explore · Systems Thinking, Empathy, Strategy · 240–480 min · 6-40 people · medium energy
Sensing Journey
Small teams leave their usual context to visit people and places that matter to their challenge, often at the edges of the system: a frontline team, a partner, a community, a competitor. They go with open questions and listen to the host's world in its own setting. Right after each visit the team does a disciplined debrief before anyone checks a phone.
When to use Sensing Journey
Use in a strategy or innovation programme when the group keeps describing the system from its own desk and needs to see it through the eyes of other stakeholders.
What it solves
Leadership teams design change for a system they mostly know from reports and meetings with people like themselves.
How to run Sensing Journey, step by step
- In the full group, list places and people at the edges of the system you want to understand (30 min).
- Form teams of three to five, each preparing for one visit: context, who they will meet, what they most want to learn (30 min).
- Visit. Observe the setting, listen more than you talk, follow your curiosity with real questions (90-180 min).
- Debrief right after the visit, before switching on phones: what struck us, what surprised us, what did we feel, what does the system look like from there? (30 min)
- Back with the full group, share across teams and look for patterns (45-60 min).
Materials needed
- Host contacts and agreed visit times
- Notebooks
- Debrief question cards
- Transport plan
Facilitator tips
- Ask hosts to show you their place and work rather than present slides.
- Brief teams to suspend judgement; questions like 'how do you see...' work better than 'why don't you...'.
- Build travel and accessibility into the plan; visits fall apart when logistics are improvised.
Common pitfalls
- Teams visit only friendly places at the centre of the system and learn nothing new.
- Debriefs are postponed to the next day and the detail is lost.
Variations
- Short local version: one-hour visits to departments in the same building.
Running it online or hybrid
Online visits by video call are possible but lose the place; keep at least the debrief format and the discipline of not checking phones.
What it produces
Debrief notes from each visit, and a shared set of observations about the system that the wider group can build on.
Origin
A core tool of Theory U from the Presencing Institute (Otto Scharmer and colleagues), taught as Learning or Sensing Journeys in u-lab and the u-school. — source
Build a session around Sensing Journey
METODIC places Sensing Journey inside a complete, timed session plan — agenda, worksheets, facilitator guide and slides — matched to your group and goal.