How Each Enneagram Type Stays Unbreakable in a World of Constant Change

Change is the often poisonous theme and resilience is the antidotal response. It’s what keeps us unbreakable while everything is happening around and to us in today’s VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous) and BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear and Incomprehensible) global environment. Navigating and succeeding in a world of constant change requires us to be resilient, agile and nimble. As we look around at our colleagues, families and friends, we can definitely see some seeming to be faring better than others. 

Ever stop to wonder why?  

What’s their secret?  Maybe they’re born with it? Maybe it’s … Enneagram-related!  (In your mind you said Maybelline, didn’t you?  😉)

Seriously, though, extrapolating from recent research correlating the Big Five and the Enneagram, we can see that some types tend to be predisposed to being more resilient. And that’s where things get interesting, because this research lets us see how each and every Enneagram type can work with change instead of fighting it.

What is Resilience?

First, let’s operationally define resilience. It’s the ability to adopt different mindsets and access unique, diverse resources to meet challenges, changes, disappointments and complexity effectively. 

In this sense, resilience allows us to become enhanced (rather than diminished) by our experiences.  So rather than “bouncing back” from these experiences, we “bounce forward.”

What the Research Says About Enneagram Types and Resilience

What magic formula allows this to take place? To answer that, let's look at how the Big Five traits line up with the Enneagram, starting with Openness to Experience.

If you’re less familiar with the Big Five, it’s a scientifically validated trait model of personality where we all land on a scale for the five traits of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. You don’t get a label (say, Type One) as you do with the Enneagram, just a set of scores showing how strongly each of the five traits shows up in you.

Open Types Handle Change Best

If we look at the components of the Big Five model, we can all agree that Openness to Experiences — the trait of imagination, abstract thinking and embracing new challenges — should help us tackle change, right? 

Well, according to soon-to-be-published research conducted by Dirk Cloete, certain Enneagram types tend to score higher in Openness than others. Openness  seems to apply more readily to Enneagram types Seven (The Enthusiast), Four (The Individualist), Eight (The Challenger), Five (The Investigator), and Three (The Achiever) — in that order, meaning these types are more Open than others.

Enneagram types Nine (The Peacemaker), Six (The Skeptic), One (The Perfectionist) and Two (The Giver) tended to score lower in Openness, again in that order.

Why might that be? Well …

• Our Sevens tend to be excited by novelty and change and see the opportunity that it can create.
• Despite (or perhaps in addition to) type Four’s flair for the dramatic, they are expert abstract and radical thinkers and imaginative creators.
• Eights are very pragmatic and see change through an “it is what it is” lens, as “the good, the bad, and the ugly” that need to be addressed, not ignored or escaped.
• If Fives have done their jobs right, they have already predicted what change is going to happen and when, from all the data they’ve been collecting and models they’ve put in place to address it and not look foolish.
• And Threes are experts at morphing and shape-shifting to fit the situation and come out of it smelling like roses, with their brand, image and reputations intact and their goals met or exceeded.

On the other hand …

• Our Ones, Twos, and Sixes comprise the dutiful triad, also known as the dependent stance, a social style where people move toward others to get their needs met. They tend to be more cautious and rule-oriented; changes may not have rules and directions that come along with them, so they won’t be comfortable in winging it without an established process or protocol.
• Our Nines will definitely not be comfortable in this arena, since change, in its nature, comes with disruption of the harmony and status quo they seek, and uncertainty and conflict they try to avoid.

What the Other Big Five Traits Tell Us 

Conscientiousness in the Big Five describes how organized, responsible and self‑disciplined we are, and you probably won’t be surprised that some Enneagram types show much more of it than others. For example, Type Ones are off-the-chart in this category. They are structured, scheduled, purposeful and reliable. They control their impulses. They prepare and pay attention to details. 

None of these behaviors is especially helpful when it comes to managing change. Being resilient while the ground is shifting beneath your feet usually requires more non-conforming (i.e. low Conscientiousness) behaviors that typically are associated with the strengths of types Four and Seven, like innovative thinking and freedom from structures.

As for the other Big Five traits of Extraversion (versus Introversion), Agreeableness (versus being more independent and challenging), and Neuroticism (versus have greater emotional stability), they aren’t as nearly as relevant to the topic of resilience as Openness and Conscientiousness, at least on face validity. So for our purposes here, it makes the most sense to keep our focus on Openness and Conscientiousness.

Dr. Taryn Marie Stejkal’s Take

Now, let’s look at the work of Dr. Taryn Marie Stejkal on this topic. In her work The 5 Practices of Highly Resilient People: Why Some Flourish When Others Fold, she and her research team identified five practices that lead to resilience. What’s interesting is that we can easily map her five practices to the Enneagram types: 

1. Connection, what Dr. Stejkal defines as “strengthening relationships both internally (with oneself) and externally (with others) to foster support and resilience,” is a natural strength of Enneagram types Two and Three.
2. Vulnerability, operationally defined by Dr. Stejkal as “embracing authenticity by aligning one’s inner self with the external self shared with the world, allowing for deeper connections and growth,” is an inherent strength of Enneagram Four and a growth/development area for type Eight.
3. Possibility, identified by Dr. Stejkal as “cultivating a mindset that focuses on potential opportunities and solutions, even amidst uncertainty or adversity,” is a direct part of the Seven’s worldview, and a growth/development area for a One.
4. Productive Perseverance, described by Dr. Stejkal as “balancing persistence and adaptability by knowing when to continue pursuing a goal or when to pivot in the face of diminishing returns” is a strength of — and lesson for — Enneagram type Eight.
5. Gratiosity is defined as the combination of “gratitude for learning from challenges with generosity in sharing one’s resilience journey to inspire others.” These are, of course, a traditional focus and development point for Enneagram Fives.

My takeaway from Dr. Stejkal’s research is that effective resilience is achieved through the combination of a variety of strategies that happen to be innate strengths of some of the Enneagram styles. This means that no Enneagram style alone has the monopoly on effective resilience — it takes a combination of these mindsets to achieve resilience.

How to Boost Your Resilience Using the Whole Enneagram

Now, just because you may not lead with Openness, or with one of the resilient styles identified by Dr. Stejkal, doesn't mean you’re not resilient or that you lack the capability to be resilient. After all, you’ve made it this far in life. I’m certain you’ve encountered and overcome myriad obstacles, challenges, disappointments and changes. You may have had to work harder at it than others, but you did it.  And that’s because we all have and can access all nine Enneagram energies and strengths within us.  

To that end, I invite everyone to more consciously and deliberately consider applying all the resilience lessons that each Enneagram style offers us:

Type One: Tap into your values and ethics as a true north of where to proceed and persist in that direction, with the understanding that nothing is, or ever can be, perfect, and that, in most cases 80% is good enough.

Type Two: Connect with and leverage your network of friends and colleagues for help and support, ensuring that you’re taking care of yourself in the process, and not over-giving, especially when it’s not explicitly asked for or welcomed.

Type Three: Know your brand, worth and end game, and stay on track to achieve your goals (and don't do it alone).

Type Four: Identify and leverage your unique niche and gift, embracing your authenticity and vulnerability, seeking out mission and values alignment, and co-creating situations and solutions where you feel understood and valued.

Type Five: Seek out new learning opportunities for knowledge and skillsets that will help you succeed, via formal education as well as your network; share your new learnings with a mindset of abundance (not scarcity)!

Type Six: Scope out the environment and hope for the best, while preparing for worst-case scenarios; trust yourself and others (without constantly testing their loyalty) that the best can happen.

Type Seven: Stay open to positive new possibilities and opportunities that present themselves to help you achieve your goal, and take advantage of them when they do, even addressing some of the painful/rote elements to make them happen.

Type Eight: Identify what you can control and are likely to succeed in, and persist and persevere productively in that area only, or choose to go in an entirely different direction that is more productive and likely to succeed. Manage your massive energy/passion so that you don’t overwhelm, intimidate or alienate others. Choose your battles wisely!

Type Nine: Pause, look at the big, systemic picture, and be open to and grateful for the universe's offerings. Lean into the discomfort of the change sooner rather than later.

Strategies and Best Practices to Consider

One common misconception about resilience is that we should “snap out of” any feelings of mourning, despair, loss, unhappiness, etc. and move forward as quickly as possible.  Now, not all of us have Moonstruck Cher on hand to remind (okay, slap) us into logical, clear thinking and appropriate action, so we need to take matters into our own, less physically abusive hands.  

The Enneagram also guides us in how to do this. 

Let’s consider the Enneagram Harmonics. You can think of Harmonics as three clusters, each containing a grouping of three different Enneagram styles. Each cluster (or triad) describes one of three separate strategies of dealing with disappointment, frustration and conflict:

• Our “emotionally real” types (those who lead with Enneagram types Four, Six and Eight) actively embrace the emotionality of the situation and react with how they’re feeling, almost unconsciously and uncontrollably.  
• Our “avoidant” or “positive outlook” types (Enneagram types Two, Seven and Nine) tend to bypass their feelings and emotions and positively reframe the situation to what positive opportunities are available instead.  
• Our “competence” triad (Enneagram types One, Three and Five) will jump to creating an action plan to be immediately enacted.  

To be resilient and bounce forward effectively, we need all three of these steps, in that order.  We need to address our feelings of concern, disappointment, frustration, sadness, etc. in a healthy and productive manner and timeframe before we start looking for options. When our feelings have been adequately identified and addressed, we then need to brainstorm what new possibilities are now available to us.  When those possibilities are identified, we then need to move into our action planning mode to figure out which option is best, how to enact it, and then execute it.

Ultimately, being resilient is dependent on several things:

• Adopting and practicing a non-binary mindset of “BOTH AND.” By that I mean that two truths (and even more!) can coexist at the same time, and everything isn’t just black or white; there are many valid greys within the spectrum, 
• Recognizing when and where our strengths, relationships, connections and ability to persevere or pivot are assets, 
• Preventing those same strengths, relationships, etc. from becoming liabilities, and 
• Integrating the multiple perspectives and worldviews available to us via the Enneagram to gain a clear picture of what’s going on and what we can do about it.  

This is possible because we have all nine Enneagram energies within us, at varying levels of availability. It’s up to us to deliberately, demurely and mindfully focus on each of these energies to help us be the best, most integrated, and most resilient human beings we can be.