True Colorsª is a personality preference inventory with solid historical roots, primarily in the now famous Myers Briggs Type Indicator. Dr. David Kiersey has refined the work of Myers Briggs, and in his book, Please Understand Me, reflects the basis of the "True Colors" philosophy. Don Lowry has developed True Colors and uses colour as a metaphor for understanding human characteristics and how intrinsic behaviour must be differently rewarded. He uses green, blue, orange and gold to represent the temperament types.

After a single training session with True Colors participants should: be able to recognize and appreciate their own unique strengths and preferences, the unique strengths and preferences of other staff members, and those of students as well; begin to build a sense of community on campus; and begin the process of enhancing their communications skills.

It works; it's a simple yet effective tool with several applications. I have used True Colors in the classroom primarily to introduce students to their learning style preferences. One's teaching style is easily identified. The benefit students seem to appreciate most, however, is the simple yet profound self-discovery element. After the scoring process to determine one's 'color,' one explores the strengths, needs, joys and values of one's primary personality type. It is a positive, self-esteem building exercise called 'brightening' which leads to the applications discussed above. In small groups, participants agree to those characteristics that make them unique as persons who are 'green,' 'blue,' 'orange' or 'gold.' If nothing else, the energy and discussion generated within an hour of introducing the instrument is worth the exercise, making it an ideal way of introducing students to each other and their course at the beginning of the term.

At Ontario's Western Region Orientation to College Teaching Program in August, 1993, we introduced the 70 participants to the True Colors instrument at the beginning of the week, focusing on teaching/learning styles. The teachers identified their True Colors by means of coloured dots worn on their name tags for the duration of the program. It promoted awareness immediately of different personality styles in the groups and discussion about teaching/learning styles in the classroom, a much more effective instrument than the one used in previous years. At the Phase II follow-up program in May, 1994, we will revisit True Colors and make further applications.

Ideally, one needs two hours to introduce True Colors and conduct the 'brightening' exercise. Applications beyond that need more time. Other effective applications are in Team Building and Conflict Resolution.

The distribution license for the materials is held by the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education Guidance Centre, 252 Bloor St. W., Toronto M5S 1V6. O.I.S.E. also provides training sessions for those wishing to conduct True Colors workshops

Ed Wilson is Consultant, Human Resources Development at Niagara College in Welland, Ontario