We recently connected with Adia Zeman Theis and have shared our conversation below.

Adia, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory of how you established your own practice.

I was introduced to the enneagram as a freshman in college and immediately connected to the tool in a deep and profound way. Throughout my time in college and at the start of my career in higher education, I found myself frequently utilizing the enneagram for both my own growth and development and as a tool to share with others. I talked about it with my colleagues, introduced it to my students, and began facilitating group team-building sessions with my family and friends. Anytime I had the opportunity to utilize the enneagram, I was filled with joy and truly felt like I was working and performing at my best. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, I began searching for ways to incorporate more of this joy into my life. I was introduced to the Enneagram Prison Project and their virtual, compassionate enneagram training courses. After completing both the 45-hour and 66-hour certifications, I began to consider my next steps. The easy and risk-free option was to continue as I had been-hoping that someone would ask me about the enneagram and leading one-off sessions anytime I was asked. I have a deeply ingrained fear of failure and as much as I wanted to to choose that comfortable path, I knew it was time to challenge myself and truly put myself out there in order to achieve what I wanted. I began speaking with other entrepreneurs, hired a local, woman-owned marketing and design company, and launched AZT Enneagram and Consulting in the fall of 2022!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

The enneagram is an ancient, geometric tool that is used to help understand the foundations and dimensions of our personality. Essentially, it serves as a mirror to help us see how we show up in the world, why we fall into the patterns we do, and how we can use our inherent skills and gifts to be at our best. Unlike other personality assessments, the enneagram is not a proprietary tool meaning no one company owns it and decides how it is to be utilized. Instead, centuries of psychologists, philosophers, and individuals seeking have used it to make meaning and bring clarity to their individual disciplines. AZT Enneagram and Consulting specializes in working with small groups and teams who want to better understand one another and learn how to work effectively and cohesively. We take a compassionate approach to our work, believing that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with any person and that understanding ourselves and being at our best is the greatest gift we can give to one another. We offer sessions virtually and in-person that are rooted in conversation, personal narrative, and curiosity. Our sessions work best when offered as a series of personal and professional development sessions and can focus on key focus areas like conflict management, communication styles and change management. We pride ourselves in tackling difficult subjects with kindness and using humor and honesty to build connection.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Before I launched my business, I jumped at any opportunity to share my knowledge of the enneagram. I made time on nights and weekends, used PTO at my full-time job, and led full-day retreat sessions without any sort of expectation for compensation. When thinking about launching my business, I struggled immensely not only with how much to charge, but the concept of charging anything at all. How could I ask people to pay me for something I was willing to do for free? Additionally, I struggled to think of myself as being qualified enough to receive payment. Was I really providing anything of value? Could I truly claim to have the knowledge necessary to navigate such complex and difficult topics? It all felt incredibly intimidating.

Growing up in the Midwest, I was taught that bragging about oneself was something that should always be avoided. While not intentional, that message also became internalized as one of self-doubt and deprecation and it became clear that I needed to come to a new understanding of what it meant to be blindly arrogant and what it meant to take pride and value my own work. This is a lesson that I will be working on learning and unlearning my entire life but honoring my own knowledge, skills, and time but setting an expectation for monetary compensation has been a huge step in understanding my own self-worth.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Because of the nature of the services I am offering, I am constantly learning new things-about the enneagram and about myself. While having training and knowledge is clearly an essential part of teaching others, approaching this work from the perspective of a fellow learner has been essential to establishing trusting relationships with those I am coaching. I know about the enneagram, but I do not know what it is like to be any other person. I haven’t lived through the things they have and I don’t feel things the same way they do. At the end of the day, I have to defer to others to be experts of their own lived experience. My job is to be there to ask questions, to shine a light on unexplored areas, and to provide a compassionate witness as people proceed on their own journey. Relieving myself of being the expert and instead focusing on cultivating the skills of listening, curiosity, and kindness. These are the skills that truly help me be of service to others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.aztenneagramandconsulting.com/
• Instagram: @aztenneagramandconsulting
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aztenneagramandconsulting/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adiazemantheis/

Image Credits
Professional Headshots: Jillian McKenzie Photography