On behalf of the IEA Board of Directors, I am very honored to announce the new IEA agenda, with some exciting, innovative projects and plans. These plans can be described using three key words: Growth, Excellence, and Service.
Let me explain first our plans under the words Growth and Service. At a time when conscious awakening is much needed, we believe it is essential to make the Enneagram available to a larger number of people worldwide. To this end, the IEA is
embarking on a fundraising effort to organize and promote an annual “World Enneagram Day.” Starting in July, 2009, we envision this to be a very special day in which a significant number of Enneagram teachers and practitioners around the globe will offer free classes, talks, and workshops to spread the word to local communities. Our goal is to make a significant impact on the world with the Enneagram, while enlarging our circle and inviting more people in.
So far, the IEA has concentrated on building bridges between Enneagram teachers and practitioners. We have also contributed to creating a healthier community by creating links between different people and by building common ground and collegiality among all schools of thought. The recent IEA Conference in Atlanta was the latest proof of our success in this. However, we believe it’s time to reach out beyond our familiar community and invite the world to experience the profound benefits of the Enneagram. This is why we will be embarking on these organizational and fundraising efforts to establish the “World Enneagram Day.”
Adding to our challenges under “growth,” the IEA is making significant changes to its organizational model.
We want to recognize and honor the fact that we are already truly international, with ten Affiliates -- countrywide Enneagram associations that function as local IEA branches. Following the UN model, the IEA will create a General Assembly of Affiliates, in which each Affiliate will have two seats. This General Assembly will meet once a year, immediately before the IEA Conference, offering ideas and guidelines to the IEA Board of Directors and having an official voice in our organization. In this transitory moment, the General Assembly will elect one representative in 2009 and a second one in 2010 as an IEA Board member. In the future, the IEA Board will more likely be the Executive Committee of the General Assembly of Affiliates.
Also, as we are heading toward this new model, we have just created the IEA-USA Affiliate, which will incorporate all the US chapters and members. At this point in time, all American members will remain connected to the International IEA, but the IEA-USA Affiliate will manage and oversee issues that are exclusively related to the USA. And, we are happy to announce that IEA Vice-President Deborah Ooten has been appointed by the IEA Board and by the current US Chapters as the inaugural President of the IEA-USA Affiliate.
All these changes will be accompanied by an increasing emphasis on our third key word: “excellence”. The IEA Board understands that the growth and expansion of the Enneagram must be accompanied by higher standards of quality and excellence in the field. We are concerned with the surge of ‘instant experts’ who start teaching the Enneagram after reading a book or taking a workshop.
Serious, dedicated Enneagram teachers know how important it is to understand the power and complexity of the system and to embody the work, walking the talk. Because of this, the IEA has created an Accreditation Program for Enneagram teachers, programs and schools.
This program will ensure that certain minimum educational and professional standards are met and maintained, and that personal and ethical guidelines are agreed and adhered to. All IEA-accredited teachers, programs and schools will be able to use and display the IEA mark of quality. Please visit the IEA website (
www.internationalenneagram.org
) for more details on this plan.
Last but not least, the IEA has just launched a major contribution to “excellence” in our field: the long-awaited Enneagram Journal. The journal publishes academic-quality papers that are submitted to a blind peer-review process, as well as relevant book reviews and interviews. The Enneagram Journal is offered as a free benefit to all IEA professional members. (Only shipping costs need to be paid.)
We’re sure you’ll agree that the Journal represents a great added value to our membership.
We, the current IEA Board of Directors, would not be able to offer these bold new plans were it not for the work of so many instrumental people who came before us. We venerate the pioneers of the Enneagram around the world and those who followed in their footsteps.
They persevered during much more difficult times in which to spread the word of this system than we do now.
We honor the IEA Founders in the USA; the earliest Enneagram teachers in every country; authors of Enneagram books; all past IEA Boards of Directors; and so many others who dared to start building the road we still travel today. We are deeply grateful for all those who have been in service to the Enneagram for so long. It is because of the interconnected work of all of you and because of the vision and dedication of the current IEA Board of Directors that we are now able to strike a new ‘Do’, to begin a new moment in our history. And, we welcome all of our members to be part of it!
Message from the IEA President, Uranio Paes
