Identifying Preferences

Insights Discovery at Work Resources

IKEA on a Saturday morning in the lift is a wonderful opportunity to identify colour preferences. Individuals who lead with Fiery Red are going to be straight into the lift, want to take control of the buttons, and will be the ones that are standing there repeatedly pressing the button because the lift isn’t moving quite quickly enough. Those of us who lead with Sunshine Yellow see the lift as a wonderful opportunity to engage in a conversation and connect with other people. They get curious about what’s sitting in other people’s trolleys and strike up this conversation with strangers. Those of us who lead with Earth Green actually use the open door and keep the door open for the mum with three kids who is a couple of minutes walk away just to make sure they can come into the lift and join everybody. And those of us that lead with Cool Blue are sitting there mentally calculating the combined weight of everybody who’s in that lift versus the legal requirement just to make sure that we’re all okay and if necessary they will wait for the next lift. So, you know, all the signs are there and it is just being really observant to some of the behaviours that you see that will help indicate what colours different people may be leading with.

How might the colour preferences organise a team building event? Those that lead with Fiery Red, it’s likely to be a short, sharp event with a clear challenge for everyone and actions to take away and implement. Sunshine Yellow is going to be a really action packed event, busy and full of fun activities. The more the merrier everyone to be involved the whole time. Earth Green, they want an event that caters for everyone and also allows chill time, relax and catch up. There’ll be lots of one-to-one time in there. And then finally Cool Blue. They will have a clear itinerary planned activities, health and safety review, budget consideration and invites will go out in a timely fashion.

How do you identify colour preferences? by email? Those that leave with Fiery Red, there is no, or there’s often little chitchat in their emails. Short, sharp messages, which get to the point fast. In some cases the message may just be in the title, and they’re simply doing it for efficiency. Sunshine Yellows, they’re much more engaging and personal and often full of emojis. Expect multiple replies when you are working with somebody with Sunshine Yellow. Earth Green, they’ll ask you about your weekend, wish you a good day and they will ask rather than tell. Deadlines tend to be much less clearer. When they’re organising a date and time, they will always ask you what times are convenient for you rather than driving the date themselves. And Cool Blue is straight to the facts. Plenty of details, clear deadlines, although they may be much longer. Emails absolutely packed with detail.

How do the different colour preferences show up for first dates? Fiery Red, they’re the ones that are going to instigate the date, schedule it, plan it, and they will be punctual. They are absolutely the ones that will make the first move. Our sunshine yellows, they are the ones that will do all the talking and will have had a fantastic night, even if their introverted date is bamboozled. They believe in love at first sight and we’ll often just go, look, we’ll skip the first date, and they go straight to honeymoon. Earth Greens. What they want is a quiet, romantic dinner for two, where there is an opportunity to get to know the other person through deep and meaningful conversation. Whereas our Cool Blues actually want a quiz night where they can show their how great their knowledge is, there will be an itinerary for the evening with what to do and where to go, and they’re not going to show their feelings too soon.