EXERCISE 11.2
Reality Testing
Feel, Hear, See—Is It Reality?
Purpose
To help clarify how accurately we are assessing the correspondence between our experience and what exists objectively.
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60 minutes
Team members agree on one situation in the workplace that is challenging for all of them. Each person will write up an assessment of the problem, paying close attention to a list of specific factors. A group debriefing brings all the information together. Be certain to coach the participants in a manner that is highly accurate and descriptive rather than evaluative.
Outcomes
- Increase each participant’s reality-testing skills
- Enhance team awareness of how they operate collectively
Audience
- Intact team
- Unaffiliated group
Facilitator Competencies 
Moderate
Materials
- Feel, Here, See—Is It Reality? Handout
- Paper and pens
Time Matrix
| Activity | Estimated Time |
| Analyze and write up assessment | 15 minutes |
| Discuss in triads | 20 minutes |
| Debrief in total group | 25 minutes |
| Total | 60 minutes |
Instructions
1. Ask team members to agree on one situation in the workplace that is challenging for them.
2. Give each person paper, a pen, and a copy of the Feel, Hear, See—Is It Reality? Handout and ask them each to write up an assessment of the problem, paying specific attention to when it first began, identifying the initiating factors, how the players feel about the situation now, what it means to them, what the dangers and opportunities are, and so forth.
3. Tell the participants to form groups of three (if need be, there can be one pair) and to discuss their assessments.
4. Reconvene the full group to debrief. Sample questions you might start with include:
- What kinds of situations will you address best if you do more concrete reality testing?
- Do you have any other strategies you can share that promote effective reality testing for you?
FEEL, HEAR, SEE—IS IT REALITY? HANDOUT 
Answer each question individually, and then move to group discussion as instructed.
1. Describe the problem that your team has agreed to investigate. When did you first become aware of the problem?
2. How did you first become aware of it? Was it a purely cognitive recognition, an emotional recognition, or some combination of the two?
3. What specifically did you see and hear that told you how big a problem others perceived it to be?
4. How did you feel about what you saw and heard?
5. Who, if anyone, has something to gain from the way this problem is resolved? Who has something to lose? What might be gained or lost, and how motivating will that be?
6. What proof do you have to offer in support of your analysis?
7. Is there any other logical way to explain this situation, whether it seems as likely or not?
8. Have there ever been any similar situations, either in this workplace or another, that you or other team members misperceived and/or incorrectly evaluated? What was the misperception? What was the actual situation? What was the outcome?