Also called: Cause Mapping
Alternative plays: Impact Mapping
Follow-up plays: Impact Mapping, Opportunity Solution Tree Mapping
See also: Force Field Network
Timing: Planning
Origin: Kurt Lewin
Run time
60-90 minutes
Group size
4-12
Why: Help teams understand factors that support or hinder change and inform strategies to strengthen or mitigate them
When: Useful for evaluating forces for and against change, identifying barriers and enablers, and making informed decisions
This workshop exercise is part of the Workshop Patterns printed card deck.
A collection of workshop exercises that will help you ditch dull meetings and facilitate with confidence. It will help you master the design process and have more productive time with your team. The card deck will be ready for purchase in the end of 2023 and is now undergoing rigorous testing.
Reserve your deck!Instructions for running this play
- Settle on the proposed change you want to explore before the meeting.
- Draw the following on a large surface:
- Write the Proposed Change on a sticky note placed in the center box of the map. Kick off the workshop by discussing it in plenum.
- Conduct a Silent Storm exercise on the Forces For Change (the pros of the decision) with a Timebox of 10 minutes. Playback the results by placing produced sticky notes on the left side of the center box.
- Repeat step 4 in regards to the Forces Against Change (the cons of the decision).
- Identify duplicate and irrelevant post-its on both sides and remove them
- Go through each force and assign a score of 1-5 where 1 means it is not important in regards to change and 5 means it is very important.
- Prioritize the top 5 forces on each side and add up their scores in each column. The total sum of points for each side will indicate whether it makes sense to go forward with the decision.
Tips to perfect this play
Master and adapt the play to fit your context and needs.
Tip: Connect
Connect identified forces to potential solutions or interventions, creating a roadmap for addressing barriers and leveraging enablers