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Breakthrough Team Communications through the Enneagram

Based on ancient philosophic traditions, the Enneagram is a profound, elegant approach to people and their relationships. It has been widely studied and applied worldwide in leadership development, coaching and other business areas. It describes nine basic worldviews, nine different ways of working and doing business in the world. Each of the nine personality types is something of a pathway through life, with likely obstacles and pitfalls along the way. Each style has its own natural gifts, limitations, and blind spots, its own distinctive ways of thinking, acting and being. Each relishes particular information - facts, feelings and understandings - while ignoring other information, especially anything that doesn't fit preconceived notions or inclinations.

The Enneagram explores unconscious assumptions - closely held opinions, inclinations and expectations - that we barely knew we had but which drive the way we see ourselves, do our work, relate to colleagues and make decisions. Instead of operating out of habit, and these lenses through which you see the world, you can, with clear intent and awareness, invoke your true reservoir of talents and skills.

It can also help you understand life from the view point of others around you. It can help you understand your blind spots, emotional blockages around the way you relate to co-workers and clients. Understanding where others come from can also help you become more compassionate towards them, judge others less, and at the same time gain clarity about what you value in your working relationship.

Objective

In this program, you will learn how to:

• Understand your personality type using the Enneagram Personality Profiling.
• Understand how your personality affects the way you relate with others at work, in business and in your personal lives.
• Gain self-awareness of your strengths and areas for improvement.
• Appreciate diversity in different personality types, and the dynamics in key relationships in your life.
• Understand other personality types so you can better communicate with different people.
• Apply understanding of the Enneagram Personality Types in conflict management, negotiation skills and leadership.
• Give customised instructions to different personality types so as to tailor to their individual needs and motivations.
• Provide constructive and well-balanced feedback that is necessary to enable improvements.

Outline

Ice Breaker and Trainer Introduction
• Setting the Learning Objectives
• Creating a Safe Learning Environment

Introduction to the Enneagram
• History of the Enneagram
• Understanding the "9 Players on the Team" Principle
• Understanding the Ethical Use of Enneagram
• Understanding the Dynamism of the Enneagram and Growth Paths
• Understanding How Personalities are Formed

Introduction to the 9 Personality Types
• Introduction to the 9 Personality Types
• Understanding the 3 Different Levels (Healthy, Moderate, Unhealthy)
• Understanding the 3 Centres of Intelligence (Heart, Head, Gut)
• Understanding the Energy Orientation (Withdrawn, Assertive, Compliant)
• Understanding Wings and Growth Paths

Understanding the Enneagram Types (Type Focus)
In this segment, we will go into in-depth discussions of the 9 Enneagram Types. This will be
done through the following formats
• Introduction to the Gifts and Blind Spots of Each Type
• Panel Interviews
- Understanding How Each Type is Like
- How Each Type Contribute in the Workplace
- Challenges of Each Type in Relationship Building
• Development Pathways & Action Goals

Panel Interviews
Through the panel interviews, we get to hear participants share their models of the world,
their strengths, their challenges, their views of work, sales and relationships.

Distribution and Interpretation of Personality Reports
• The participants will be given their individual Enneagram Personality Reports
• They will be guided and brought through their reports and what the individual components mean
• See Annex A for a snippet at a sample report

Enneagram and Communication Styles
• Through this interactive exercise, participants will interact across different types, and get to understand how their communication styles can be interpreted by other types, that can cause misunderstanding and friction.
• They also get to understand the true essence and desires of the different enneagram types so that they can develop mutual understanding and empathy.
• Learn the application of the Enneagram in assertive communications, persuasion and influence and conflict resolution

Reflection, Crystallization and Conclusion of Program
• Reflection of Key Takeaways and Action Steps

Testimonials

In the competitive technology industry that I am in, I always thought warmth and being a lady is a disadvantage. However, through Coen's coaching, I've learnt that I come across as a warm and approachable person naturally, and it's a strength rather than a weakness. I have learnt that I should be honest with my needs in order to really deliver difficult messages effectively. By leveraging on my personal style, and adopting delivery frameworks that Coen has taught me, I was better able to deliver team speeches to motivate my team, and also better convince stakeholders to collaborate with me on shared goals.
- Ursula Chiang, Director, Head of Professional Services APAC at PayPal

The workshop is enjoyable and useful. Trainer is interactive, knowledgeable, enthusiastic & passionate.
Singapore Polytechnic

The trainer is approachable, open to sharing personal experiences.
National Youth Council

The knowledge gained from this workshop enable me to apply it both at work and in my personal life. It also helps to understand myself better.
National Institute of Education

Profile of Coen Tan, CSP

Leadership & Communication Facilitator | Certified Speaking Professional (CSP)

Coen Tan helps people-centred leaders, the thoughtful, relational, quietly capable ones whose strengths are often mistaken for a lack of presence, turn that very trait into how they lead, influence, and hold a room. Rather than coaching leaders to perform a louder, borrowed version of leadership, he helps them make their authentic style legible and persuasive, so they lead as themselves, with structure behind them.

He does this through curated learning experiences, real stories, and safe spaces where leaders experiment, practise, and receive targeted feedback, the deliberate practice that turns insight into changed behavior.

In May 2024, Coen was conferred the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) designation, held by the top 12% of speakers globally.

PERSPECTIVE & APPROACH

A lifelong student of human psychology, Coen brings a rare ability to see people accurately, to recognise the strength beneath the surface and name what others overlook. This depth of empathy and perception is the core of how he works with leaders.

Having spoken in 12 countries and travelled to more than 150 cities across over 30, he reads and adapts to leaders across very different cultural contexts – ability especially suited to developing leadership talent across diverse Asian markets. His background in improv, method acting, and languages makes his facilitation engaging, adaptive, and safe, so leaders open up, take risks, and stay with the discomfort where real growth happens.

EXPERIENCE

Over 17 years, Coen has designed and facilitated learning for more than 50,000 professionals across industries – from fintech and financial advisory to pharmaceuticals and FMCG, as both curriculum designer and facilitator, grounded in a deep understanding of adult learning psychology.

He is certified in the MBTI, Gallup CliftonStrengths, and the Enneagram, and is an Appreciative Inquiry practitioner – instruments he draws on selectively in service of each leader's growth.