.

Speaker 3:

So I offer probably the biggest thing is like some people are like, oh, I don't know if I would use that, but if you're even curious, I offer a free, no obligation strategy call so that you can see what coaching could look like for you on an individual level or even for your teams, like what workshops could look like for your teams or what coaching sessions could look like for you individually. It's just, it's a free, no obligation call and when you leave the call you'll have a better understanding of how using the Enneagram and the six acts of working genius and other things can help you be a better leader and lead others with less stress.

Speaker 2:

Okay, well, how can someone get in touch with you? What's the best way to arrange that call?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so you can find a link on my website that is growthessentialscoachingcom, or you can find me on social media at growthessentialsllc.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, thank you so much, Amy, for being my guest today. Thank you so much for having me. Well, thank you so much, Amy, for being my guest today, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburncom. That's gnpauburncom, or call 334-429-7404. Music, music.