It Ain’t Easy Being Green

Since becoming a True Colors Facilitator last year, I have presented to and trained several student groups as well as a group of high school teachers in San Antonio. However, last week was my first opportunity to train fellow Student Affairs staff members. It was also my first time presenting with my colleague Cindy Emanus, from the University Center.

As a first-timer I was a little nervous, but Cindy is a True Colors pro, and we used our True Colors knowledge and common language well. She shared her high Gold-Orange, and I shared my high Green-Orange. I was instantly relieved and confident that she would help us stay on track and on schedule (#MyGreenOrangeChallenges), and as Green tends to be a bit of a smaller group sometimes, we agreed that I could step in as needed. Sure enough, we had only 3 high Green folks in our group of about 20, so using our Orange flexibility, we adapted on the fly.

Switching gears into Green participant mode for our brightening exercise, I sat down with my fellow Greens. One of us sipped a Venti Starbuck’s and contemplated the parameters of the exercise and whether it was the best way to accomplish the task at hand. Another looked up at the ceiling, no doubt seeking that big-picture vision for which we’re known. The other looked at me with some impatience, possibly thinking they’d really rather have been working, because for most of us, work is fun, and fun is work. I smiled and thought to myself, “Yep! These are my Green peeps!”

There’s no doubt; we Greens can be a tough crowd if we haven’t yet bought-in to the ideas being put forward. We also often feel misunderstood, and are thus hesitant to jump in without gauging our colleagues’ openness to our ideas and critical analyses. However, we’re easily charmed by frank, direct conversation and a snarky sense of humor. So, I offered a quick, and super snarky, “So, who thinks this is lame?” True to color, each of them laughed and nodded – guilty as charged.

Now, while I clearly don’t believe True Colors is in any way “lame,” I know full well that my fellow Greens and I approach most new concepts with a critical and skeptical eye. We can also be impatient and slightly uncomfortable with anything that diverts us from our area of expertise. Owning and validating that discomfort immediately alleviated it to a great degree. We were then quickly underway and knocking out the brightening exercise with true Green efficiency. Their smiles and engagement in the rest of the session let me know that from that point on, we had their buy-in.

So Green peeps, as possibly our most famous fellow Green sings, “It ain’t easy being Green,” but embracing True Colors offers lots of ways to not only own our Green, but to value and brighten the Gold, Blue, and Orange in ourselves and others.

Submitted by —
Kimberly Watts Hoggatt
Assistant Director, University Career Center – Downtown

*Many thanks to Cindy for helping to make my first time presenting to fellow staffers a great experience!

Has your color spectrum changed over the years? How?

Describe those changes to your colleagues. Remember True Colors is a tool to understanding others and ourselves. It is a common language because we talk about it and use it to articulate our perspectives to each other. Keep it going.

Training Schedule for Student Affairs STAFF (SD 410) — Fall 2015  (Download PDF)

Training Schedule for Student Workers (SD 417) — Fall 2015  (Download PDF)

Any questions or comments? Please send us an email at VPSA@utsa.edu.