Approaching conflict and difficult conversations can represent a significant challenge in the best of circumstances. In this session, each of the four expert panelists will offer a short presentation related to using the Enneagram to manage conflictual or high-risk conversations. This will be followed by a moderated discussion inspired by these different approaches to using the Enneagram in this unique context.
Jerry Wagner, Ph.D. is the author of the Enneagram Spectrum of Personality Styles: an Introductory Guide; the Wagner Enneagram Personality Style Scales (WEPSS); and Two Windows on the Self: the Enneagram and the Myers-Briggs. Jerry has been researching and teaching the Enneagram for over 30 years and has offered the Enneagram Spectrum Training and Certification Program nationally and internationally for the past 10 years: www. enneagramspectrum.com. Jerry is a faculty member of the Department of Psychology and the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University, Chicago. He is a clinical psychologist with a psychotherapy practice in Evanston, IL. Jerry is a co-editor of The Enneagram Journal.
Curt Micka will talk about the implications of using the Enneagram for managing conflict in our personal and professional lives. Conflict affects each and every one of us and is often more painful and more prevalent with those that are close to us. Curt believes that the Enneagram is a powerful tool that can help us work through conflict in a constructive and compassionate way. He will discuss conflict management theory and then explore the ways our Enneagram types play into this. He will also address specific beliefs and behaviors that contribute to constructive and destructive conflict resolution, how type gets us into and keeps us embedded in conflict, and how we can use the strengths and skills of our type to unhook from and consciously manage conflict.
Curt Micka is a mediator, facilitator, attorney, and conflict coach with more than 19 years experience in the field. He teaches conflict management at the University of St. Thomas, is a former board member and president of the Minnesota Chapter of the IEA, and a former member of the IEA global board.
Ronna Phifer-Ritchie will talk about vital conversations and the full spectrum of Enneagram intimacy strengths. Ronna believes that the conversations of our lives have such a powerful impact on the ways our destiny unfolds, and yet we so often let those critical dialogues get derailed from their higher purposes. Ronna will lead an exploration into what keeps a conversation in the vital and valuable walk of the present moment, as opposed to letting it deteriorate into a vicious or vapid whirlwind run by the personality’s agenda. The full spectrum of Enneagram intimacy strengths (a current exploration she is engaged in with Don Riso for the Riso-Hudson Relationship Project) is a wonderful frame for remembering what we really want in conversations, and how that is often very different than what we are defending, promoting, or fearing.
Dr. Ronna Phifer-Ritchie (“The EnneaGal”) is a Relationship Coach, Speaker, and Project Manager of the current Riso-Hudson Relationship Project. Ronna is a Faculty Trainee and Authorized Workshop Presenter at the Enneagram Institute, and a Certified Riso-Hudson Enneagram Teacher. A researcher in early Christian studies, she works with personality style as a developmental pathway to spiritual progress. IEA Accredited Teacher.
Louise Phipps Senft will talk about using the Enneagram as a catalyst for self-awareness in conflict. She will present a transformative approach to conflict based on a relational worldview that embraces self and other and requires self awareness. Louise will also discuss difficult aspects of conflict and attributes of the types in conflict, dispute resolution, and relationships, understanding that awareness of ourselves and our types in conflict allows us to live more fully and to be more responsible in our professional practice and our personal lives.
Louise Phipps Senft, an attorney, is a transformative mediator and founder of Baltimore Mediation. She is also a certified Enneagram teacher in the Narrative Tradition and associated with the Trifold School for Enneagram Studies in the Narrative Tradition. She offers Enneagram workshops on greater productivity and personal satisfaction, emotional intelligence and self-awareness for judges, lawyers, businesses executives, managers, and families. She has pioneered the reliance on selfawareness and the Enneagram for the conflict resolution and mediation communities as a means of quality practice and personal excellence.
Martin Quigley will talk about integrating Non-Violent Communication with the Enneagram. Non Violent Communication (NVC) as developed by Marshall B. Rosenberg is a way of communicating that leads us to give from the heart. It guides us in reframing how we express ourselves and hear others instead of type related habitual, automatic reactions. NVC helps us connect with ourselves and each other in a way that allows our natural compassion to flourish. It guides us to reframe the way we express ourselves and listen to others by focusing our consciousness on four areas: what we are observing, feeling, needing and what we are requesting to enrich our lives.
Martin Quigley is an experienced HR specialist with over 28 years experience in industry. He is a professional Enneagram trainer and delivers personal development training using the Enneagram to individuals and organizations. He has been working with the Enneagram for over 12 years and was EPTP certified by Daniels/Palmer in 2003. He has also completed Ginger Lapid Bogda’s Enneagram in Business and Leadership programs. IEA Accredited Teacher.