Tell the participants that they have 60 seconds to look at the picture and then identify the colours in the picture.

Time them and when one minute is up, call out, “Time’s up!”

Ask them: “How many people identified three colours?”
“How many people identified four colours?”
“Five colours?
“More than five colours?”

Ask participants to tell you the names of the colours they saw (start with those participants who identified LESS colours). Write the names of the colours down on a flipchart or whiteboard. (Most people will respond with the following colours: red, blue, yellow and black. Other people will add colours such as cobalt blue, navy blue, burgundy, scarlet, gold, mustard, and cream.)

If the participants do not identify colours other than red, blue, yellow and black, tell them that the colours you see in the picture are mustard, burgundy, scarlet red, navy blue, bright blue and cream.

As an interesting aside, you might want to ask those participants who identified more colours if they had any specific training (art school, graphic design courses, fashion design training, etc.) which helped develop this colour sense. This could be further developed in the debriefing (each person has natural and developed skills which impact how he/she sees a situation).

Team Building

Because each person sees things differently, conflict can arise. This conflict can negatively impact our work. However, we can turn this potential negative to a positive by learning how to see with the other person’s eyes and see what they are “seeing.” Doing this results in greater creativity and better problem-solving.

We all bring different skills, abilities and life experiences to the team. We need to appreciate and use each member’s talents in order to obtain the BEST results.

Motivation
Because of these different experiences and viewpoints, we react differently to different stimuli - what motivates one person does not motivate another. Some people might be highly motivated by money. Others could care less about money as long as they have funds enough to pay the bills. But feeling they are respected by their boss and their ideas are listened to might motivate them. Successful motivators understand how the other person “sees” and use this knowledge to provide behaviours/rewards that motivate that individual.

Communication
Because each person sees things differently, misunderstandings can arise. These misunderstandings can have negative consequences in the workplace and can develop into conflict. Good communication skills involve understanding the other person’s point of view. This involves listening to understand, not half-hearted listening or listening to gain ammunition against a particular viewpoint.

Problem-Solving
Because each person sees things differently, conflict can arise. This conflict can negatively impact our work and our relationships with co-workers (it is human nature to view people who are different as being inferior to ourselves). However, we can turn this potential negative to a positive by learning how to see with the other person’s eyes and see what they are “seeing.” Doing this results in greater creativity and better problem-solving.

Conflict Management
What one person sees as positive flexibility, another perceives as negative disorder. What one person views as driving towards a goal, another sees as stifling creativity.

Because each person sees things differently, conflict can arise. This conflict can negatively impact our work. However, we can turn this potential negative to a positive by learning how to see with the other person’s eyes and listen to what they are “seeing.” Doing this results in greater creativity and better problem-solving.

Ask the participants to find a picture in the image and write down what they see. Each person then tells the group (or if there are many participants, tells the members of a small group) what he/she saw in the image. (If small groups, report out.) Debrief as above.