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By Kathy McGuire, October 26, 2007 3:37 pm

The Enneagram: Looking At Your Shadow Side 

While the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (see description and tests at http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2e.php#2e4 )stresses the positive, our “differing gifts,” The Enneagram helps us to take a brave look at our shadow side, our personal demon, and the motivations driving us.

I find it interesting that, even if someone’s MBTI is exactly the same as mine, the person can seem to be very different from me in how they behave. Especially if I am getting into conflict with the person, I often try to figure out their Enneagram as well to see if that sheds light on the situation.

There are nine basic personality types, refined by degree of interaction with the other types.  They are The Reformer, The Helper, The Motivator, The Artist, The Thinker, The Loyalist, The Generalist, The Leader, and The Peacemaker. However, complexities involve leaning toward one”wing” or the other and passing into a different type when ideal vs. under stress, etc.

Riso’s book, Discover Your Personality Type: The New Enneagram Questionnaire (Houghton Mifflin, 1995) provides a simple description and test for exploring your Enneagram profile. However, Helen Palmer’s work with the Enneagram can lead to somewhat different results. Again, try several tests and see what you learn:

• www.enneagramspectrum.com  (free quiz, good articles like “Enneagram Styles As Personality Paradigms”)
• www.enneagraminstitute.com (Riso and Hudson; free and paid tests; lots of info)
• www.enneagramworldwide.com (Palmer; $10 test; lots of info)
• www.similarminds.com (lots of free Enneagram-based informal tests; test combining Enneagram and MBTI)
• www.pulsarnet.com/cw   (Great Enneagram Handbook download; lots on  Conscious Relationship as well)

More Personality Tests and a philosophy for conflict resolution through understanding Individual Differences at http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2e.php#2e4

Dr. Kathy McGuire

Director

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)

www.cefocusing.com

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By Kathy McGuire, October 19, 2007 2:01 pm

Metodo de Toma de Decisiones del Borde de Colaboracion

Collaborative Edge Decision Making Method 

(Download this article to read all about the Creative Edge Focusing (TM) model for creative and innovative task-oriented meetings )

I believe it is at Google that every employee’s total work is put out publicly on a shared networking site, so everyone always knows what everyone is creating!  Wow! The opposite of competitive cubby holes.

Also, at a number of businesses, they are tearing down walls between employees, enlarging “shared work spaces” with comfortable chairs and work stations to encourage sharing, breaking down walls between departments, and also between inside and outside, bringing many more outside consultants and consumers into the idea and product-generating process.

The old model of static bureacracies is not adapted to this “niche” and consumer-driven market. Companies have to respond very quickly in creating new products to meet demands worldwide. So, they need the work teams down the hierarchy to be the “front line” in terms of responsivity… A Bottom-up model.

Also, companies are sending employees out into the marketplace to observe the real lives of consumers — e.g., in terms of figuring out what kind of cell phone to create for a foreign market, employees travel there and observe how the people there use technology, use cell phones and computers , etc.

Creative Edge Focusing is right in line with all of these collaborative and experiential directions! And we “own” the remaining new frontier: inner “felt sensing,” the “intuitive feel” of ideas and situations as a font of creativity and innovation.

Malcolm Gladwell, In Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Little, Brown, 2005) legitimated the power of “intuition” and “gut feelings” for decision making.

Certified Focusing Professionals of The Focusing Institute, and now Creative Edge Focusing (TM) consultants, have been exploring and teaching the use of The Creative Edge, the “intuitive feel” of situations and ideas, for over thirty years!

See (many of these books are available directly from The Store at The Focusing Institute,  www.focusing.org as well as www.amazon.com )

       Gendlin, E.T. Focusing (Bantam, 1981, 1984)

       Cornell, Ann Weiser The Power Of Focusing (New Harbinger, 1996)

       Flanagan, Kevin Everyday Genius: Focusing On Your Emotional Intelligence

              (Marino Books, Dublin, 1998)

See also the website of Flavia Cymbalista, www.marketfocusing.com , and testimonial from George Soros about how the Intuitive Focusing skill helps with decision making in the uncertainties of financial markets.

And, at our own website for Creative Edge Focusing (TM), www.cefocusing.com,

Core Concept: Creativity, http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a8.php ,

Instant “Ahah!” Empowerment Organization: Motivating From The Bottom Up ,  http://www.cefocusing.com/freeresources/2a1f.php,

Case Studies:Creative Edge Organization, http://www.cefocusing.com/casestudies/6a7.php,

Core Concept: Intuitive Focusing, http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a1.php,

Core Concept: Creating At The Edge: Culture of Creativity, http://www.cefocusing.com/coreconcepts/1a11.php,

and, to sum it all up, Interest Area: Creative Edge Organization, http://www.cefocusing.com/isthisyou/3a1a.php 

(if these links don’t work, go to our Blogroll and choose Creative Edge Focusing and The Focusing Institute! You’ll find the articles to download under Free Resources: Articles. I’m just learning how to do this blogging!) Dr. Kathy McGuire, Director, Creative Edge Focusing (TM)