what's your personality type?
According to the Enneagram, I’m a seven. In astrology, I’m an Aries sun, a Taurus moon, and an Aries rising. I’m a strong Quick Start according to Kolbe and in Human Design I’m a Projector.
Do each of these methodologies impact my day-to-day in a major way? No.
Am I a junkie for typology tools? Maybe.
Each of these methodologies helped me to discover traits and tendencies that I thought were unique to me, or worse – weren’t unique at all:
Before I knew that I was a Projector in Human Design, I thought I had to work exhaustively like Generators do. It helped me to learn that breaks are a necessity for me.
Once I understood what astrological rising signs were, I was able to understand better how people relate to me and to one another.
Before I was introduced to Kolbe, I thought that everyone in the world was a Quick Start like me. (I’d have had a lot more patience for my poor husband over the years had I known this sooner.)
Typology tools can help us to understand ourselves and to feel understood. That’s all we want from one another and it’s what we need from ourselves.
Of course, there are the believers and there are the eye-rollers. Some of us accept that these tools help and some of us think they’re cultish crap. (If you’re the latter and you’ve read this far, thank you for bearing with me.)
In journalist David Brooks’ great read, How To Know A Person: The Art Of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, he’s not so hot on these methodologies. Rather than judging one another via the DISC assessment or those Myers-Briggs results, he recommends relating to each other by construction, not deduction.
How do you relate by construction?
“Quality conversation is the essence of this approach.”
Wanna make people feel truly seen and heard? Ask more questions. By asking questions rather than providing methodological expertise whether they need it or not, we can deduce less and understand more. To ask questions is to nurture and nourish relationships. That’s how we can help our clients grow their revenue, make more progress, or simply feel heard.
That said, is there a way to constructively serve people using typology tools? Or is it really just an excuse to deduce things fast and furiously?
What do you think?
jill