Colour Your World to Boost Management and LeadershipPerformance

Red helps us focus on detail. Blue on creative thoughts. So researchers at the University of British Columbia’s School of Business claim in a study with 600 graduate students published in the Journal of Science.

Here’s another “soft” tool for a leader-manager’s tool kit. Decide what you want to achieve and change the setting accordingly as in live theatre.

When you want your staff to think strategically, cloak the work environment or meeting room in blue. Turn up the spectrum to red for all the detailed planning. Apparently, just changing the colour of computer screens helps boost the right kind of thinking.

These are learned associations. They might not apply universally to all cultures. So, before embarking on such an adventure, it’s best to check out with staff the colours in their mind’s eyes which trigger creative or detailed thinking.