We are assigning the color of red to the Domain of Ideas. In fact, it is a ruby red– for this is the domain that is glowing with energy and vitality. The Domain of Intentions has been assigned the color of blue (and more intensely azure blue). This is a color that represents sky and azure blue suggests a quite beautiful sky that inspires us to look upward and outward into the future. Finally, the Domain of Information is represented by yellow. A Golden Yellow represents the intense light emanating from the sun. We must be illuminated by light if we are to find our way forward.
I will describe how each of the three domains and the human spectrum as it relates to one of the interpersonal needs.
The Need for Inclusion
This interpersonal need can be best defined in spatial terms as In/Out. This need is closely affiliated with the Domain of Information and the Golden Yellow dimension of the Human Spectrum. Given the close alignment of Inclusion with the Golden Yellow perspective there is a major challenge facing someone with a strong inclusion need: how do I find out about this group? illumination is of highest priority: a light of some sort must be shined on the group, for it initially resides in the shadows. In making decisions regarding inclusion I need to know about the group. I must illuminate the group to the greatest extent possible, while realizing that it probably will not be fully lite until I have begun to engage in its activities.
As the noted social scientist, Kurt Lewin (Marrow, 1969) noted many years ago, we can’t really begin to understand any social system until we engage with it and it kicks back against us. We operate a bit like a piece of litmus paper that is dipped into a solution and is changed (in color) by this solution, thus revealing something about its character (level of acid content). This is what today, in the behavioral sciences, we call “action research” (Argyris, 1985). We are finding out about some institution by seeking to change or at least influence it. This search for understanding resides at the heart of the Golden Yellow perspective—especially when it comes to deciding whether or not to be included in a group.
The two key questions to which a Golden Yellow seeks to find answers are: (1) Do I want to be included in this group/team and (2) How do I get included or stay un-included? The answers to these questions are often not easy to obtain – for the group does truly exist in the dark until such time as we know what is really happening in the group and what its “real” purposes are for operating at the present time. Clarifying questions usually can’t be asked because the level of group trust is still very low (since it has not yet begun to operate – at least in full view of the person considering inclusion. The Golden Yellow is likely to just observe what is happening in the group—which means that they are often quite when first entering the group.
