In baseball, each position has a different role and all nine roles are needed to play successfully. Each position also has a unique vantage point. All players watch the same action, but from different angles and distances.
This diversity of views is critical to the highly interdependent nature of the team.
The catcher sees the base runner that the pitcher may not see. The outfielder sees the pop up that is just out of sight of the infielder. And the on-deck batter sees the throw to the plate that the base runner cannot see. Players value and rely on the different vantage points of their teammates.
In the game of baseball, knowing what your vantage point (as well as those of others) contributes to the team is important. The same is true in life. You have a unique perspective from which to see the world. This perspective is valuable not only to you, but to those around you. You offer something that others may not be able to see or see fully.
And others’ perspectives have much to offer you as well.
The Enneagram, a dynamic personality model, illuminates nine different ways of seeing and being in the world – vantage points, if you will.
As with positions in baseball, each of the nine personality types has a unique perspective that is valuable to the whole. Each type has different motivations, desires, fears, and coping mechanisms that influence the way they interpret and interact with the world. The Enneagram offers us a chance to understand our way of seeing and being in the world.
The Enneagram dramatically increases our self-awareness by going beyond what we do, to why we do what we do.
And it helps us understand other ways of being in the world – ways that we cannot see or understand from our vantage point.
Greater self-awareness and other-awareness improves communication, compassion and collaboration in both baseball and life.
The success of a baseball team is rooted in its ability to share, hear and trust each others’ vantage points, and act individually in coordination with each other. The Enneagram fosters this same dynamic in all of our relationships.
We more clearly communicate our thoughts and feeling when we understand WHY we do what we do.
We listen more effectively when we understand and appreciate the motivations of others.
And we become free to give our unique contribution in collaboration with the unique contributions of others.
So, what is your position - your unique way of being in the world?
Why do you do what you do?
What important perspective do you contribute?
How can you benefit from other people’s vantage points?
Lace up your cleats, grab your glove and see how the Enneagram can help you get in the game! You are an important part of the team!