When we have a tough decision to make many of us write a list of the pros and cons. Then if we have more pluses than minuses, we should surely just go ahead with it. Well, not necessarily. If you've ever made one of these lists, you already know the problem. Most of the time, the pros and cons aren't equally important. For instance, you might just have three cons on your list but one of them might be particularly significant, more so even than all the pros you've listed. So it's hard to make a balanced decision with a simple list. 

One way around this is to use Force Field Analysis. This technique helps you weigh up the forces for and against change, and represents them in a visually clear way. Once you've done this, you'll have a more accurate assessment of your decision. 

Conducting a Force Field Analysis is easy. Take a piece of paper and think about the decision you're making. On the left-hand side, list forces for change. That is the pros of the decision. On the right-hand side, list the forces against change, or the cons of the decision. Next, go through and assign a score of between one and five for each of the pros and cons. A score of one means that this element isn't that important. A five means it's very important. 

When you score the pros and cons on the diagram you can represent the importance of each force by drawing arrows around them. Use bigger arrows for the forces that have greater influence on the change, and smaller ones for those that have less. Once you've done this, add up each column. You now know whether it's worth going ahead with a decision. You can find more about using Force Field Analysis in the article that accompanies this video.

© 2022 Mind Tools by Emerald Works Limited.