Ultimate Blog Challenge - Training

Photo by Artem Verbo on Unsplash

Welcome back and happy Monday!

Today's assignment is to tell you about a training class I took recently. What did I learn?

It's been a while that I have attended any classes, and the ones I remember would not be entertaining because it was about social benefits or recruiting strategies.

That doesn't mean I don't have an idea what to tell you about. It probably doesn't qualify as "training" because it was more of an "experience", but it sure was interesting and memorable. 

The event was called something along the lines of "trust your perception", and one particular exercise we did relatively early into the two days' course was the following:

The participants were divided into two groups, and one group had to leave the room for a few minutes. The first group was placed on chairs, and they had to put on a sleep eye mask. To each chair, another chair was added, so the chairs were back to back. Then the second group was brought in, they were also blindfolded, and they were literally placed behind out backs!

So there I sat, and an unknown person sat behind me, very close, but without our shoulders touching, and obviously we couldn't see each other.

We were told to sit there for a while and just "perceive" each other. 

It may sound weird, but that's what we were trying to do. 

Then the instructor asked questions, and after each one, about a minute or two passed before he asked the next one.

As you are thinking about the person behind you:

• What colors do you associate with them? What shirt or sweater are they wearing? Light? Dark? Cotton? Silk? Can you detect a certain pattern?
• What kind of vacation might this person enjoy? Roadtrip? Hiking in the mountains? Reading a book at the beach? City trip?
• Do they live in a house or apartment? Countryside? City? Old building, modern? Are they renting, or did they purchase?
• What marital status do you associate with this person? Single, married, divorced, widowed?
• Is there anything you can say about the profession this person is doing? Are they crunching numbers? Creating something? Working with their hands?

There were more questions, most probably if the subject was male or female, but these are the ones I can distinctly remember. 

I pictured my "back partner" to be male, I thought he was wearing a dark blue knitted sweater and enjoyed sailing. His job must be some sort of team leader / trouble shooter in a people oriented industry, and I thought he was in a relationship, but felt stuck or trapped. As for his residence I decided he lived in an old farmhouse that was renovated, he probably may have done some work himself. Either way, the original building was dark, and he or somebody else turned it into a much lighter place. 

When I shared my findings with him, his jaw dropped. He was wearing a white T-Shirt, but he left his navy sweater in the car before he even entered the building this morning. He indeed liked anything that had to do with water, and he had a friend with whom he went sailing on a regular basis. He lived in a loft style apartment that used to be some kind of factory. His girlfriend wanted him to settle down, but he wasn't sure he was ready. As for his job, he managed public relations for a group of restaurants.

There were other participants among the group who had interesting feedback about their partner, and the lady who facilitated this workshop designed for HR and leadership people, was delighted. 

What we all took from that exercise was, that you should trust your instincts and to look beyond resumés and physical appearance of applicants. Sometimes what they don't tell you is more interesting. 

I just go to thinking, the same probably applies to dating. The real "blind date" is not to meet a person, with whom you have been texting, in a restaurant. It's to sit, back to back, blindfolded, and perceive each other.... Now wouldn't that be interesting?

Have you ever had an experience where you were able to tell things about somebody without ever having talked to them?