Out of
the Box Coaching and
Breakthroughs with the Enneagram,
Mary R. Bast, Ph.D.
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved. Revised:
October 05, 2008
Case
Description: Style Two
Lonnie Sands was the General Manager for Customer Service for her company. She had encouraged her team to switch roles several times over the past few years in order to broaden their perspective and deepen their experience. Some were reluctant in the beginning because they were comfortable with what they were doing, but they acknowledged several months into their new responsibilities that they were maturing rapidly in their careers. More recently, Lonnie had worked with the team to design a structure that ensured fast and flexible responses to changing customer needs, and they were very proud of their results to date.
However, in spite of the fact that Lonnie was supportive and had given them growth opportunities, they felt she'd pushed them too far too fast. When they tried to discuss this, she felt betrayed by any criticism on their part. Her peers described Lonnie as manipulative: somehow, whatever she wanted she found a way to get, with or without their cooperation.
Development for Lonnie centered around being more assertive and direct about her own needs; consequently she was better able to achieve the outcomes she wanted without alienating her peers, and without her subordinates feeling they'd been given a slow curve.
"The Influential Two" Path of Transformation
A Compliant Style Relationship Dynamics: 2 & 8
Much more in Out of the Box Coaching Book
(Click here for free preview of Two chapter)