When we begin to lose confidence in our own innate ability to assess and identify who will “fit” in our organizations we open ourselves up to looking at more quantitative ways to validate our own instincts.  These assessment tools are abundant and available from any human capital consultant.  Each have their own strong points, and when used as a companion to what we think our own instincts and experience tell us, these can be very effective.  The watch out has always been to not find ourselves becoming overly reliant on any one tool and taking the results as an absolute.  I was recently reading about an assessment system called “The Enneagram”.  It’s been around since the 1970’s and has been adopted by many who are trying to dig deep into the core values and principles of a person; categorizing someone by the number they most are.  Churches are even using The Enneagram and I found this in the magazine Christianity Today (sorry about the copy, I’ve been carrying it around for a while now):

Cultures of companies, organizations, churches, and cliques are built around the people who are considered to be “fitting”.  They fit because others and themselves are comfortable with the other people around them.  And this comfort grows from shared values and principles.  Jesus called us all to follow Him and become a part of His Kingdom, surrendering ourselves to His Way!  Once we do, He has our number, knowing more about us than we know ourselves. Yet, for us to receive the most from this life we have chosen to lead, we need to seek out other Followers of Jesus so that as we travel through our work and lives that we are assured that one number that we share with others is that He is number One!

Reference: Matthew 10:30 (New Living Translation)