The following is an excerpt from Appendix B (“Training Activities”) of Sondra Thiederman’s book, Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace, Revised Second Edition (New York: Kaplan Publishing, 2008).

Activity 7: “The Question Game”

Primary Purpose: To create an awareness of commonalities with people whom we normally think of as different from ourselves. This sharing, in turn, will help reduce bias by creating a sense of common kinship group.

Book Reference: Chapter 8—Step Five: Identify Common Kinship Groups

Facilitator Preparation: Beginning with the questions below, prepare a list of items that are appropriate to your corporate culture and diversity goals.

Facilitation Note: Be prepared to call attention to the numerous commonalities that this activity brings to light.

Process/Instructions:

1. Invite a volunteer to function as the “primary responder” to the questions you supply. If time allows for more than one person to be the responder, try to achieve as much visible diversity as possible among those chosen.

2. Select five questions from the list you have prepared. As you ask each question out loud, have both the primary responder and the rest of the group write down their answers. (Note: Depending upon the time allotted and the size of the group, the number of questions asked can be increased or decreased.)

3. After all the questions are asked, have the primary responder provide his answers, one by one. After he reads each response, ask the audience if any of their answers are similar to those provided by the speaker. If so, have them share the details. Point out that we have a lot more in common than we realize. This point is particularly powerful if the two people who answered similarly are in other ways very different from each other.

4. Discuss the idea of shared kinship groups and how even answering a question the same way creates a kinship group around the values, tastes, and interests reflected in that answer.

5. Encourage participants, once they return to the workplace, to build on the commonalities that this activity has brought to light.

Suggested Questions:

  • What would you like to have written on your tombstone?
  • What is your favorite city, and why?
  • What single non-living item would you rescue from a fire, and why? The item needs to be very specific (for example, not “photograph,” but an individual photograph.)
  • If you could have a T-shirt printed with any message, what would that message be?
  • What do you remember about your favorite holiday or tradition?
  • What one piece of advice did your parents give you?
  • If you could change any one thing about your life, what would it be?
  • If you could go anywhere for two weeks, where would it be?
  • If you could live any time in history, including now, when would that be, and why?
  • If you could have lunch—just one-on-one—with any living person whom you currently do not know, who would that be?
  • What one item, other than a boat, would you take to a deserted island?
  • If you could change one thing about your primary culture, what would it be?
  • If given a million dollars to spend freely, how would you spend it?
  • What one person, living or dead, do you most admire?
  • What talent would you most like to have?
  • What are you most proud of about yourself or your achievements?
  • If you could live anywhere, where would that be?
  • Where to do you fall in birth order in your family? What do you like and not like about that position?
  • If you could be anyone in history, whom would that be?
  • If you had to compare yourself to any animal, what animal would you pick?
  • Excluding your own, whom would you most like to be your parents, and why?
  • If you could use one adjective to describe yourself, what would it be?


To check on Sondra’s availability or to receive additional information including a demonstration tape and references, please contact the bureau who sent you to this site or:

Joan Pierce
Marketing Director
Cross-Cultural Communications
4585 48th Street
San Diego, CA 92115
Phone: 619-583-4478
Fax: 619-583-0304
Click here to contact Sondra Thiederman or Joan Pierce


 
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