Q 731. Kurt Lewin's Force-Field Analysis provides an overview of the balance between forces which drive change in a business and those which resist the change. Driving forces are those seeking change while Resisting (restraining) forces are those seeking to maintain the status quo. What should be the focus area of the project leader - driving forces or resisting forces? Pick a side and debate in favor of it.

 

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Any kind of a change is not initially accepted by the team. A Leader `s role is to minimize the resistance of the change by showcasing the impact that it will bring in for the team and the organization as a whole. When people understand the big "Why" i.e. Why the change is happening and how is it going to benefit everyone, the resistance will reduce to a large extent. The Leader needs to take practical steps before announcing the change, such as taking stakeholder feedback, be transparent and clarify roles and responsibilities to avoid any confusions or hindrances in the future, make them aware of the vision. 

Therefore, the focus of a Project leader should be on reducing or addressing the resistance. 

Being a project Manager, our endeavor should be to act in the interest of the organization. There is no set criteria whether we should always oppose the change or advocate for the change. Any kind of change which leads to a project could be influenced by following priorities

 

• Risk Mitigation/ Compliance requirement – In this scenario we must advocate and support the change as this is non-negotiable and has to be done.  Most often in these cases the opportunity cost for not doing these projects is quite significant ( monetary or non-monetary) and its resistance wouldn't be appropriate.
• Revenue generation / Profit Impact- In these kinds of projects we need to calculate ROI and also % of success before we challenge / support the project. This is where we also used the techniques of Assumptions/ forecasting which we just learnt in previous sessions.
• Efficiency Projects – These are also in a way support the profit line of the organization however these should also be weighed in overall context of the organization. Sometimes the efficiency projects in one department can cause overload in other departments and can cause labor issues as well/. Hence the pros and cons must be fully analyzed and then a call needs to be taken.
• Self- reliance projects- These kinds of projects are a combination of revenue generation/ Efficiency/ aspiration & reducing vendor dependency projects. This is where we need to be challenging, and a thorough evaluation needs to be done. For ex. In my previous organization where we were in a risk management business and management decided that instead of taking an off the shelf solution, we will take the base one and will develop our own solution. This caused significant delays, bugs and issues in creation & implementation of the solution. Since it was inbuilt hence no vendor support or troubleshooting was available. It was more aspirational in nature and wasn't properly thought through. This gives us a learning that PM should be able to challenge the senior management and push for a thorough analysis especially in aspirational projects where executive decisions tend to take priority over business prudence.

As a Project leader I would argue that the focus should be on driving forces, as it is the catalysts for change, and it will bring the momentum and energy needed to push a project forward. By emphasizing the driving forces helps to build a compelling vision for the future and gain support of the stakeholders by showing the benefits and potential outcomes of the change. On the other hand, it is also important to be aware of resisting forces and balancing both the driving and resisting forces is crucial to ensure the successful change management. Few key steps to follow which can achieve this balance are : 1. Understanding the motivations behind each force helps in addressing them effectively, 2. Strengthening the driving forces by highlighting the benefits of the change. 3. Provide support and resources and address the concerns associated with resisting forces, 4. Develop a change management plan that should include clear actions, timelines, and responsibilities and 5. Involve stakeholders in the decision-making process and empower them to contribute to the change.

For example, my organization (Pharma) is continuously investing in new technologies, implemented a new system aimed at enhancing the efficiency of clinical trail management. There was certain resistance due to uncertainty about how new system will affect employees roles and responsibilities, resistance due to new ways of working especially to adopting new technologies, Concerns about potential risks and negative outcomes with implementation of new system as seen as risky and disruptive. The leadership have overcome the resistance by ensuring transparent and open communication with employees about the reasons for change, the benefits will bring, involving employees in the change process by seeking their input and feedback, providing training and support to employees to adapt to new systems, actively listening to and addressing the concerns, Building trust through consistent actions and motivating to embrace the change.

The answer depends on the context in which this is being looked at.

 

Ex1:

Let us see with some examples:

Imagine you are a leader in an IT organization and your organization is moving from traditional waterfall model to Agile Way of Working. 

 

You are entrusted with the job of making the transformation. You have experienced personally how waterfall worked and know its shortcomings. You also have a good idea about how agile can work..

 

Knowing the Driving forces:

Imagine you have identified the Driving Forces for doing this transformation and put them as Mindset change, collaborative culture, human-centric approach, collective intelligence, incremental and iterative Delivery, Engineering Practices, customer satisfaction and so on..

 

Now imagine there are some disgruntled staffs in your organization who want the traditional waterfall model to be continued at any cost.

 

Knowing the restraining Forces:

Let us consider that you found the restraining Forces for this transformation. They are :

Perceived threat of loosing hierarchy/seniority/respect, used to command and control mindset, does not like to get with others and so on...

 

Ex1 Conclusion:

In a changing world, where business requirements need to be addressed at the earliest possible time (so that you can get benefitted), as a leader you would want the Driving Forces to be implemented

 

 

Ex:2

Let us take another example with the sport of Cricket..  

Many international Cricket commentators condemn IPL Cricket while Cricket fans adore IPL. If you are chairman of the BCCI what decision will you take 

 

Driving Forces (as a hypothetical view):

1. IPL (scouting) provides a view of the raw Cricketing Talent that is available in the world and in India particularly

2. IPL has become a career for many Indian players(speciality T20 player)

3. Playing IPL makes a cricketer richer which ensures better livelihood

4. IPL ensures that Indian players are rubbing shoulders with international players and hence uplifting their playing standards

5. IPL gives a platform for a team's players to know each other's culture and provided a collaborative team culture

 

Restraining Forces(as a hypothetical view):

1. IPL is being played on flat tracks. This is not helping Indian players to play on different kind of wickets especially in TEST cricket

2. IPL is cash riched and hence players tend to loose their contract with their national team and prioritize IPL over National team selection for TEST cricket

3. IPL is having so much workload as there is lot of movement of the teams from venues to venues and so many matches that players get injured resulting in them missing key international matches and tournament.

4. IPL commitments clashes with international tournament matches or bilateral series. The priority of the players may tend to get misplaced

5. Influence of IPL is impacting the overall schedule of ICC sponsored cricketing events and also it is influencing the TEST match Cricket is played

 

Ex2 Conclusion: 

For ensuring that the welfare of the players, maintaining the ICC commitments and schedule and for ensuring the TEST cricket is not loosing it's relevance, as the chairman(leader) you may want to discontinue this IPL.

 

Remember the fact that with IPL, the system has unearthed many a talent globally and has improved the lifestyle of many a players and also improved the confidence of Indian players facing adversity (chasing tall scores at lights with so much crowd pressure) which has helped them to succeed at international level.. 

 

So as a leader you may want to think of the Driving forces as well and see if you can take the best of these Forces and see if you can tweak the IPL by making some amendments like ensuring it is done in a calendar where international cricketing assignments are less, Priority for TEST cricket to be given, getting NOC, not to skip any first class matches....

 

Conclusion:

Whether we choose Driving Forces or Restraining Forces depend on the context in which we are in. As we saw on examples Ex1 and Ex2, it can be based on Driving Forces(Ex1) and it can be based out of Restrainig Forces (Ex2) or it can be a variation of these 2 Forces as well(Ex2) by doing some tweaking. 

 

The project manager really needs to focus on the resistant forces first because they’re usually the biggest roadblocks to change. If you don’t deal with them early on, they can slow everything down or even throw the whole project off track. Here’s why:

• Resistant forces are like speed bumps on the road to progress.
They often come from real concerns, like fear of what’s coming next, worries about losing control, or just not having the skills needed to keep up. By understanding these fears and addressing them straight on, the project manager can ease the tension and cut down on the chances of conflicts or quiet resistance down the line.
 • Create a positive environment for change.
By addressing resistance, you make room for the driving forces to have a bigger impact. A team that feels supported, trained, and involved in the change process will naturally be more willing to get on board and align with the project goals.
• Avoid expensive roadblocks.
If resistance is ignored, it can lead to delays, extra costs, and even the failure of the project. Tackling these issues from the start helps the transition go smoothly and prevents unexpected setbacks.
• Build long-term support.
Instead of forcing change on the team, working through the resistance helps turn potential opponents into allies. Starting with the resistance helps make sure the changes last. If you sort out the obstacles early, the changes have a much better shot at sticking around.

In other words, while driving forces are important, it’s a lot smarter for the project manager to deal with the resistance first. Once those roadblocks are cleared, the driving forces can take over, and the project is much more likely to succeed.

As a project leader, I would primarily focus on the resisting forces because effectively managing resistance is often the key to successfully implementing change. 

Most resistance from the team would be unspoken, so effectively communicating with various key stakeholders becomes the key which can be as follows

Step 0 : list down the resisting forces and driving forces and assess the scores both quantitatively and qualitatively 
 Step 1: understand the root cause of resistance which could be mostly due to individual fears or misunderstanding about project outcomes 
Step 2 : focus on concerns actively and build trust to minimise the retesting forces 
Step 3 : once the resisting  forces are possibly reduced re-evaluate the scores and seamlessly implement change
Step 4 : continue to connect and evaluate the potential  resisting forces  if any as through out the end of initiative  life cycle.

 

The question was very specific - you had to pick a side and debate in favor of it. Some of the respondents have tried to balance the two sides which might what is practically required but was not the ask.

 

Given the ask, the best answer has been provided by Dieylani LO. Well Done!

In the context of Kurt Lewin's Force-Field Analysis, the project leader should focus on driving forces rather than resisting forces. Here’s a debate in favor of prioritizing driving forces:

Emphasizing Driving Forces

1. Driving forces are highly important to understand how we can initiate change, lead to progress and transform processes within an organization. These forces are able to help us attain the right momentum and find the right pathway to drive change. It also tends to align the project goals with company goals.

2. If we put our focus on the driving forces, it will allow us to create and lead any communication with a powerful and compelling narrative of the vision we may have of what the change looks like and what benefits can be reaped by bringing about the required changes. It acts as a guiding star and creates a sense of urgency and belief in employees, stakeholders as well as customers.

3. By keeping our focus on driving forces, the attention can be brought to the positive aspects, benefits and improvements a change can bring. This will help in creating a mindset which tends to focus more on benefits, creativity and innovation, which will in turn help create a holistic positive mindset within the organisation and make the employees more receptive for change.

4. By putting the focus on the driving forces, we can bring about motivation to lead and accept the change. This will in turn help us in getting better support in the organization which will reflect in easier access to various resources that can assist in driving the change.

5. While resisting forces are an important factor in bringing about a change, focusing on just them tends to create an environment which is based on fear and confusion. Leaders are at a better ability to address and reduce resistance if we focus more on showcasing how advantageous and beneficial the changes are.

6. Driving forces are a great factor when we want to drive adaptation. Evolving driving forces help in building and changing strategies and initiatives which provides more flexibility in driving the change.

Conclusion

While it is very important to understand the resisting forces, it is more important that the focus is put on driving forces, since they are able to create a harmonious environment which is focused on driving improvements through changes, aligns with organizations goals and helps in leveraging the strengths that bring about positive changes and create a growth mindset.