Works with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or your own local model: paste this prompt and your AI will co-facilitate this exercise with you.

Help me prepare and run the exercise below. First ask for my participant count, time, setting, access needs and intended result. Check these against the stated limits. Use the supplied rules and materials. Explain any proposed changes before using them, and label them as adaptations. Do not invent source claims or require personal disclosure. Give me one step at a time when I say start. I manage the people, physical activity and clock; do not claim to observe the room. Ask me what happened before choosing a next step.

Reference revision: 4cbad5d5d44a571b953240e32edaca14685c3c0f6537449c7b4dfbabf66d9f3b

# Force Field Analysis

Participants map existing driving and restraining forces around an agreed change proposal, assign strength ratings, and cluster them to assess feasibility.

**Time:** 60 minutes. A focused 60-minute session adapted from the multi-hour SessionLab and Gamestorming frameworks.
**People:** 4 to 24. Solo silent writing, working in small teams of 3 to 5 people, then facilitated whole-room clustering.

## Choose this exercise

**Purpose:** Map and score real existing factors supporting and resisting a specific proposed change.
**Use it when:** Use when a group has chosen a specific change goal and needs to evaluate the environmental forces helping and hindering implementation.
**Skip it when:** Skip when the group is still deciding which goal to pursue or needs an open-ended brainstorming session on new ideas.

## Materials and tools

- In-person: 1 roll of painter tape or masking tape
- In-person: 1 pack of standard sticky notes per participant
- In-person: 1 black marker per participant
- In-person: 1 large whiteboard or open wall space (minimum 2 by 1.5 meters)
- In-person: 1 sheet of scratch paper per small group for score tallying
- All settings: 1 digital countdown timer
- Remote and hybrid settings: 1 collaborative digital whiteboard platform (such as Miro or Mural)
- Hybrid setting: 1 video projector and display screen, plus internet-connected devices for all participants

## Before participants arrive

1. Draw a clear vertical line down the center of the wall or whiteboard.
2. Write 'Forces FOR Change' at the top left and 'Forces AGAINST Change' at the top right.
3. Write the clear, agreed change statement across the center line at the top (for example: 'Transition all tier-one customer support to self-service portals by Q3').
4. Set up the digital countdown timer visible to all participants.

## Say this to open

Today we are evaluating our proposed change: transitioning our primary support channel. We are not debating whether we want to do this; we are examining the forces that already exist in our environment pushing for it or holding it back. Take your sticky notes and write one real, active factor per note with a strength rating from 1 to 5. Stick to current realities rather than future wishes.

## How to run it

### 1. Set the target and scope (5 minutes)

Read the change proposal on the board aloud. State the rule that forces must already exist today, not hypothetical ideas that might happen later. For example, 'Users complain daily about response latency' is an existing force, whereas 'We could hire consultants' is a future action. Start the digital countdown timer and answer immediate questions to confirm scope.

### 2. Silent generation of forces (8 minutes)

Set the digital countdown timer. Participants work in silence on their own. Spend 4 minutes writing forces driving change (Forces FOR) on separate sticky notes, followed by 4 minutes writing restraining factors (Forces AGAINST). On the corner of each note, write an integer strength score from 1 (very weak) to 5 (very strong).

### 3. Subgroup sorting and deduplication (8 minutes)

Form teams of 3 to 5 people by targeting groups of 4 and using 3 or 5 only to balance remainders (for instance, 17 people form three groups of 4 and one of 5). Teams compare notes, remove duplicates, and pick a maximum of 3 top forces for and 3 against change. Use scratch paper to tally and record initial strength ratings.

### 4. Cluster on the central board (29 minutes)

Call group spokespersons forward in sequence to place their notes under the matching columns. As notes are placed, group identical topics immediately. Facilitate merging them into up to 5 clusters per side, naming each cluster after the core theme. For each cluster, quickly compute the average numeric score of its constituent notes. Draw an arrow pointing toward the center line and write the average score inside it.

### 5. Review balance and debrief (10 minutes)

Guide the room through the completed board. Pose the debrief questions to examine driving and restraining dynamics. Collect observations from 4 to 6 people across different subgroups. Conclude by confirming which restraining forces require mitigation.


## Debrief questions

- Looking at the scores, which restraining clusters exert the heaviest drag on this change?
- Which driving forces are currently strongest, and which could be reinforced quickly?
- Where did we have the widest disagreement about the strength or reality of a force?

**Finished output:** A completed board displaying clustered driving and restraining forces with average numeric strength scores centered on the change statement.

## Remote

Set up an online whiteboard with columns for 'Forces FOR Change' and 'Forces AGAINST Change'. Run solo generation on private digital sticky notes. Send participants into breakout rooms of 3 to 5 to select their top 3 items per column and tally initial scores. Reconvene in plenary, have group leads drag their selected notes onto the board, and complete group clustering and score averaging together.

## Hybrid

All participants use the same digital whiteboard from their own devices for silent drafting and subgroup work. In-person participants work in local room clusters while remote participants meet in a video breakout room. A projector displays the digital board at the front of the room. Subgroups post their top digital notes directly, followed by whole-room clustering and score averaging on screen.

## Access and participation choices

- Participants may submit written sticky notes, type directly on a shared board, or dictate thoughts to a peer to record.
- Any participant may pass on speaking during whole-room plenary discussions without explanation.

## If the session gets stuck

**Participants write future solutions or tactical ideas instead of existing forces.**

Ask: 'Is this factor active right now, or is it something we would need to start doing?' Move future tactics to an adjacent parking lot board titled 'Potential Actions'.

**Subgroups spend too much time debating whether a force is a score of 3 or 4.**

Instruct groups to take the mathematical average or split the difference immediately so they finish selecting their top notes on time.


## Terms used here

- Driving Force: A real, current factor or pressure pushing the organization toward the proposed change.
- Restraining Force: A real, current constraint, barrier, or resistance pushing against the proposed change.

## Sources and adaptation

Observed in Gamestorming and the SessionLab IAF Library. The Force Field Analysis model is widely attributed to Kurt Lewin; the detailed workshop framing in SessionLab is attributed to Jon Jenkins.

Retained the Lewin force field framework of opposing driving and restraining forces with numeric weighting (1 to 5) and arrow representations from Gamestorming and SessionLab. While SessionLab describes a 3 to 6 hour process, UWT condensed the session into a tight 60-minute format by capping subgroup submissions to 3 items per side and dedicating a full 29 minutes to live clustering and score averaging to maintain methodological integrity.

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/force-field-analysis)

[Gamestorming](https://gamestorming.com/force-field-analysis/)

[SessionLab](https://www.sessionlab.com/methods/force-field-analysis)

Current run sheet: https://unitedwetransform.com/exercises/force-field-analysis/