I'm in the middle of a short series of blogs looking at "oppositeness" exercises for use in team building, with the aim of improving teamwork.

Today's exercise uses magic eye pictures to illustrate how a team can lose out on valuable minority views, through those views becoming devalued by people on both sides.  This is a very popular and memorable exercise with team members who attend my workshops, and they'll often refer back to the workshop as the 'magic eye' workshop.

You'll need 30 minutes or more, and for your main resources you'll need identical magic eye pictures printed on glossy paper – enough for each person to have one each – between A4 and A2 in size (A2 is better). The difficulty of the picture has to be moderate, so that some people can see the picture and others can’t.  Ideally, you should overprint two circles at the bottom of the picture in the white space around the picture, at the exact distance apart of the repeating pattern.  It would also be best if there is a strong light source in the room (eg: windows to the outside or non-diffuse ceiling lights).  This exercise works best with between 8 and 30 people (it can be done with more, but requires good planning).

The main goal of the exercise is to demonstrate how group dynamics can result in one perspective being valued in a team at the expense of its opposite, to the detriment of both the team and the individuals.  There are various other learning points that can be drawn out of this exercise, such as:
 • speed of perception varies by individual
 • groups miscommunicate without realising it (eg: thinking they see the same as what others see)
 • peer pressure can influence what team members say
 • minority groups can tend to devalue their own contribution

Start the process by issuing everyone with a magic eye picture (don't explain the point of the exercise until it has been completed).  Ask them not to shout out what the 3D picture is but, as soon as they can see it, to draw it on a piece of paper in front of them.

Ask how many people can see the picture.  NB: keep asking throughout the process.  You'll need to stop the process when only 2 or 3 people are unable to see the picture, at which point you collect the magic eye pictures and move on to discuss the 3D picture.

Show some techniques to try to get as many people to see the picture as possible (you need a clear majority for this exercise to work).  I use the following three techniques:

1 Finger technique

 • Look at me

 • Hold your finger up in front of your face

 • How many fingers can you see? (Two is good, one is a problem as you may have a very dominant eye, and this exercise relies on a optical illusion using both eyes) 

 • Do the same with the magic eye picture: look into the distance, put it in front of your face and look through the picture (so that you see two pictures).

 • Give the technique 30 seconds to a minute to work for some. 

 • Let the picture ‘emerge’

2 Shadow technique 

 • Hold the picture so that there is a strong light source behind you 

 • Try to focus on the outline of your shadow in the picture 

 • Let the picture emerge

3 Circles technique  

• Draw circles on the flipchart in the following hierarchy:
    O O    O O
     O O  O O
      O OO O
       O O O

 • Explain that they should look through the circles on the magic eye picture in the same way as the finger technique, so they can see four circles (as in the first line) 

 • Then they should slowly draw the paper away from their face so that the middle circles get closer together and then overlap (as in the 2nd to 4th lines)

 •  Then try to focus on the overlapping circle, keeping the other two circles out of vision.

 •  When the middle circle is comfortably in focus, they should move their eyes to the picture above.

Review of 3D picture

When you have a clear majority able to see the picture, collect the magic eye pictures (there should also be at least 2 or 3 people who cannot yet see the picture).

Spend some time talking about the 3D picture. Ask the group what was in it.  Get someone to draw it on the OHP or flipchart.  Talk about the fine details.
 
After this has been explored fully, turn to those who couldn’t see the 3D picture and ask them what they could see. Write down on the flipchart any devaluing words or body language they use, eg: “nothing”, “only”, “just”, “shakes head”, “no reply”, etc..

Debrief

Explain the purpose of the exercise was to illicit these devaluing words.

In the 20 minutes or so of this exercise you have managed to create a culture where people devalue their own contributions. They have said that can't see anything, but they can - they can see lines, repeating patterns, texture, etc..  However, they have discounted what they can see because the team culture has established that what they see is not important - what is important is something else.  They therefore discount their own contribution to the team. 

The purpose of recognising and discussing oppositeness and difference in the team is to get individuals and the group to value all contributions, even when they are in the minority, and not unconsciously suppress opinions that are contrary to the prevailing group view.

This is a particularly good introduction on a Myers Briggs workshop, but it can be used in any workshop where you want to change team members' attitude to differences in a team.

If you have any questions about this exercise, please leave a comment