Enneagram and Visual Explorer™

Enneagram- Colored pencil on paper, 30" x 40", 1997 by Lee van Laer

submitted by

Rev. Elaine M. Kebba, M.Div.
Thomas J. Kebba, M.A.

The purpose of using Visual Explorer in the context of an Enneagram Workshop is to begin the process of inner transformation. This exercise will highlight the fact that there are many kinds of people with different personality types. It will suggest that what may be good advice for one person can be disastrous for another. A goal for this exercise is to help people become aware of the “filter” with which they think about and approach life without prior knowledge of the Enneagram. The challenge to the participants will be to use this exercise as a reference point for themselves when they are evaluating what part of the Enneagram, especially Enneagram Type related information, directly relates to them.

DIRECTIONS The leader(s) of the workshop will distribute the Visual Explorer pictures on the floor, table, or other accessible surface. The participants will be instructed to choose two pictures while thinking about two questions:

Step 1: Choose a picture that reflects YOU at your BEST.

Step 2: Choose a picture that reflects YOU at your WORST.

Step 3: In groups of 3 or 4: each person shares their pictures and why they chose them. Other group members listen without comment or inquiry.

Step 4: Each of the group members shares how the pictures chosen speak to them in terms of being at their best or their worst - i.e. "if this were my picture, it would reflect in me . . ."

Step 5: The initial presenter listens and makes connections to their own sharing (how it is the same, how it is different, how some connections may make sense for them, how some connections may not make sense for them, etc.).

Step 6: Group debrief

Step 7: Workshop leader(s) refer back to the Visual Explorer exercise at the end of the workshop day and asks the group about the connections they now see for themselves in terms of their “best self” and “worst self” and how that relates to their Enneagram Type.

DISCOVERING THE ENNEAGRAM
A Bibliography

1. Aspell, Patrick J. & Dee. The Enneagram Personality Portraits: Enhancing Professional Relationships, San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 1997.

2. Baron, Renee, and Wagele, Elizabeth. The Enneagram Made Easy. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1994.

3. Goldberg, Michael J. The 9 Ways of Working: How to use the Enneagram to Discover your Natural Strengths and Work More Effectively. New York: Marlowe & Company, 1996.

4. Palmer, Helen. The Enneagram in Love and Work. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1995.

5. Palus, Charles J. and Horth, David, M. Visual Explorer: Picturing Approaches to Challenging Changes. Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership, 2008 (Revised).

6. Riso, Don Richard, and Hudson, Russ. The Wisdom of the Enneagram. New York: Bantam Books, 1999.