What the Enneagram Isn’t Telling You About Your Church Staff

Personality assessments like the Enneagram can provide valuable insights into how staff members process the world, but they fail to reveal character issues that often emerge under pressure. Todd Rhodes explores why churches must look beyond personality typing to build truly healthy teams.

• The trap of putting people in boxes based on their personality type
• Why personality tools describe behavior but don't diagnose dysfunction 
• How a person with a "perfect" personality score can still be toxic for your team
• The difference between personality (static) and character (revealed under tension)
• Warning signs when someone uses their personality type to avoid growth
• Practical ways to use assessment tools wisely in hiring and team development
• The importance of focusing on spiritual formation as the core of staff development

If you need help building a healthier, more aligned team at your church, reach out to us at podcast@chemistrystaffing.com.

Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com

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Chapters

• 0:08 Limitations of Personality Tests
• 0:40 Introduction with Todd Rhodes
• 1:35 What Enneagram Can and Cannot Tell
• 4:40 Personality Versus Character
• 6:00 Using Assessment Tools Wisely
• 7:20 Conclusion and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:08

The Enneagram can be a powerful tool, but is it telling you everything you need to know about your teen?

Speaker 1: 0:14

In this video, we're going to dive into some of the limitations of personality assessments like the Enneagram when it comes to church staff dynamics. And if you've ever labeled someone as a two or avoided conflict because you know they're just an eight, this one's for you. We're going to talk about the hidden dangers of over-relying on personality tools and learn what you need to pay attention to beneath the surface for a truly healthy team culture. Hi there, my name's Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over chemistrystaffingcom, and I'm your host right here, and thank you for joining me on this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Have you ever hired somebody because they were a perfect Enneagram match, only to realize three months later that you'd miss something really huge? We work with churches every day at Chemistry Staffing and it's always interesting to me, first of all, what assessment tool that churches use, because a lot of churches use most churches use some kind of a personality assessment tool, so it's always interesting to me what tool they use, and then it's always interesting to me how much credence they give this tool. I have seen many candidates disqualified because of how they scored on a personality assessment, whether it be Enneagram or DISC or whatever. So today I thought it would be helpful hopefully it will be helpful to talk about what the personality tools like the Enneagram, like the DISC, can. Can't tell you what to look for instead?

Speaker 1: 1:47

And let me give you a little bit of a disclosure here. I have a love-hate relationship with personality tools. I've taken just about all of them. I absolutely hate taking them. That's my personality. I guess you can tell my personality by what I'm telling you now. But I hate to take them. I just find them just incredibly annoying to take and they're annoying to read too, because it's okay. Yeah, how do you know this much about me from these few questions that I answered? And usually they're spot on, but every once in a while I'll take one and it's. I'll read it and it says I don't think that's me at all and maybe I'm just not self-aware, but anyway. So just know, going into this, I have kind of this love-hate relationship.

Speaker 1: 2:29

But we're going to talk specifically about personality tools and hiring, okay, today. So let's talk about let's. I mentioned Enneagram and I know some people think Enneagram is evil. That's another topic for another podcast. We're not going to go there today, but let's talk about what the Enneagram does. Okay, and the Enneagram helps people understand how they process the world, and it can open some doors to self-awareness and emotional intelligence and communication styles, and that's a good thing. Okay, that's a really good thing.

Speaker 1: 2:59

But here's the trap we start putting people in boxes based on their type and I know you've heard this, right, maybe you've even done this, maybe you did this morning, I don't know. But things like oh, she's a one, so she's always perfectionistic, or he's a nine, so of course he avoids conflict. What's the problem here? The Enneagram describes behavior, but it doesn't diagnose any dysfunction there. Okay, enneagram describes behavior, but it doesn't diagnose any dysfunction there. Okay, your peacemaker might actually be passive, aggressive. Your achiever might be driven by insecurity.

Speaker 1: 3:33

Tools aren't truths. They're starting points. Okay, personality does not equal character. Okay, and that's the deeper issue here. You can have a perfect Enneagram score. You can say we need this kind of a person. And you test and you get their Enneagram score back and they're like oh, my goodness, thank you God, thank you Jesus, this is the perfect staff member. They score perfectly.

Speaker 1: 3:59

And guess what? That person with the perfect Enneagram score can be a really toxic team member, because personality tools don't measure humility and they don't measure integrity and they don't measure spiritual maturity and they don't measure self-awareness. Over time that charming helper might still gossip and the loyalist might still resist feedback. And no tool can catch that without honest conversations and really consistent leadership. And that's why some staff teams look healthy on paper but they really fall apart under pressure. Personality is static, character is revealed under tension. So a lot of times I really feel like we use these tools as kind of justification or an excuse. Have you ever heard somebody weaponize their number? I'm just wired that way. That's just my three coming out. Warning Will Robinson when personality becomes permission to ignore growth, it's a problem, and that's when Enneagram turns from insight into avoidance.

Speaker 1: 5:09

Sometimes, as a leader, you're not just managing personalities, you are shepherding souls. So you don't want to settle for surface level alignment. You got to dig deep. You got to look beyond that score. You got to dig deep. You got to look beyond that score. You got to dig deep for that emotional health and accountability and growth. Okay, that sounds really like Todd, you're against Enneagrams and you're against personal. I'm not against that. I'm just saying that it only shows a part of the story. It shows how somebody is wired, but it doesn't show their character. That's something that whole chemistry and DNA thing that we talk about so much here on the podcast. That's something that you really need to dig into and you're not going to find it in a number on an Enneagram report.

Speaker 1: 5:52

There has to be a better way forward, right? How do we use tools like Enneagram and DISC and different personality assessments? How do we use those wisely? Here's my recommendations for you Use it as a mirror, not a mask, okay. Pair it with regular check-ins, honest feedback.

Speaker 1: 6:10

And if you're hiring and you're giving a personality assessment when you do your onsite visits, you need to really dig in and make sure that culture and that character piece is in place. You need to look at team dynamics, how personalities interact, not just how they function on their own. And, most of all, you got to focus on the spiritual formation as the core of your staff development, because the healthiest teams this is the bottom line for today the healthiest teams aren't the ones with the most self-awareness, they're the ones doing the work behind the scenes to stay humble and unified and missions focused. So the Enneagram it is a helpful starting point. I'm not saying it's not, but I am saying that it's not the whole picture.

Speaker 1: 6:54

Don't just know your staff, don't just know your potential staff member. You need to take that information and help them grow. Know your potential staff member. You need to take that information and help them grow. And if there's a need that you have to help building a healthier, more aligned team, I'd love to talk with you. I'm always open and my work at Chemistry Staffing. I love to come along to churches and come up with a plan to help make your church staff healthier or maybe to hire a new healthy staff person. You can always reach out to me podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. All right, thanks so much. Hope this has been helpful for you. Just remember a number is helpful, but it's not the BLM doll, especially when you're hiring staff. Hope you have a great day you.