Diversity Icebreaker

Diversity Icebreaker (DI) is a questionnaire used in seminars where the aim is to improve communication and interaction in the group or between different departments or subsidiaries in a bigger company or organization. Based on the results from the questionnaire the participants are divided into three categories (Red, Blue and Green). Each color represents a certain set of preferences. The facilitator is suggested to follow a certain seminar structure to bring out the effect of helping the participants develop a shared understanding about effective ways to communicate and work together with people with different preferences.

Red preference is characterized by a strong focus on relations, personal involvement and a social perspective. Blue preference is recognized by focus on structure and task, and through a logic perspective. Green perspective is seen in focus on change, vision and ideas. The meaning of the three categories is established during the seminar. It originates from the questionnaire's items (questions) as well as from participant's personal experiences and the local culture, thus making the categories of Red, Blue and Green flexible and applicable in many contexts.

The Diversity Icebreaker is a process tool often used within the classic DI-seminar structure explained by Ekelund and Langvik in their book “Diversity Icebreaker. How to manage diversity processes”. The seminar is usually run for groups from 9 to 150 persons and lasts between one and two hours. The participants are divided into groups – red, blue or green – based on the questionnaire.

Through the seminar process the sense of the categories is worked out by the participants themselves. They discover the effect of putting labels on each other, as well as the effect of “us” versus “the others” way of thinking. A systematic use of humor is central in the process and stimulates the participants to a safe and open reflection about differences.

Diversity Icebreaker is used to work on a wide range of subjects from focus on communication and interaction in general to more specific topics like team development, intercultural relations, learning styles and conflict resolution. Users vary from bigger multinationals to smaller companies independently of sector of activity, schools and universities,non-profit organizations, etc.

...
Wikipedia