Training Activities 1

As a group, spend 15 minutes creating a poster that includes: A slogan about your preference group Images illustrating the strengths of your group What tips for negotiating / communicating with members of your group would you offer the other style groups? What does your style group need from Leadership during times of change and transition? 2-3 things that would make you feel motivated to hear from a manager or colleague given your style and 2-3 things that would make you feel de-motivated to hear. NBI Poster Activity 2

Talking Points: “Welcome back. Now we are going to do an activity to help you understand your dominant thinking preferences in more detail. What I am going to ask you to do is to take a look at your report and identify the quadrant with the largest preference. So find the largest number in the circle outside of the quadrants or which triangle is the largest. If your largest quadrant is an L1 I would like you to come up to the left front area of the room. If your largest quadrant is an R1 I would like you to come up to the right front part of the room. If your dominant quadrant is R2 please proceed to the back right part of the room and if your L2 is largest please proceed to the back left part of the room. In your four corners you will find a flip chart and some markers. In your groups please spend 10 minutes creating a poster that responds to the bullet points on the PowerPoint. We will ask you to present your poster to the large group when you are finished. You may begin…” Facilitator Note: Once the groups have been assigned and have begun working on the task, you can float around and observe each group. See if you notice whether the groups are taking up the task in ways that are indicative of their preference group. Some things you might look for: L1 posters often are very parsimonious with few colors, few pictures/images, and this group often finishes first. R1 posters are often non-linear and sometimes include multiple pages and large expansive images. R2 groups tend to huddle and sit down and take a longer time comparatively to get their ideas onto the flip chart. They often spend time creating a comfortable atmosphere and ensure that everyone is included in creating the poster. Finally the L2 posters tend to be color coded, very linear and organized and often with few or no blemishes or mistakes. Once the participants are finished have each group present their posters to the rest of the participants. Once each group is complete ask the other participants to comment on what they notice about the posters or anything their heard that strikes them. You can also weave in your process observations for each group if you noticed interesting ways the groups acted out their thinking preferences in terms of how they took up the task. At the end of the report-outs remind the participants that everyone in the group is likely to have two preferences so while for the purpose of the exercise they were asked to go to their largest preference, it is important to remember not to categorize people into any one preference. The purpose here was to get a chance to think about the preferences and to observe how they impact interpersonal and group behavior. PowerPoint Instructions: As a group, spend 15 minutes creating a poster that includes: A slogan about your preference group Images illustrating the strengths of your group What tips for negotiating / communicating with members of your group would you offer the other style groups? What does your style group need from Leadership during times of change and transition? 2-3 things that would make you feel motivated to hear from a manager or colleague given your style and 2-3 things that would make you feel de-motivated to hear. NBI Poster Activity – 45 minutes 3

Facilitator Notes: Invite the participants to stand in a circle. Talking Points: 1. “Now let’s do an activity which we call Solo and Duet. What I would like to do is ask all of you to come up. We are going to do a communication exercise that illustrates how thinking preferences can impact communication. Let’s start with some solo scenarios first and then we will move into some duet ones. Would someone be willing to volunteer for the first scenario? [Once someone has volunteered ask them the following question.] 1.Thanks for volunteering. What I would like you to do is stand in your largest dominant quadrant. Speaking from your dominant quadrant, I would like you to persuade a friend or partner about why you both should go on a vacation to the Caribbean or Mediterranean together. Talk for a minute or two … [After speaking congratulate them]. Now can I have another volunteer from a different quadrant who would repeat the same activity?... Thank you both! Let’s give them a round of applause [Clap…]. 3.Now could I have two volunteers with different dominant preferences on the diagonals? I would like one of you, from your dominant NBI quadrant, to approach your supervisor and explain why you think the department should get tablet computers for everyone. In the first round don’t try to adapt to each other (stay within your quadrant). Stop the role play after 2 minutes and clap/conduct a short debrief…Have them repeat a second time but with the employee trying to adapt to the boss. Repeat with another pair on the other diagonal. 4.Now let’s do one more round. This time I would like an L1 boss to give feedback to a R2 direct report on the delivery of a report to a client that was well-received. Do two rounds again (with the first time not adapting to the other side and in the second attempting to adapt). Repeat with another diagonal or combination. 5.Please take your seats. This exercise, while more simple than real-life communication, illustrates that our thinking preferences do influence the way we communicate. It can be useful to think about the content of the message we send and to begin sending messages that can relate to all people’s thinking preferences. Solo & Duet– 30 minutes 4

1.Find some free space on the floor where everyone can stand. Using a brain mat or by placing tape on the floor organized into a matrix with the 4 NBI quadrants identified on pieces of colored paper. 2.Give each participant approximately 5 advertisements cut out various magazines. I.e. for 10 participants you will need 50 unique ads. 3.Instruct the participants to place the ads on the quadrant(s) that best categorizes the ad. Participants my place them completing within a quadrant or spanning multiple quadrants. (5 minutes) 4.Have everyone stand in a circle around the mat where the ads have been sorted. 5.Debrief the exercise: Go around and ask each person to talk about one or two ads and why they placed them the way they did. Note, people with different thinking preferences may view the placement of a given ad differently. This can often demonstrate the power of our thinking preferences on perception. Advertising Sorting – 30 minutes 5

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 A B C C Picture Sorting – 5 Minutes Facilitator Instructions: Reveal each picture one at a time and invite participants to categorize based on the NBI model. Note that individuals may categorize differently based on their own preferences. 6

Thinking Preferences– Illustration (5min) Illustration Exercise 1.Write your name on a piece of paper using your dominant hand. 2.Now switch and write your name with your non-dominant hand. 3.What was it like writing with your different hands? Facilitator Instructions: Invite participants to write their full name on a piece of paper using their dominant hand. Once they do this then invite them to do the same with their non-dominant hand. Debriefing Questions: 1.What was it like writing with your dominant hand? 2.What was it like writing with your non-dominant hand? 3.If I asked you to write your name with your non-dominant hand 10 times a day for 30 days what would be the result? 4.What does this exercise reveal about the different between “preference vs. skill.” 5.How is this exercise a metaphor for our thinking preferences? 7