CHAPTER 1
Learning to Observe to determine Enneagram Types
You can take an Enneagram test, but that may not be definitive. Further, some of the tests available are poor examples of how to accurately determine your type. In addition, none of these tests discusses ways for you to type another person without that second person taking the test. You can study the Enneagram, but learning to determine another person's Enneagram Personality Type requires observation and/or an interview as well as observation. Typing is critical in anyone's understanding of the Enneagram. It enables a whole host of ways of understanding yourself as well as other people you successfully type. What wouldn't be great about being able to walk into a group of people and simply identifying their types based on observation? After reading this book, you'll be more comfortable with your ability to type people simply through observation.
Observing means observing characteristics or cues about a person's personality. Use the identifiers in this book as well as the different understandings of Enneagram personalities embedded in the following chapters to determine the cues and characteristics of each type.
A tip on typing: There are three body-oriented types, One, Eight, and Nine. These types tend to be more in their bodies and feel their bodies more or use their bodies when interacting with others. Eights use their bodies to communicate even more than Ones or Nines.
There are three heart types — also known as feeling types — the Two, Three, and Four. There are three mental types: Five, Six, and Seven. Mental types use their minds more than other types. Sometimes, one can narrow down the person whose type you are trying to figure out into one of these three categories. If the person is outwardly emotional or feeling oriented, through the process of elimination, you might identify the person as a heart type. If they seem to use their minds to respond to questions, or you, for example, observe them being thoughtful and thinking their responses rather than responding with feelings, you can narrow down the possibilities to one of the mental types. Further, Eights are very physical people with a lot of their energy in their bodies. This is not a foolproof way of observing type. Anyone can use body language to communicate. But if you observe the physical way an Eight communicates, you can then do your typing interview by focusing on the type Eight questions and identifiers that are listed in this book. Again, with feeling types, narrowing down the possibilities means you can focus on asking questions of the Two, Three, or Four types. Another good way to narrow down type possibilities is to just ask the person you are interviewing whether he or she is a feeling type of person or a mental one. (Body types don't always identify as body types the way feeling and mental types identify as feeling and mental types.) That is based on my experience with Types.
For example, some people can be typed simply by how they use or don't use body language. Have a conversation with someone who has a large physical presence; he uses his arms to emphasize his points, and he comes across as a little bit intimidating and forceful. If you can observe a person using body language in strong ways as part of how they communicate with others, you're on track for determining the type of that person to be an Eight. Similarly, if the person you want to type seems quiet and hesitant to talk to others, perhaps sits in the corner, is a bit aloof, and responds with his head or his mind, then he may be a Five. Perhaps he nods a lot; perhaps you can tell that when he interacts with others that he is thoughtful when he responds. If you notice him bouncing a leg up and down repeatedly, that is a telltale signature body movement of a Five. No other types bounce their leg the way Fives do. Here we have two examples of how to observe and still successfully type. A note about observing to determine type — you aren't just looking at and listening for body language. There are other parts of the Enneagram (such as passions, fixations of attention, energy, energy structure, identification with language used by the person being typed by you, and core values of the different types) that you need to develop an ability to observe. So, a Five bounces his leg. That's his energy, located in the legs, that causes him to bounce. This is a trait of Fives. And the Eight comes across in a challenging confrontational manner; seeing the Eight's energy pick up when he uses his body language is yet another way of observing energy on the Enneagram. Each type has its own Enneagram energy structure, and that manifests in the way they communicate. This book will talk about how to observe in general, what to observe, and how to use those observations to determine type.
A second way to determine Enneagram type is to ask others questions about themselves. This doesn't have to be a test at all. It can simply be a friendly desire to understand the other person by asking some questions in order to bring out their personality type. This way of typing requires you to have decent Enneagram knowledge about each type. You can get that knowledge from other Enneagram books or workshops in addition to this book. You can also do a proper typing interview using the different identifiers or statements in this book. The chapters of the nine types of personalities in this book are designed for you to not only better understand the Enneagram in general but also to be used as a way of determining Enneagram personalities by asking questions. Use the identifiers in this book by turning them into questions to conduct a proper interview.
Observing and interviewing are the two primary ways of determining another person's Enneagram type. Observing can be seen as a skill learned through practice. You can learn to observe body language, facial expressions, energy pickups (meaning when a person's energy seems to increase and come out of them), energy structures (like the Five bouncing his leg), language used, and word choices coupled with energy pickups. Learning to observe what another person identifies with can be a difficult task and a bit confusing at first. Further, one can combine observations with questions.
For example, "Do you identify with x?" Therefore, we have making observations, doing a typing interview, and what I like most — observations coupled with questions.
When you ask people questions that are aimed at determining their Enneagram type, the best thing to do is to see if their answers to these questions are coming from the person's heart. If they start to get interested in the question or topic, if their energy picks up in excitement or interest, if they identify with the question or the answer, and if they agree with it in a way that reflects that their feelings go that way, you've made a great leap into figuring out their Enneagram type.
One exercise you can try is...
