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| Criterion |  Business Strategy TOWS Matrix |  Facilitation Consensus Workshop |  Decision Making Constraint Analysis |  Facilitation Alignment Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | The TOWS Matrix connects internal strengths and weaknesses with external opportunities and threats into action-oriented strategies. It goes a step further than a pure stocktaking. | When a group needs a solid decision without outvoting individual factions, a Consensus Workshop creates a negotiable common ground. It makes agreement, reservations, and open tensions discussable at the same time. | When an initiative stalls, the limit often lies not in the idea but in hard or soft boundary conditions. Constraint Analysis separates these limits and shows which of them can actually be shaped. | When several people work toward one goal but hold different mental maps, Alignment Mapping makes the discrepancies visible. It arranges goals, assumptions, and priorities so shared direction becomes verifiable. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Low | Medium |
Timedifferent | 1-2 h | 1-3 h | 30-90 min | 1-2 h |
Participantsdifferent | 3-10 | 5-30 | 2-8 | 4-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | TOWS Matrix, Strategic Options, Priority Actions | Consensus Clusters, Theme Titles, Priority Areas | Constraint List, Hard/Soft Classification, Option Impact Notes, Decision Boundaries | Alignment Map, Open Issues, Decision Questions |
Tagsno overlap | StrategyAnalysisOptions | FacilitationConsensusWorkshopAlignment | ConstraintsDecisionPlanningOptions | AlignmentStakeholdersStrategyFacilitation |