Trust Walk

Choose this exercise

Purpose: Practice giving and receiving real-time navigational directions to examine interpersonal communication and support habits under conditions of limited information.

Use it when: Use during orientation or team development sessions to analyze how clear instructions, pacing, and feedback loops affect collaboration.

Skip it when: Skip if the venue lacks hazard-free pathways, if physical mobility barriers cannot be accommodated safely, or if participants decline physical proximity exercises.

Group arrangement: Pairs working along spaced routes; an odd participant forms a trio with two alternating guides, or serves as a safety scout.

Timing: SessionLab lists 10 to 30 minutes; UWT sets 20 minutes to allocate two 5-minute walking rounds, framing, and full debrief.

Materials and tools

• Cloth blindfolds or sleep masks (1 per pair; optional as closing eyes is acceptable)
• Visual timer or chime for the facilitator
• Blank scratch paper (2 sheets per participant for the remote/hybrid drawing alternative)
• Pens or pencils (1 per participant for the remote/hybrid drawing alternative)

Before participants arrive

1. Scout the walking area in advance. Remove tripping hazards, low-hanging obstacles, and loose cords.
2. Establish boundary lines and designated loops so pairs do not collide.

Say this to open

Find a partner and designate Person A and Person B. One of you will navigate while closing your eyes or wearing a sleep mask, while the other guides. Physical contact is completely optional; you may guide solely by voice, offer an elbow to hold, or touch lightly if both agree. Anyone who prefers not to walk may serve as a stationary safety scout monitoring path clearance. Safety is our priority: the person navigating can open their eyes or remove the mask at any moment. Let us begin with Person A navigating and Person B guiding.

How to run it

1. Pair and set boundaries 3 minutes

   Explain safety rules. Pairs select Person A (navigating) and Person B (guide). Partners agree explicitly on their guidance method: voice only, holding an elbow or sleeve, or light hand contact. Anyone declining closed-eye navigation may look downward at their feet or serve as a stationary safety scout monitoring hallway clearances.

2. First walk 5 minutes

   Person A closes their eyes or puts on the blindfold. Person B guides Person A along the designated safe path, offering clear, continuous verbal instructions about pace, turns, and approaching floor textures. Scouts watch high-traffic corners. Call time at 5 minutes.

3. Switch roles and second walk 5 minutes

   Partners switch roles so Person B navigates and Person A guides. Pairs select an alternate route or reverse direction along the designated course. The guide maintains active communication and monitors surroundings. Call time at 5 minutes.

4. Debrief and apply 7 minutes

   Gather the full room in a seated circle. Pose the debrief questions. Invite four to six volunteers to share specific verbal cues and pacing choices that helped or hindered their progress.

Debrief questions

• What specific words, volume, or pacing choices helped you feel secure while navigating?
• What assumptions did you make as a guide that you had to correct in real time?
• How does this dynamic parallel how we brief or support colleagues entering an unfamiliar task?

Finished output: A list of agreed team communication practices for guiding colleagues through complex or unfamiliar tasks.

Remote

Trust Walk relies on physical navigation in shared space and cannot be run identically online. For a remote team, use a verbal drawing alternative: in breakout pairs, Partner A gives step-by-step verbal directions to draw a simple geometric pattern without naming the object, while Partner B draws on blank paper and holds it to the camera after 4 minutes, then reverse roles.

Hybrid

In-person participants complete the physical walk in pairs. Remote participants work in video breakout rooms running the verbal drawing alternative using blank paper and pens. Both groups rejoin for the shared debrief to discuss clear communication, pace, and feedback loops.

Access and participation choices

• Participants may choose verbal-only guidance, decline blindfolds by closing their eyes, or keep eyes open while looking straight down at their feet.
• Anyone may opt out of moving and instead serve as a stationary safety scout monitoring path clearance, or pass on sharing during debrief.

If the session gets stuck

Pairs walk too quickly or drift close to stairs, furniture, or other pairs.

Sound the chime to pause movement. Remind guides to walk at half speed and maintain a two-meter buffer around all other pairs.

A participant feels uncomfortable or disoriented closing their eyes.

Invite them to remove the mask immediately and navigate with a downward gaze, or switch immediately to a guide or safety scout role.

Terms used here

• Guide: The seeing partner who monitors physical clearance and provides directional instructions.
• Navigating Partner: The partner walking without visual reference, using verbal cues or voluntary physical contact to move.
• Safety Scout: A stationary participant who monitors walking corridors and alerts pairs to approaching obstacles.