What is in this article?:
How a personality-type tool called the PACE Color Palette can help you better understand how your colleagues (and bosses) think and perceive the world. Four CME professionals explored the PACE system at a recent ACEHP Leadership Institute, and are finding it a great resource for building stronger CME teams at their offices.
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Jacob Coverstone
I’m Green. In fact, I’m very Green. The PACE Palette exercise begins with a scorecard where each column represents a color and you assign weight to the adjectives and verbs associated with a given cell in the each row. At the end of the exercise, you tally up your totals and learn a bit about yourself. Our instructor indicated that a difference of three points in one column over another column was significant. My Green score is eight points higher.
Greens, who make up just 5 percent of the population, have an instinctual hunger for information, specificity, and data. We love systems, not for the love of order like our Yellow friends, but because we crave efficiency and see interrelationships between abstract concepts. We’re often driven to solve problems and perform a lot of research. We’re curious, we’re logical—and we can be overwhelming to talk to.
Referencing Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, Greens start with evaluation, back up to analysis, and return to synthesis. Before information is stored away in our mental libraries, we’re picking it apart. “Is it worth remembering?” “How was this conclusion derived?” “How can I apply this?” Having your idea picked apart by a Green is a compliment (in our world); it shows that we’re intrigued, invested in the idea. We want to know more and want to help refine the concept.
One thing you don’t want to do to a Green is dictate process. Cut us loose and let us do our thing if you want to see results; we’ll figure out how. But, while this is a skill when working independently, it can be a barrier when working in a group or leading teams. Greens might not provide enough guidance to others and can leave people feeling lost or without direction.
If you’re a Green, know that you’re uncommon. If people are asking for directions, it’s not because they’re incapable; they may crave that structure or process to get started but accomplish amazing things thereafter. Share your research with them and help them get going. If, on the other end, you’re feeling micro-managed, realize that your boss or team-lead is probably trying to help. A lot of people want that structure or guidance. For 95 percent of workers, their approach might work.
As Greens, we’re the odd ones, and as the great philosopher Kermit T. Frog said: It’s not easy being green.
