A game from Peak Potential · Any culture
Spot the Clash
A cross cultural communication game. Four short calls between capable people who misread each other, and your job is to catch what was really said.
Sit in on the call
Each case is a short video call between two colleagues, voiced and captioned. Something is quietly going wrong.
Make your read
The call freezes at the key moments. You say what the person really meant, then flip the card to check.
Learn the move
Every clash gets a name, one of four communication style dimensions, and a practical fix you can use the same day.
What this game trains
Spot the Clash is a game from Peak Potential Consulting that trains one skill: reading what a colleague from another culture really means. Each case is a voiced video call where two professionals misread each other, and the misfire costs them something real.
The clashes come from the Intrivity framework, a validated communication style assessment built on anthropologist Edward T. Hall's research into high and low context communication. It was developed by researchers Wendi Adair, Nancy Buchan, and Xiao-Ping Chen, published in Academy of Management Discoveries in 2016, and validated in English, Mandarin, and Spanish. Today the assessment and its practitioner certification are led by Jeff Russell at Intrivity, and Peak Potential is among the first certified practitioners.
What are the four communication style dimensions?
Intrivity measures communication style across four dimensions, each scored from 1 to 5. Every clash in this game is one of these four, and the game names it for you the moment you catch it.
Message
Message is how much meaning sits in the words themselves versus the tone, the pause, and what isn't said. It runs from very literal (1) to very indirect (5).
Relationship
Relationship is how much your history and standing with someone changes what you say and how you say it. It runs from very transactional (1) to very relational (5).
Time
Time is whether a deadline reads as a firm commitment or a flexible guide that bends to what matters right now. It runs from very structured (1) to very flexible (5).
Space
Space is how you use closeness, silence, gesture, and tone of voice to carry meaning beyond the words. It runs from very reserved (1) to very engaging (5).
Common questions
What is Spot the Clash?
Spot the Clash is an interactive game from Peak Potential Consulting that trains you to recognize cross cultural miscommunication at work. Each of the four cases is a short voiced video call, about two minutes long, where two professionals misread each other. You say what each person really meant, then learn the fix.
Do I need to know the Intrivity framework to play?
No. The game teaches the four communication style dimensions as you play. Every clash you catch gets named as one of the four, so the framework builds up scene by scene.
Is this the Intrivity assessment?
No. This is a teaching game that scores how well you read others. Your own validated communication profile comes from the Intrivity assessment, which Peak Potential is certified to deliver for individuals and teams.
Who is this game for?
Anyone whose meetings cross borders: global team leads, HR and L&D professionals, and people working daily with colleagues from other cultures. The cases draw on workplace patterns from Berlin, Tokyo, Austin, Seoul, Sao Paulo, Helsinki, Rotterdam, and Guadalajara.
About this game
Written and designed by Peak Potential Consulting, and free to use. Print it, share it with your team, and keep the credit with it. If you quote or adapt it, name us and link back. For use inside a paid training programme, talk to us first.
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