Customer Reviews

Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work: How to Use the Enneagram System for Success

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this book. I am an executive coach and I find this very useful for helping my Enneagram-aware clients apply the model directly and quickly to work situations -- to help debug relationships, communications, conflilct, etc.

I especially like Lapid-Bogda's distinctions and examples around "Pinch" and "Crunch" for each of the types.

I don't know of any other books except Michael Goldberg's "The Nine Ways of Working" that fill this business-application niche quite so well.

Highly recommended for those who need a practical, hands-on way of using the Ennegram in day to day work interactions.

Fantastic book! No technical jargon, no psycho-babble, just a lot of wise, witty, and perceptive insights. This will probably become the definitive work in the field, but it's written in a light, breezy style that makes it a fun read at the beach for the general reader.
Read this book twice: The first time, to understand what pushes your own buttons; the second time, to understand what pushes the buttons of the people around you.

Objective, yet comprehensive. Practical, yet very solid in its concepts.

Lapid-Bogda has a solid background both in Organizational Development (OD) and the Enneagram, an outstanding tool for self-understanding/developing and relating better with others (the author is today the President of the International Enneagram Association). The result is a creative and useful bridge between these two areas, with stories, checklists and insights that will help practitioners on both sides. OD consultants with enrich their approaches with the use of the Enneagram; and Enneagram practitioners will find added-value to the current literature, through innovative chapters, which are divided per organizational problems, rather than per personality types.

In a brief: this book brings invaluable information for everyone who wants to achieve superior results for oneself and for others, creating a high functioning and conscious team at work.

Being an organizational consultant from Brazil, I can also add that the book's guidelines are universal.

This is a book on using the Enneagram system specifically oriented to todays business environment. The Enneagram is not unlike other personality oriented systems. First an individual is asked to examine nine different personality types and to identify himself with one. Then the Enneagram, a diagram of the interaction of the various types can be used to predict behavior.

The book, however, reverses the normal trend in personality testing books where the book is organized around the personality type. Instead the book describes several common business situations and then describes how the various personality types react to the situation.

Finally a groundbreaking book on the 9 ways of working that can be handed to your HR director! Enneagram Personality System books started being published in the 1980's; not until now has there been one that systematically applies this system to organizations. As an organization development consultant, I have always found the enneagram to be essential to my executive coaching and development. Now, in a practical and most excellent way, Lapid-Bogda applies the system to all key areas of organization life-- including employee feedback, conflict in teams, leadership and team development, etc. You can take the applications and use them immediately on the change initiatives you already have underway in your orgaization-- such as your 360 degree feedback sessions.

Not only does Lapid-Bogda make it easy for you to apply this system, but once familiar with her book and work, the reader can order tailor made tools that go with each organization topic that will further assist your ease of application.

If you are "stuck" in your own personal career development or trying to lead others in theirs-- and looking for a breakthrough-- then buy this book!

Ginger Lapid-Bogda has written an excellent guide to utilizing the Enneagram in the workplace. This book has significant value for organizational development consultants, human resources professionals and managers to better understand themselves and the people with whom they work. But it can be utilized by anyone wanting to know themselves better and to maximize performance in the workplace. With a forward by Helen Palmer and endorsements from David Daniels, Michael Goldberg, Claudio Naranjo and others, Lapid-Bogda has organized her book into chapters that address critical issues in the workplace, including communication, giving constructive feedback, managing conflict, creating high-performing teams, and leveraging leadership (these are titles of some of the chapters). The author doesn't back away from the complexities of this system, but her opening chapter is an excellent introduction to the Enneagram. Throughout the book the language is clear, with practical examples of applications in each of these categories for the nine types in the Enneagram personality system. In my role as a consultant, I am finding this new book invaluable.

My experience as an organizational and personal development professional working with groups and individuals has convinced me that the primary source of failures in leadership, management, and teamwork is the pervasive lack of self understanding, hence understanding of others, exhibited by leaders, managers, and staff in our organizations. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first book presenting a truly useful system to enhance and build such critical understanding--the Enneagram in a business context.

The genuine nugget in this book is its use of the Enneagram to move forward the original Center for Creative Leaderhip research about what derails successful professionals. Lapid-Bogna's gift is to communicate the most profound and deeply thoughtful insights with deceptively casual language. I agree it needs to be read twice: Once to understand the techniques it describes, and a second time to appreciate how she builds on her hard-earned understanding of what works and doesn't work in OD and career development. Then, consider reading it a third time to appreciate the Enneagram for the doors it opens to truly deep personal growth. Not just another book written as a practice-building marketing piece for the author. It contains enough material for at least two books.

As a senior healthcare executive I teach and mentor my VPs, Directors, and Managers through a variety of subjects related to Power and Influence, Execution, Leading High Performance Teams, Leading Change, and Key Competencies. I have found that the material in this book unlocks the power and creativity of my management personnel because it recognizes that all personality types can be leaders and that leadership can be learned and enhanced by a firm, accessible, and useful understanding of personality. This book focuses on knowing your personality type and then guiding you by exercises to become highly effective. Sections on communication, feedback, high performance teams, and conflict are powerful and personality specific. Using this book as a source book I have not only improved my leadership and the leadership of my managers, but I have also successfully helped a large percentage to advance their careers, even though they come from a small, inner city hospital.

I have managed teams for the past 15 years, and I recently read several books about the enneagram. This one is definitely a must read for all managers but also for anyone working! It gives great pointers on communicating effectively, tips on how to give feedback, how to resolve conflicts, how to create high-performing teams... Beyond the real-life examples, there is also a summary of what you can do that will work well with all types, since we don't always know what type our team members or coworkers are. I also liked the recommended daily activities.

Very easy to read, and yet exhaustive on the subject, it has become one of my favorite management books.