I spent a couple of days in one of my favourite places in the world, St Andrews, this week with a small group of youth workers discovering a bit about myself. That’s not the kind of thing I’m usually that keen on but I’m really glad that rather than spending the two days of ‘Integrate’ listening people telling us about youth work Dorothy Neilson helped us to listen to ourselves and to God.
Dorothy led us through the Enneagram, a tool which helps you discover your ‘personality type’. I’m a bit of a cynic when it comes to these kind of things but I have to say I liked the Enneagram. It made sense to me. It has given me lots to think about and lots to work on.
I’m sure a lot of that had to do with both Dorothy’s open and relaxed style and with the other people in the group being prepared to be open and give it a go.
So, what did I discover? Well, I’m a FIVE.
If you want to know what that means then for starters you could have a look at this free e-book by Mark McGuinness which introduces the enneagram or get in touch with Dorothy and have her come talk to you or your team.
In the meantime… have a look the enneagram and see if you can discover some stuff about you.
I think this is important, especially for people who basically are in the people business. If we understand ourselves better, we can understand how we relate to individuals, what motivates us, what depresses us, what frustrates us… our bias with regards to teaching and learning styles… which obviously has a preference on the style of work we do…
…Fives have learned to withdraw, to watch with keen eyes and speak only when they can shake the world with their observations…
Definitely you Stewart!!