Looking Around

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Experience firsthand how prior habits and automatic responses interfere with adopting a changed rule.

Use it when: Use at the start of a training module or change initiative when participants must unlearn old procedures before adopting new ones.

Skip it when: Skip if the session requires quiet, seated work, or when participants experience severe neck pain, vestibular sensitivity, or motion sickness.

Group arrangement: Whole group working simultaneously, standing or seated, facing the facilitator or camera.

Timing: Source sets 6 to 10 minutes; 8 minutes allows two rapid rounds and a brief debrief.

Materials and tools

• No special materials.

Before participants arrive

1. Ensure participants have enough personal space around them to turn their heads without striking obstacles.

Say this to open

Stand up or sit comfortably upright with enough room to move your head freely. I will call out directions: Up, Down, Left, and Right. Your task is to turn only your head to look in that direction as quickly and accurately as you can, keeping your torso still.

How to run it

1. Set baseline responses 2 minutes

   Explain the baseline cues: Up means look at the ceiling, Down means look at the floor, Left means look left, Right means look right. Call out cues at a brisk, steady pace in random order for about 60 to 90 seconds (example: 'Up... Left... Down... Right... Up... Right... Down'). Check that everyone follows the standard cues without hesitation.

2. Introduce the rule reversal 1 minutes

   Pause the room. Announce the rule swap clearly: 'Left and Right stay exactly the same. But Up and Down are now swapped. When I say Down, you must look Up at the ceiling. When I say Up, you must look Down at the floor.' Give one slow practice call (say 'Down' and check that heads tilt upward) to ensure the rule is understood.

3. Run the interference round 2 minutes

   Call out directions at the same brisk pace as round one, mixing Left, Right, Up, and Down in random order for 90 seconds. Do not slow down to help them. Expect hesitation, false starts, and laughter as participants battle their automatic reflex to look in the named direction. End after 90 seconds by calling 'Neutral' to return eyes to center.

4. Debrief habit interference 3 minutes

   Lead a brief reflection with the whole room. Take two or three quick observations on how the swap felt, then ask how this automatic pull mirrors changing familiar work routines.

Debrief questions

• What happened in your body or mind the moment you heard 'Up' or 'Down' during the second round?
• Why did 'Left' and 'Right' feel easier to execute than 'Up' and 'Down'?
• Where in our current work does an old habit pull you back into an outdated procedure?

Finished output: A shared experiential reference point about unlearning, ready to connect directly to the upcoming training or process change.

Remote

Ask everyone to turn video on in gallery view and step back slightly from the camera so head turns are visible. Facilitator delivers the same vocal cues live. Remote participants see the entire gallery reacting simultaneously.

Hybrid

Seat or stand in-person participants facing the main screen and room camera. Remote attendees pin the facilitator or stay in gallery view. The facilitator calls prompts over the room microphone so both audiences hear and react at the same instant.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may sit rather than stand to avoid balance issues.
• Anyone with neck strain, cervical spine issues, or vertigo may point an index finger or redirect their gaze using eyes only without moving the neck.
• Participants may opt out of moving entirely and serve as spotters tracking how quickly the room reacts.

If the session gets stuck

Participants turn their whole bodies or spin around, bumping into chairs or neighbors.

Remind the group firmly before starting round one: keep shoulders squarely forward and turn only your head and neck.

The facilitator calls directions too slowly, allowing participants enough time to deliberate and masking the reflex error.

Maintain a brisk tempo of roughly one cue every 1.5 to 2 seconds. Deliberate speed is necessary for automatic habits to trip people up.

Terms used here

• Jolt: A brief, experiential simulation designed by Sivasailam 'Thiagi' Thiagarajan that produces an immediate cognitive realization through a sudden twist or rule change.