Friction Mapping Masterclass
Change doesn’t come from telling people what to do — it comes from shaping what’s possible, so the behaviour you want emerges as the natural thing to do. Learn to map the friction in your system and tilt it toward change.
Change the system, not the people
The main lever you have to influence behaviour is friction. People naturally move down the lowest-energy path — behaviour follows the path of least friction.
The Friction Map shows where that path tilts in your system today, and where to reshape it so the new behaviour becomes the easier choice. This course teaches you to build one, read it, and act on it — for any change you’re leading.
What you’ll walk away with
- Read a friction map: friction against the current behaviour, friction against the desired behaviour, and the gradient between them
- Turn vague goals into observable outcomes and behaviours with the records test and the video test
- Surface real, controllable constraints — and hold the line when motivation language creeps in
- Translate absences (no playbook, no time, no incentive) into properly framed constraints
- Validate and place every constraint using the four questions, and colour-code the effort to shift it
- Design small, reversible experiments that shift the gradient — and predict where the map moves
- Facilitate the full mapping session yourself: in person, virtual, or online
- Follow one real case from first constraint to designed experiments across the whole course
Eight lessons, one running case
Work through the method at your own pace — each lesson pairs the core idea with quick checks and the running Meridian case study.
The Physics of Behaviour Change
The core premise: behaviour follows the gradient. Why motivation-first change efforts fail, and what the map measures instead.
The Friction Map
Read the map’s two axes and its zones — steep, low, and variable gradients — and what each pattern means for the change you’re leading.
Outcomes and Behaviours
Define observable outcomes with the records test and behaviours with the video test — and redirect the vague statements clients always offer first.
Identifying Constraints
Surface real, controllable constraints across People, Organizational, Processes, and Tools — and hold the line when motivation language creeps in.
When Constraints Are Absences
Most constraints in real workshops arrive as gaps. Learn the translation discipline that converts those gaps into properly framed constraints ready for the map.
Map the Friction Gradient
Place every constraint on the map’s two axes using the four questions, colour-code the effort to shift each one, and read what the finished map is telling you.
Shift the Friction Gradient
Design interventions that lower friction on the desired behaviour and raise it on the current one — then predict where each experiment lands on the map.
Facilitating the Friction Mapping Workshop
Who’s in the room, the 90-minute and half-day agendas, and how to run the session in person, virtually, or fully online.
Meet Meridian
One case runs through the entire course: a 15,000-person organization untangling why its new EA review process isn’t being used. You watch every tool applied for real — from the first vague ask to a mapped system and five designed experiments.
Self-study, or self-study plus the live workshop
Both options include the full course, the Meridian case, and the session playbook. The live option adds four working sessions where you build a friction map for a real change you’re leading.
All eight lessons · the Meridian worked case · quizzes · the full session playbook · the Friction Map template. Start immediately, learn at your own pace.
Sign up — $199 CADEverything in Self-Study, plus four live 90-minute working sessions with Justin. One signup covers the full series — see the upcoming cohorts and times below.
Sign up — $699 CADFour live, instructor-led working sessions
Sessions run twice weekly over two weeks. One signup covers all four sessions — calendar invites and Zoom links arrive automatically after you book your seat.
Four sessions · twice weekly · capped at 10 seats
Register — $699 CADAdditional cohorts — including timezone-friendly options for EMEA — are being scheduled now. Check back shortly or join the IdeaLeapers community to hear first.
North America & APAC — July 2026 cohort, your local times
- North America (Vancouver, PT)Mon & Wed · 4:00–5:30 PM
- North America (New York, ET)Mon & Wed · 7:00–8:30 PM
- Australia (Sydney)Tue & Thu · 9:00–10:30 AM
- New Zealand (Auckland)Tue & Thu · 11:00 AM–12:30 PM
Each session runs 90 minutes. Your exact local times are confirmed with your calendar invites at registration.
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Outcomes and Behaviours
Define observable outcomes with the records test and behaviours with the video test - and redirect the vague statements clients always offer first.
Define observable outcomes with the records test and behaviours with the video test - and redirect the vague statements clients always offer first.
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Identifying Constraints
Surface real, controllable constraints across People, Organizational, Processes, and Tools - and hold the line when motivation language creeps in.
Surface real, controllable constraints across People, Organizational, Processes, and Tools - and hold the line when motivation language creeps in.
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When Constraints Are Absences
Most constraints in real workshops arrive as gaps. This lesson teaches the translation discipline that converts those gaps into properly framed constraints ready for the map.
Most constraints in real workshops arrive as gaps. This lesson teaches the translation discipline that converts those gaps into properly framed constraints ready for the map.
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Map the Friction Gradient
Place every constraint on the map’s two axes using the four questions, colour-code the effort to shift each one, and read what the finished map is telling you. Includes the mapping walkthrough video.
Place every constraint on the map’s two axes using the four questions, colour-code the effort to shift each one, and read what the finished map is telling you. Includes the mapping walkthrough video.
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Facilitating the Friction Mapping Workshop
Who’s in the room, the 90-minute and half-day agendas, six failure modes with recoveries, and the follow-through that makes the map stick.
Who’s in the room, the 90-minute and half-day agendas, six failure modes with recoveries, and the follow-through that makes the map stick.
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