Colour Me Lilac

Like many workplaces, the organization I work for requires employees to wear identification and security cards at all times. Like many such organizations, my company also provides employees with free colour-coded lanyards.

Our colour code is a combination of positions and departments. Team Leaders, for example, wear grey lanyards while management wears red or black depending upon their level. Similarly, Information Technology employees wear gold, while support departments wear burgundy. In my particular case, my department colour is the lilac lanyard of Training and Human Resources and my position colour is black. I normally wear lilac. And therein hangs a tale.

I have spent enough time with new employees to understand how red or black lanyards can affect training sessions. Believe it or not, they sometimes end discussions before they begin. Something as simple as a red or black strip of cloth can make people nervous, so when I am training the black lanyard comes off.

Many of the new employees know me as a trainer for the first two weeks of their careers. It is only once they are out of the training room and onto the floor that they learn my true role in the organization. I guess that makes me a bit like Batman or Superman. Call me TrainingMan, member of the League of the Lilac Lanyard.