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The enneagram of reflection and action

There is a cyclical process called the hermeneutic cycle: the process of reading the Scriptures in one context, applying them to life in a way that changes the context, and then returning to the Scriptures to read them again in the new context – a cycle of ‘reflection and action.’

In the cycle of reflection and action, the beginning and end of each cycle – point NINE – is being in a particular context and reading the Scriptures in that context.

The two key moments in the cycle – points THREE and SIX – are the decision to act, and taking the action.

The earliest intermediate stages of the cycle, between reading the Scriptures and deciding to act, are extracting ideals from what is read – stage ONE – and applying those ideals to the context – stage TWO. It then becomes possible to take the decision to act – at point THREE.

Having made the decision to take some kind of action, it becomes necessary to formulate a vision of what is possible in practice – what can actually be done in this context to express the ideal on which the decision was based. This is stage FOUR: formulating a detailed vision or plan.

The decision has been made and a plan has been formulated: now we pass the point of no return as we set the plan in motion – stage FIVE.

Point SIX is the center of the action phase. Stage SEVEN is the immediate aftermath, tying up any loose ends, properly completing the task. Stage EIGHT is ‘debriefing’ – initial reflection on the action, and on how the context has now changed. Point NINE is back to the Bible – being in a particular context and reading the Scriptures in that context – ‘a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other’ – and so the cycle begins over again.

Any organization or community that seeks to engage with its context in a meaningful and effective way will need to engage in this kind of cycle of reflection and action. If it is to remain relevant in the long term, it needs to engage in the entire cycle repeatedly over time as both the context and the community change.

With the static enneagram, we established that there is often a correspondence between the nine points of the enneagram analysis and the nine sectors of the strategy board – whenever the original left-right contrast correlates with the concepts of head and heart.

The same is found to be true with this enneagram analysis of the cycle of reflection and action.

The decision phase is all about the energy of the heart: choosing to ‘get involved,’ motivating the team, and dreaming of what could be. This phase is about getting the decision made and pushing on to the point of no return.

And then, with the decision made and agreed, the action phase is the phase for following the plan through – logically and almost mechanically – if it is to succeed. This is where some objective head energy is required to keep everything on track and to focus on the completion of the plan.

And finally, the context phase is all about engaging directly with the world as it is. It is about an immediate, practical, and direct perception of the situation – perhaps at an almost instinctive and intuitive level: all the essential features of the gut zone.

And so, in a community that is working well, it may well be the NINEs who will peacefully read the Scriptures, compare the world around, and calmly point out the mismatch – speaking hard truths calmly.

Idealistic ONEs would extract the ideals from the Scriptures.

Caring TWOs would apply those ideals to the context – where they already know every hidden need.

Group-leader THREEs would inspire the team to take the decision to act.

Creative FOURs would work out how to give expression to the decision – how to paint it on to the world. They would formulate a vision – a plan – based on the ideals and applicable to the world as it is.

FIVEs are now challenged to apply their wisdom and to use their extensive resources to attend to the fine details and then – when everything is ready – set the plan in motion.

Team member SIXes will faithfully and loyally see the action through.

SEVENs, optimists and generalists and always ready for more, could keep going as others tire – picking up all the loose ends, dealing efficiently with a whole range of small issues in the final stage of the action phase, and staying positive, come what may.

At the debriefing, EIGHTs will be there with a full analysis of everything that has been learned from the experience, as they will have been testing everything out as they went along: the only ones taking careful note – amidst the chaos of battle – of where the real power was hidden, and where the boundaries of possibility may lie.

And once the adventure is done, NINEs will welcome everybody peacefully back home.

It is the clearest possible demonstration of the assertion that everybody has a role – that everybody has a part to play.

In practice, of course, not every community functions this well. The internal arrows in the diagram illustrate some of the ways in which organizations may end up failing to interact successfully with their context – by repeatedly missing out some essential stages, or by becoming stuck in a ‘local loop,’ continuously repeating just one small part of the cycle.

On the THREE-SIX-NINE triangle: if an organization fails to maintain proper contact with its environment – its context – it ends up looping back repeatedly along the arrow from SIX to THREE. There is plenty of decision-making and planning and action – but instead of going on to reflect on the changing context, the organization goes straight back to decision-making again. It is depending on everything being unchanged since the last time it checked – information that could be hopelessly dated. It has ended up ‘out of touch,’ ineffective, and irrelevant to ‘the real world.’ It needs someone to intervene with a ‘reality check,’ shaking the organization out of its local loop with some harsh news from ‘the real world’: someone with some NINE.

An organization that never manages to pull together and make a decision is stuck in the loop described by the arrow from NINE back to SIX. There may be plenty of action, and tidying up afterwards, and debriefing, and rest and reflection, but instead of taking the time to look again at the ideals of the organization, and apply them to the context in a new way, the organization simply falls into a cycle of doing things the way they have always been done. It needs someone with some insight and some inspirational team-building skills to show the organization that there is another way – or a whole range of other ways – for being true to their ideals, and having an impact: someone with some THREE.

And some organizations pass grand resolutions unanimously at well-structured meetings – but never get around to acting on them. The decisions are relevant and visionary – true to the context and the group’s ideals – but the organization fails to make it into the action phase and loops back repeatedly from THREE to NINE. It needs someone to point out that decisions are only meaningful if committed action follows: someone with some SIX.

There are three potential ‘local loops’ on the hexagon of arrows. The arrow back from EIGHT to FIVE can create a loop, which is even more full of action than the loop-back from NINE to SIX – and while it is sometimes useful to repeat an action once or twice, reflection and new decisions – the rest of the cycle – will be appropriate in due course.

The arrow back from FOUR to TWO can hone a decision – but eventually the perfected plan has to be set in motion and carried through, and then there needs to be new reflection on the context – and these are the functions of the rest of the cycle.

The local loop that remains most in touch with its context is the one defined by the arrow back from TWO to EIGHT: it is the only local loop that includes all three stages of the context phase. I suspect that modern ‘NINEish’ center-ground government operates most of the time in this loop: there is reflection and there are ideals, but before there is a chance for a major new policy to emerge, someone comes in with a report from a focus group or a small trial and the brief inspiration of TWO is pulled straight back to EIGHT. The consequence is that modern center-ground government is often all tinkering rather than genuinely innovative planning or action – although it is probably better for a government in a modern democracy to be ‘too in touch’ with its context than not in touch at all.

And before we leave the arrows, it is worth noting that the three arrows that represent ‘jumps forward’ are not always positive moves. The jump forward from ONE to FOUR is certainly possible – but rushing through the decision phase could mean that the decision is not as good as it could have been, and could leave many people feeling left out – unwilling to join in with the action phase.

The jump forward from FIVE to SEVEN may represent a failure to enter fully into the action that was required.

And the jump forward from SEVEN to ONE could represent too little reflection and too hasty a launch into another cycle of decision and action.

And from this it becomes clear once again that the entire community needs to participate if the community is to engage with its context in a meaningful and effective way. Through the nine stages of the cycle, the ‘baton of responsibility’ is passed from sector to sector – from the people of type NINE, to the people of type ONE, to the people of type TWO and so on – inviting and requiring every member of the community to fulfill their own specific role, their own vocation. The individuals are largely static in their natural home base: it is the life of the effective community as a whole that progresses clockwise through the nine stages of the cycle.

Finally it is worth considering the cycle from the perspective of an individual.

Working alone – rather than in a community – individuals are likely to keep on ‘playing their strongest hand.’

For NINEs that means relying on their clear understanding of the context, rather than complex decision-making or extended long-term planning: in interacting with the world, they will ‘keep it simple.’

ONEs are likely to cling on to extracted ideals – becoming idealists and perfectionists, and being always ‘on their best behavior.’

TWOs will apply the ideals to the situations around them – so in any society where giving and caring are ideals, TWOs will apply those ideals: they will ‘give and care.’

THREEs will focus on making those key decisions that turn ideals into action: they will emerge as leaders, inspirers, and achievers.

FOURs are best at formulating detailed plans based on the ideals. Working alone, the ideals in question will be their own ideals – and they will seek to live life in every detail according to those ideals: their maxim in all things, ‘be true to yourself,’

FIVEs’ strongest hand is tipping the balance that sets the plan into motion. They will give due consideration to the timing as well as the detail. They will always ‘think it through first.’

SIXes are confident and unwavering, working through the action as prescribed in the plan: their strategy when working all alone will be to stick with the plan they know.

SEVENs are best at dealing with all the loose ends. As individuals meeting the world they will deal with whatever appears, and move on – and ‘stay positive come what may.’

And EIGHTs are best at making sense of whatever has happened: working alone, hungry for the information to interpret and assess, they will need to make things happen in order to asses them: they will always be ‘testing people out.’

The cycle of reflection and action – like the strategy board – is all about human choices for interaction with the world around. We are mapping the same basic themes – and the features on the two maps coincide once again.

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