The Work of You
This is a podcast about the leadership that matters most — the kind that starts from within.
Hosted by certified behavioral coach and Enneagram expert Jen Ostrich, The Work of You is for high-achieving humans ready to stop repeating patterns and start leading themselves differently.
Through insights from coaching, the Enneagram, and her own personal inner overhaul, Jen brings honesty, humor, and sharp emotional clarity to the table. With real talk, self-awareness tools, and a healthy dose of tough love, she helps you uncover what’s driving you, shift what’s no longer serving you, and ultimately do the work of you — one honest episode at a time.
This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about finally understanding yourself — so your choices, relationships, and leadership can actually align with who you truly are.
The Work of You
The Communication Patterns You Don't Even Notice
What if the way we speak, listen, and interpret has less to do with intention and more to do with our wiring?
This episode is an invitation to become more dialed in to how you move through communication, how you listen, and what your tendencies are for interpreting others words or actions. Understanding your own communication lens is part of building that awareness and doing the work of you. Noticing when and why communication breaks down is also important. We can also assume the way we are wired to communicate is how others are wired. This can lead to misunderstandings – when I subconsciously assume that you are motivated by the same things that I am. OR that you instinctually listen for the same things that I do to ensure clarity, control, safety, or connection. This episode is about understanding your own communication patterns so they don't derail your message or your relationships.
Episode topics:
- Words are only part of the message — tone, energy, pacing, and assumptions are all part of communication.
- Misunderstandings in communication erode trust and connection. We need to see that conscious communication is the bridge.
- Two helpful layers from the Enneagram model to recognize communication patterns:
- Core Type | Center of Intelligence – The lens you filter the world through and how you take in information.
- Instinctual Drive – Self-preservation, social, or sexual (one-on-one) instinct that determines your focus in interactions – what you’re most attuned to
- How each Center and Instinct approaches communication, listens for, and common misunderstandings by type.
Coaching Prompts:
- What is the general theme that my communication leads with?
- What am listening carefully for and maybe distracted by when others are communicating?
- What communication pattern can I shift to ensure others hear and understand me?
Resources | Links:
Integrative Enneagram: Communication Styles of the 9 Types
Image of the Ladder of Inference
