A Solution-Driven Handbook for Workplace Relationships
Why is it so difficult to collaborate with that one coworker? Why can't your boss understand where you're coming from? We all want to experience a healthy, flourishing work environment, but interpersonal conflicts and miscommunications often make work feel frustrating, overwhelming, and maybe even toxic.
With the Enneagram as her guide, Joey Schewee provides a holistic, empowering approach to relating to one another in the workplace, as she helps you foster behavioral consciousness through awareness of motivational differences. She provides practical explanations of a dynamic wisdom for immediate application using anecdotes gained from seventeen years of consulting in professional environments. Drawing from her work with thousands of employees and hundreds of teams, Schewee introduces new concepts such as processing centers, reference points, and focus shifts, Enneagram advancements shared in this book for the first time.
In When Working Together Doesn't Work, you'll learn
- how differing motivations or types can affect employee cohesiveness and productivity,
- how managers can engage individuals by type, so that employees feel understood and valued, and
- how to significantly reduce the perception of personal slights and pave the way for understanding, trust, and collaboration.
While many personality typing systems focus on behavior, they often fail to address the core motivations behind it—something the Enneagram does exceptionally well. When Working Together Doesn't Work is designed to equip you, at any level of business, to improve workplace dynamics. By applying the proven approach outlined in this book, you'll significantly reduce misunderstandings, build trust, and encourage collaboration at work. As you grow in your understanding of your coworkers, you'll experience improved employee engagement and shape your work culture in powerful and lasting ways. Start transforming your workplace today!
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Suzanne Stabile
Introduction
Part I: How the Enneagram Works
Centers of Intelligence
Triads and Primary Types
Processing Centers and Stances
Part I Summary and Quick Reference
Part II: The Enneagram at Work
Enneagram Eight
Enneagram One
Enneagram Nine
Enneagram Two
Enneagram Four
Enneagram Three
Enneagram Five
Enneagram Seven
Enneagram Six
Part II Summary and Mistyping
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Appendix A: Wings
Appendix B: Part I Reflection Questions
About the Author :
Suzanne Stabile is a highly sought-after speaker, teacher, and internationally recognized Enneagram master teacher, having conducted over five hundred workshops. She is the author of The Path Between Us and she is creator and host of The Enneagram Journey podcast. Along with her husband, Rev. Joseph Stabile, she is cofounder of Life in the Trinity Ministry. Their ministry home, the Micah Center, is located in Dallas, Texas.
Joey Stabile Schewee is a sought-after theorist with bone-level understanding of the unique motivations that inform human behavior. She has advanced the historic wisdom of the Enneagram for modern consumption and practical application and works asa management consultant for business cultures and an executive coach for leaders. Joey and her husband, Billy, live in Texas with their two sons and enjoy contributing to meaningful conversation surrounding marriage and parenting through the Enneagram lens.
Review :
"When Working Together Doesn't Work isn't just another personality book; it's a practical guide to understanding motivation, easing tension, and pursuing shared goals with integrity. Joey Schewee makes the Enneagram simple and actionable, offering insight you can apply right away. Whether you're leading a team, collaborating with coworkers, or navigating workplace challenges, this book equips you to communicate clearly, handle conflict wisely, and draw out the best in every type."
Brittany Thomas, founder of enneagramexplained.com
"Joey Stabile Schewee masterfully accomplishes what few have been able to. She guides her audiences toward practical application of the Enneagram in secular spaces while honoring both the integrity of this wisdom and the reality of the human experience in today's world."
Richard Rohr, founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation
"In this highly readable and uncommonly practical book, Joey Stabile Schewee not only guides readers in understanding the Enneagram, but she also uniquely applies it to the relationships found in the place we spend many of our waking hours—our work environment. Applied properly, the reading of When Working Together Doesn't Work will help you improve the quality and durability of relationships and the performance of your teams."
Jeff Crosby, author of The Language of the Soul and World of Wonders
"People often ask me to recommend a good, concise introduction to the Enneagram, and while there are a few around, none are better than Joey Schewee's When Working Together Doesn't Work. This book is clear, to the point, and hugely practical in how it explains how the self-knowledge the Enneagram provides can help us better navigate the ups and downs of relationships and professional challenges. Joey includes all the significant teachings of the Enneagram without getting lost in the details and delivers a fantastic entry into a way of knowing yourself that can serve you the rest of your life. Highly recommended."
Russ Hudson, coauthor with Don Richard Riso of the Wisdom of the Enneagram and author of The Enneagram: Nine Gateways to Presence
"A practical guide to workplace dynamics through the Enneagram lens. Joey Schewee's key insight: we can't change our motivation (how we see the world), but we can change our behavior (what we do). She explores the Centers of Intelligence—Doing, Feeling, and Thinking—showing how colleagues approach tasks differently, creating conflict without malice. By encouraging balance across these Centers, the book provides a framework for resilient teams and healthier collaboration. Essential reading for leaders seeking to transform workplace tension into understanding."
Sharon K. Ball, founder of 9Paths and author of Reclaiming You: Using the Enneagram to Move from Trauma to Resilience
"When Working Together Doesn't Work is a game-changer for teams seeking deeper understanding and more effective collaboration. With practical, Enneagram-based strategies tailored to each personality type, both for managing and being managed, this book offers a roadmap to navigating workplace dynamics with empathy and insight. Our team is already seeing the benefits of clearer communication and mutual respect. A must-read for anyone serious about building productive relationships at work."
Betsy Stein, healthcare administrator
"A practical guide to workplace dynamics through the Enneagram lens. Joey Schewee's key insight: we can't change our motivation (how we see the world), but we can change our behavior (what we do). She explores the Centers of Intelligence—Doing, Feeling, and Thinking—showing how colleagues approach tasks differently, creating conflict without malice. By encouraging balance across these Centers, the book provides a framework for resilient teams and healthier collaboration. Essential reading for leaders seeking to transform workplace tension into understanding."
Sharon K. Ball, founder of 9Paths and author of Reclaiming You: Using the Enneagram to Move from Trauma to Resilience
