Leading edge

He was looking to roll out some ambitious new projects, but was cautious about the effect this would have on other areas of his business. I suggested adopting a “force field analysis”, a management technique developed by social sciences pioneer Kurt Lewin. It seeks to anticipate good and bad events that could affect a desired outcome.

When undertaking a force field analysis, it is assumed that in any business situation there are both “driving” and “restraining” forces. Driving forces are those that push a situation in a particular direction: pressure from a supervisor, incentive earnings and competition are all examples. Restraining forces, on the other hand, act to hold back the driving forces. For a housing team, restraining forces could include apathy, hostility and poor maintenance of equipment. Equilibrium is reached when the sum of the driving forces equals the sum of the restraining forces.

A force field analysis is useful not only for your organisation as a whole, but also when applied to your own career. You could try increasing your personal driving forces, including your skill set, management experience and industry contacts, as a means of climbing the industry ladder. Conversely, you could attempt to reduce your restraining forces to increase your capacity for change.

However, both these actions could have an adverse effect on equilibrium. Working too hard to increase your driving forces could create new restraining forces such as tiredness and time pressures, while trying to reduce restraining forces can take valuable time and energy away from priority tasks.

So in order to become more productive in your own career, apply this philosophy carefully by taking a broad view of every situation and considering not only short-term but also long-term goals.