Perspective Change
Speaking Up
When you don’t feel comfortable speaking up, you can choose an icon to speak for you. Look through the questions on the icons to find the questions you would like to ask your group, and than ask your associates to imagine what that icon would say in your situation. For instance, Steve Jobs is a good icon to use when you are concerned about quality and Warren Buffet about risks. Then simply ask, “What would Steve Jobs say about our product?”
Brainstorming
During brainstorming, choose cards at random and generate ideas as the icons. Alternately, meeting members can choose one or more icons to role play during the meeting in order to generate ideas.
Team Building
Each person picks the icon who is most like them with emphasis on values, goals, guiding principles, and questions that represent their point of view. Next, each person picks the type of icon they least like working with. Then, team members discuss their picks and why, especially the differences in values and identify sources of conflict using the picks for least like working with. After identifying conflicts, the team reviews which icons were not chosen and note the perspectives and accompanying values missing from the team. Team members can use that icon during team meetings to represent that perspective.
Difficult Discussions
Each person sifts through the icons and chooses a personality who represents their point of view. This can occur before or during the beginning of the meeting. Each party takes a turn presenting their icon, and they discuss what the icon would say or do in the current situation, making a note of different values, beliefs, and approaches. If no compromise or resolution seems apparent, choose other icons who exemplify common values to discuss to help bring resolution.
Expectations Setting
Use the icons at the start of project or with a team to understand each person’s default behaviors and identify potential conflicts. Each person chooses three cards: one that best represents her, one that she would most like to work with on the project, and one she would least like to work with. Each discusses their picks and agrees to actions for working together.
Meeting Feedback
At the end of the meeting, each participant, including the meeting leader, chooses a card, either randomly or deliberately, and takes turns providing feedback in the manner of the personality. Alternately, the meeting leader can choose cards at random and ask participants for feedback in that leader’s perspective.
Behavior Change
Skill building
Review the learning objectives listed under the icons to choose what to learn and from whom. Once chosen, review the activities alone, activities with others, and the behavior sections to find the activities and behaviors to help you learn that skill. Note that presentation and meeting facilitation skills are broken out under the behaviors section.
Method Acting for Personal Breakthroughs
1. Look through the profiles and read the summary sections with the lessons, goals, principles, traits, and values. Find one that “speaks” to you or that has a lesson you could use at the moment. Liking the person or sharing that person’s values is irrelevant, though it may require slightly more effort on your part.
2. Keep in mind that you control the experience and can adopt as much or as little as you feel comfortable doing. Most of the changes you will be making will be internal, in your thought processes and resultant behaviors, and you are not expected to impersonate someone outwardly like you would for Halloween or a play.
3. Explanation of sections:
- To get into character– This section describes clothing, speech, and eating habits to adopt. The purpose of this is to break out of your routine and ingrained patterns of behavior. If you start the day eating or dressing differently, you will be more likely to act differently. Use your judgment to determine the extent of the changes needed to change your habits without being disruptive.
- Activities Alone – Conduct these activities first as they are meant to help you get into character and better understand that person’s values and motivation. They are also indicative of activities the character performs on a regular basis. Again, use your judgment regarding which activities make sense for you, but please make sure you do at least some.
- Activities with Others – Again, choose which activities pertain most to your situation. These are an excellent opportunity to practice being your persona and solicit advice from others on “What would this person do?”
- Behaviors – While activities are one-off or have a concrete start and end, the behaviors and questions should be ongoing when you are enacting the profile.
4. It should take you somewhere between 1-3 weeks to master the character. We recommend that you plan on two weeks, and continue if you need more time to fully internalize the persona. Thinking like the persona or exhibiting their behaviors without thinking are signs that you have internalized the skills. We encourage you to tell the people you are with what you are doing so that they can help you master the character and provide feedback. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask others what they think that person would do.
5. If you have trouble getting started or feel stuck, just ask yourself “ “What would this person do?”
"One’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”