Are all the walls in your house white?

This past weekend I was chatting with an out-of-state friend via Skype.  I have not seen this friend's current home other than the Skype video view of his office.  This weekend he decided to give me a virtual tour of the house. As he walked into the third room with the Skype video feed active, I noticed the walls appeared to all be the same color.

"Are all the walls in the house white?" I inquired.

"No” he responded, "none of them are."

Pause (imagine the perplexed look on my face as I wonder what is wrong with my camera/video feed).

"They're eggshell". 

(Note the photo - he showed me a white paint sample which he had handy to demonstrate his point and graciously held it there while I snapped a photo of my screen!)

To put this conversation in Emergenetics terms, his strong Analytical preference knew he had selected “eggshell” for the paint…..my strong Conceptual preference isn’t quick to discern the difference between “eggshell” and white”.

We enjoyed a health laugh about the difference in how we view the same information - after which I provided him with a tour of my home - including the red kitchen which I love and he found a bit .....well....bright!

Embrace the difference filters through which we view the world – our differences can build highly effective, productive and innovative teams if we learn to appreciate the filters of others rather than letting these differences cause miscommunication and distrust.
 

May all Your Endeavors be Insightful,

~Nora



Nora A Burns, SPHR is Founder and Principal of Insightful Endeavors International, Inc a Denver, CO based firm specializing in team selection and development. She is an member of the National Speakers Association (NSA) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). When she's not traveling to assist clients in building innovative teams to drive bottom-line results she resides in Denver, CO with Bella the insanely cute labradoodle.