Exploring The Enneagram Instinctual Subtypes

While the core of the Enneagram is the detailed description of the nine basic types, the system adds a bit more nuance (and complexity!) by taking the three human survival instincts (also called subtypes) into consideration.

The three instinctual subtypes are very old survival strategies patterned into our nervous system to survive in the world.

• Self-preservation: it’s the drive to take care of one's personal needs for shelter, food, security, etc.
• One-on-one (also unfortunately called "sexual"): it’s the drive to form one-on-one relationships; friendships and intimate relationships.
• Social: it’s the drive to develop a sense of belonging within a larger group, tribe or community.

Just like for our basic Enneagram type, as individuals we tend to unconsciously favor one of these strategies for survival, at the detriment of the two remaining ones.

Because there are three instincts, we can find six different stackings of preference, where the first instinct is our “favorite one” - the one we over-use, the second instinct is the one we use “just right”, and the third instinct is the one that is under-developed and that we therefore "ignore" or under-use.

Here are the six possible stackings that we can have:

• self-preserving / one-on-one / social
• self-preserving / social / one-on-one
• one-on-one / self-preserving / social
• one-on-one / social / self-preserving
• social / self-preserving / one-on-one
• social / one-on-one / self-preserving

These patterns of survival strategies exert enormous influence on our behavior and on the way we engage with others, in personal relationships as well as professional ones.

For example, because self-preserving individuals focus on taking care of their owns needs, they prioritize their comfort and their own way of doing things, and they unconsciously expect the same from others. They bring independence and self-sufficiency to the table.

On the other hand, one-on-one people's survival strategy favors alliances between two people, an "us against the world" kind of mindset. They unconsciously seek others to form one-on-one relationships with them, for both productivity and intimacy. They bring intensity and intimacy to the table.

Finally, social people's focus is on being part of tribes and communities. They enjoy being part of larger groups and working together towards a common goal. They bring a sense of unity and cooperation to the table.

In terms of personal development, each instinct is of course good and useful. However, because of the unconscious drive to over-use our preferred survival strategy, we are at risk of missing the mark in our relationships and decision-making process because of our "addiction" to a certain instinct. The second/middle instinct in our stacking is actually the healthiest and most balanced, which makes it a good one to rely on more often. Finally, because we tend to ignore our least developed instinct, it becomes a blind spot and gets in the way of our development and relationships.

In professional relationships, teams made of a variety of people are the most effective because they naturally leverage the power of each instinct. Teams benefit from all types of people: self preserving, one-on-one and social. However, it can be difficult for people operating from very different instinctual drives to understand one another and work in harmony together. For example, a self-preserving individual might be overly attached to their own way of thinking, and reluctant to defer to a consensus decision that would work well for the whole team.

In personal relationships, two partners with very different stackings of survival instincts are at risk of misunderstanding one another and not feeling loved the way they need it most. For example, a one-on-one person might have a hard time understanding the need for solitude of a self-preserving partner, or the need of a social partner to spend a lot of time within their favorite community. They might believe that their partner don't love them if they need to spend so much time engaged in their own projects or with their tribes.

Understanding our drives gives us the ability to understand ourselves and others better, which in turn helps us harmonize our relationships, both personal and professional.

It also allows us to rebalance our instincts: by grounding ourselves in our middle/most healthy survival strategy, we can release our addiction to our favorite/compulsive drive. And if we can commit to developing our weakest instinct, we could unleash the power of adding a new way of interacting with the world in our developmental toolbox. It's quite extraordinary!

Understanding Yourself And Others With The Enneagram

The Enneagram is a map of nine interconnected personality types that has been described and taught as a method for self-understanding and self-development.

According to The Enneagram Institute, the Enneagram can be seen as a set of nine distinct personality types, with each number on the Enneagram denoting one type. Although it is common to find a little of yourself in all nine types, one of them is your basic personality type.

Each person emerges from childhood with one of the nine types dominating their personality, with inborn temperament and other pre-natal factors being the main determinants of our type. We are indeed born with a dominant type. Subsequently, this inborn orientation largely determines the ways in which we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment.

Contrary to other models of human personality, the Enneagram explains that we're much more than our personality type (who we think we are). The Enneagram does not put us in a box; it describes the box in which we find ourselves stuck and most importantly, it gives us a path to break free.

The contribution that authors Riso and Hudson made to this fantastic psycho-spiritual development model is their description of nine Levels of Development. As described by the Enneagram Institute, there is an internal structure within each personality type. That structure is the continuum of behaviors, attitudes, defenses, and motivations formed by the nine Levels of Development making up the personality type itself. The Levels account for differences between people of the same type as well as how people change both for better or worse. There are three unhealthy levels where serious mental illnesses develop, three average levels where most people operate, and three healthy levels of progressively higher levels of functioning, well-being and freedom.

Whereas the pattern of personality (the "Enneagram type") that we develop in early childhood is necessary for survival, it ends up metaphorically reducing our field of view from 360 degrees to 40 degrees (operating from one type rather than nine). Our personality pattern turns us into automatic pilots compulsively responding to what's going on inside and outside of ourselves in the same old patterned ways. Obviously such limited ways of functioning condemns us to running into issues, especially relationship issues because relationships don't flourish on automatic pilot.

Over time, working with the guidance of the Enneagram allows us to free ourselves from our patterns and manifest the deepest quality of our type. Additionally, developing the qualities of the eight other types gives us additional tools us to shift from automatic piloting to manual piloting and enjoy a greater range of movement to journey through life.

This results in the possibility of experiencing and responding to what happens in the moment with freedom, spaciousness, and authenticity. It means that we are more present and resourceful, that we understand ourselves and others with greater depth, that we can take good care of ourselves, and that we can build happy, healthy and fulfilling relationships, both in our private and professional lives.

The Foundation Of Mindfulness

Mindfulness consists in a conscious direction of our awareness on the present moment, while acknowledging the thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations that arise in the background without engaging in them.

Over the last few years, scientific studies have demonstrated the benefits of a regular mindfulness practice:

• Physiological: mindfulness strengthens our immune system and decreases the sensation of pain.
• Emotional: mindfulness reduces depression and anxiety, and increases wellbeing and contentment.
• Developmental: mindfulness increases our ability to be open to others and to new experiences.
• Relational: mindfulness improves our ability to have healthy relationships with others.
• Spiritual: mindfulness leads to the investigation of the nature of consciousness.

All of these benefits are possible because mindfulness practices positively alter the structure of the brain.

As reported in this Scientific American article, "after an eight-week course of mindfulness practice, the brain’s 'fight or flight' center, the amygdala, appears to shrink. This primal region of the brain, associated with fear and emotion, is involved in the initiation of the body’s response to stress. As the amygdala shrinks, the pre-frontal cortex – associated with higher order brain functions such as awareness, concentration and decision-making – becomes thicker. The 'functional connectivity' between these regions – i.e. how often they are activated together – also changes. The connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker, while the connections between areas associated with attention and concentration get stronger. (...) In other words, our more primal responses to stress seem to be superseded by more thoughtful ones."

Mindfulness practice is indeed now widely recognized as a great method to deal with stress and pain. Beside its grounding and calming effect, the most remarkable outcome of a regular practice is the progressive development of the ability to choose to respond rather than react when triggered by an internal or external event.

When our nervous system gets activated by physical pain, a difficult emotion, another person's comment or action, any kind of event really, our inner automatic pilot reacts instinctively, and this automatic reaction is based on years of strengthening the same old neural pathways established by our genetics, early life experiences and personality patterns.

When we develop our mindfulness through regular practice, we become able to notice the activation of our nervous system - eventually before it is even a formed thought - and we develop the ability to use the tiny gap of time that takes place between arousal and reaction to make a choice in how to purposefully and authentically respond to the stimulus we are experiencing.

This ability to choose how to respond to an internal or external stimulus is true freedom, and our response chosen by integrating all of what is happening in the moment is true authenticity.

Because it's this inner freedom and authenticity that leads to personal fulfillment and happy and healthy relationships, developing our mindfulness through regular practice is not a luxury; it's a necessity if we care about our wellbeing and our personal and professional relationships.

Welcome to Foundations!

Foundations Coaching & Training has made its mission to inspire organizations to invest in their people and their relationships. We offer custom group coaching and training to build trust, hone great communication skills and boost the personal and professional development of all members of the organization.

The main asset of any organization is indeed its people and the quality of their relationships.

Happy and healthy professional relationships depend on the following factors:

• Quality of development of each member of the organization
• Trust between members, especially between employee and manager/supervisor/leader
• Commitment to a common vision, mission and purpose
• Quality of communication between members of the organization
• Investment of the organization in the personal and professional development of its members

When the members of an organization trust one another, share a commitment to a common purpose and know at a deep level that their leaders have their back, they thrive.

Investing in people and their relationships is key to a happy, healthy and successful organization, whether it is a corporation, an academic workplace, a volunteer group, or a spiritual community.

Contact us to discuss how Foundations can support your organization!