A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) is a tool used to provide a general or detailed snapshot of a Companies health. Think of your SWOT as a tune-up that every business needs periodically to diagnose and fix what's a bit worn, what's on the verge of breaking down, or what's already broken and needs replacement--so that you can keep the business humming-even better than it has in the past
Why use a SWOT Analysis?
A SWOT analysis forces an objective analysis of a Companies position via its competitors and the marketplace. Simultaneously, an effective SWOT analysis will help determine in which areas a company is succeeding, allowing it to allocate resources in such a way as to maintain any dominant positions it may have.
SWOT Analysis is a very effective way of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, and of examining the Opportunities and Threats you face. Carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will help you to focus your activities into areas where you are strong, and where the greatest opportunities lie.
Yet there are caveats and pitfalls. If you know about them, you can increase the value of a SWOT analysis.
Firstly let's deal with one of the most subtle issues.
No one likes admitting to having a weakness. If a weakness in the organisation, or the team, is an individual, or an individual leader's activities, they certainly will not like to be labelled in a SWOT analysis, either directly or indirectly, as having a weakness. And because they don't like it, they are more likely to defend the situation, or not think positively about what could be achieved by doing an overall analysis. A facilitator of a SWOT analysis can help break through this thinking, by asking people not so much to think of weaknesses, but to think of areas to strengthen. Very subtle, but it can have an effect.
Secondly, the SWOT analysis is done by the people present at the time it is done. That restricts the perspective that can be offered. For instance, if a top team is doing a SWOT analysis, they may be somewhat removed from the front line with the customers. A way to increase the value of a SWOT analysis is for the top team to talk to their teams, who might have more contact, about what their staff perceive as the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation, before they come together as a group.
Thirdly, a valuable indication on the strengths and weaknesses of a business lies in the customer's perceptions. Some organisations do a special per-review of these before entering a business review. Experience suggests that not all do.
Fourthly, when a SWOT analysis is done, there is the unwritten understanding that the strengths and weaknesses are done in relation to the present day marketplace. This is valuable. However, the value may be increased if the analysis is performed against the purpose of the business in the marketplace. Businesses normally take the purpose for granted. This can be a mistake. A well-written purpose -- and the purpose here is not your Mission statement -- drives your business and it is worth analyzing your strengths and weaknesses in relation to the purpose.
Fifthly, when a focus emerges on the opportunity to be grasped in the future, the strengths and weaknesses are not reviewed in relation to that particular opportunity. The opportunity is born out of the analysis, however the opportunity may present a different set of circumstances and may require a need for different strengths, which may or may not be held back by an organisation' weaknesses
So in summary, add value to a SWOT analysis by creating an environment about strengthening the business, get staff input, get customer input, make sure you review against your purpose as well as the marketplace and if you decide to do something differently, then revisit your strengths and weaknesses.
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