When a leadership team walks into a strategic marketing workshop, they're rarely all focused on the same thing. One person's still thinking about a board presentation. Another's recovering from a customer fire. A third is caught in a hiring crunch.

Before we dive into frameworks or start defining strategic priorities, I like to bring the room back to the business itself—what's working, what's not, and what feels uncertain. I want to know: what are the reasons we'll win? And what might get in our way?

That's where this tool comes in.

A Simple, Powerful Framework

I first saw a version of this technique from Jeff Loeb, a sharp and experienced CMO I had the privilege to work with at Chief Outsiders. Jeff used it to help leadership teams surface tensions and clarity gaps during the early stages of planning. The visual structure was simple: a plus on one side, a minus on the other, and a space in between to capture what's really going on inside the business.

It stuck with me.

Since then, I've adapted the approach into what I now call the Force Field Exercise—a sort of mini-SWOT I use to open strategic marketing workshops. Over time, I've made it faster, more interactive, and more effective for surfacing early misalignment. It works across industries, company sizes, and leadership styles.

It's easy. It's fast. And it sets the tone for the deeper work that follows.

How It Works

Here's what the exercise looks like in practice:

• I draw a basic plus and minus sign on a whiteboard or flipchart.

• Each participant gets a stack of Post-it notes in a unique color, plus a marker.

• Then I ask just two questions:

  • "What are the reasons we'll win?"

  • "What are the reasons we might lose?"

Each person writes down their responses—one idea per Post-it—and places them on the board. "Winning" thoughts go under the plus. "Losing" risks or concerns go under the minus.

Because each person has a different color, we can quickly see where ideas are coming from. And if something's hard to read, we know who to ask.

That's it. No slide deck. No warmup. Just clarity.

Why It Works So Well

This exercise opens the room. It lowers the stakes while raising the quality of input. Some reasons I keep using it:

• Everyone contributes, regardless of title.

• Color-coded Post-its make it easy to identify patterns and follow up.

• It surfaces misalignments early—and makes them conversational, not confrontational.

• It gives us a shared vocabulary for the rest of the workshop.

• It quickly distinguishes symptoms from root causes.

It's also surprisingly grounding. The act of naming hopes and risks brings people into the room—fully present and focused.

A Real Example

Here's a snapshot from a recent strategy workshop with a global tech client (partially blurred for my client's protection). We used the Force Field Exercise as the first move of the day. Within 15 minutes, the board was full—and so was our agenda.

These notes became our working inputs for identifying key priorities. Some ended up feeding directly into the messaging pyramid we built later. Others became action items for the leadership team. But more than anything, they helped the group see what they were really thinking—but hadn't yet said aloud.

Want to Try It?

You don't need a consultant in the room to run this exercise. It works just as well in your next team offsite or leadership sync.

You'll need:

• A whiteboard, or some flipchart paper and tape

• Two stacks of Post-its (different colors per participant)

• Markers

• 15–20 minutes

• And a willingness to be honest

Start with the same two questions. Let everyone write privately. Then review the board together. Let the patterns emerge. Let the gaps surface. You'll leave with a clearer picture of what your team is aligned on—and what needs more work.

Why I Keep Coming Back to It

In my work with SaaS and tech companies, I'm often brought in to help define messaging, clarify positioning, or build a marketing system that actually scales. But before we can do any of that, we need alignment.

The Force Field Exercise helps teams name the friction and clarity they already feel—and it sets the tone for honest, productive collaboration.

It's not about solving the problems on the wall.
It's about acknowledging them—together.
And that's when the real strategy work can begin.