Behavioural Change Toolkit · Diagnose

Force Field Analysis

Totals both sides, tells you when the change will not happen at current settings, and turns your strongest restraints into a specific sponsor ask.

Weigh the forces interactively →

Kurt Lewin’s tool, and still the fastest way to get a group to see the whole picture in twenty minutes.

The core insight, and the reason it’s worth doing:

Removing a restraining force is usually cheaper and more effective than adding a driving force.

Organisations instinctively add pressure — more comms, more targets, more escalation. Adding drivers to a system that is also restrained produces tension, stress and eventual snap-back. Removing the restraint lets the behaviour flow. This one idea reframes most stuck change programmes.

The canvas

        DRIVING FORCES              │            RESTRAINING FORCES
     (pushing towards change)       │        (holding the current state)
                                    │
  ────────────────────────────►     │     ◄────────────────────────────
                                    │
  ──────────────────►               │            ◄──────────────────────
                                    │
  ────────────────────────►         │         ◄─────────────────────────
                                    │
                              CURRENT STATE

Arrow length = strength. Draw it on a whiteboard; the visual does work that a table doesn’t.

Worksheet

Behaviour / change being analysed: _______________

Driving forces

Force Strength 1–5 Can we strengthen it? How?
     
     
     
     

Restraining forces

Force Strength 1–5 Can we remove or weaken it? How? Cost
       
       
       
       

Totals

Driving total: ___ Restraining total: ___

If restraining ≥ driving, the change will not happen at current settings — regardless of how good the intent is.

Common restraining forces in a tech + process + culture change

Prompt a group with these; they’ll recognise several immediately.

  • The new way takes longer at the point of use
  • The old system still works and nobody turned it off ← check this first
  • Reporting still requires the old format
  • Middle managers weren’t consulted and are quietly opting out
  • Targets and incentives still reward the old behaviour
  • Nobody has removed anything from anyone’s day
  • Two systems now hold the truth
  • The people who were expert are now beginners, publicly
  • IT access, licences or permissions are incomplete
  • A previous similar initiative was abandoned and people are waiting it out
  • The people affected can’t see any benefit to themselves
  • Senior leaders still ask for things the old way

“The old system still works”

This deserves its own paragraph. Running the old route in parallel “just for a transition period” is the most common single cause of stalled tech adoption. It is always defended on risk grounds, and the transition period always extends. Get a hard switch-off date agreed before go-live, with a named owner — and if the answer is “we can’t”, that’s important information about the real level of confidence in the new system.

Turning it into action

Take your three strongest restraining forces. For each:

Restraint removal

Restraint: _______________ Who owns the thing causing it: _______________ What would have to happen to remove it: _______________ What it costs: _______________ Who decides: _______________ Asked by: _______________ (date)

This list is your sponsor ask. It’s far more useful than “we need more visible support” because it’s specific, decidable, and mostly within their gift. Removing organisational restraints is exactly what a sponsor is for — see Sponsor Briefing Pack.

→ Resistance Decoder · Intervention Design Worksheet · Workshop — Behavioural Diagnosis (90 min)

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Last updated: 11 August 2026