A Swot Analysis Includes a Formal Review of the

Acquire how to conduct a SWOT Analysis to place situational strengths and weaknesses, besides equally opportunities and threats.

Change is an inevitable part of community organizing. If you lot know how to take stock of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, you are more than likely to plan and deed effectively.

SWOT provides a tool to explore both internal and external factors that may influence your piece of work.

What is a SWOT analysis and why should you lot use one?

SWOT stands for:Strength,Weakness,Opportunity,Threat. A SWOT analysis guides you to place your organization's strengths and weaknesses (Southward-W), besides as broader opportunities and threats (O-T). Developing a fuller awareness of the situation helps with both strategic planning and decision-making.

The SWOT method was originally developed for business concern and industry, but information technology is equally useful in the work of community health and evolution, pedagogy, and even for personal growth.

SWOT is non the simply assessment technique you can use. Compare it with other assessment tools in the Community Tool Box to decide if this is the right approach for your situation. The strengths of this method are its simplicity and awarding to a variety of levels of operation.

When do you apply SWOT?

A SWOT analysis can offer helpful perspectives at any stage of an effort. Yous might use it to:

• Explore possibilities for new efforts or solutions to bug.
• Make decisions well-nigh the best path for your initiative. Identifying your opportunities for success in context of threats to success tin clarify directions and choices.
• Determine where change is possible. If you are at a juncture or turning point, an inventory of your strengths and weaknesses tin reveal priorities as well every bit possibilities.
• Accommodate and refine plans mid-course. A new opportunity might open wider avenues, while a new threat could close a path that once existed.

SWOT likewise offers a simple way of communicating about your initiative or plan and an excellent way to organize information you've gathered from studies or surveys.

What are the elements of a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT analysis focuses on Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Remember that the purpose of performing a SWOT is to reveal positive forces that work together and potential bug that need to exist recognized and possibly addressed.

We will discuss the process of creating the assay below, but first here are a few sample layouts for your SWOT analysis.

Ask participants to answer these simple questions: what are the strengths and weaknesses of your group, community, or attempt, and what are the opportunities and threats facing it?

Internal		External
Strengths	Weaknesses	Opportunities	Threats

If a looser structure helps y'all brainstorm, you can group positives and negatives to think broadly most your system and its external environs.

Positives	Negatives
Strengths Assets Resources Opportunities Prospects	Weaknesses Limitations Restrictions Threats Challenges

Below is a third option for structuring your SWOT analysis, which may be advisable for a larger initiative that requires detailed planning. This "TOWS Matrix" is adjusted from Fred David'southward Strategic Direction text.

	STRENGTHS 1. 2. 3. 4.	WEAKNESSES 1. two. 3. four.
OPPORTUNITIES one. ii. three. iv.	Opportunity-Strength (OS) Strategies Use the strengths to have advantage of opportunities 1. 2.	Opportunity-Weakness (OW) Strategies Overcome weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities ane. 2.
THREATS 1. two. 3. 4.	Threat-Strength (TS) Strategies Use strengths to avoid threats 1. two.	Threat-Weakness (TW) Strategies Minimize weaknesses and avoid threats one. 2.

David gives an example for Campbell Soup Company that stresses fiscal goals, but it also illustrates how y'all tin pair the items within a SWOT grid to develop strategies. (This version of the chart is abbreviated.)

	STRENGTHS Electric current profit ratio increased Employee morale high Market share has increased	WEAKNESSES Legal suits not resolved Plant chapters has fallen Lack of strategic management arrangement
OPPORTUNITIES Western European unification Ascension health consciousness in selecting foods Demand for soups increasing annually	Opportunity-Force (Bone) Strategies Learn food company in Europe (S1, S3, O1) Develop new healthy soups (S2, O2)	Opportunity-Weakness (OW) Strategies Develop new Pepperidge Subcontract products (W1, O2, O3)
THREATS Depression value of dollar Tin cans are not biodegradable	Threat-Strength (TS) Strategies Develop new biodegradable soup containers (S1, T2)	Threat-Weakness (TW) Strategies Close unprofitable European operations (W3, T1)

This example also illustrates how threats tin can become opportunities (and vice versa). The limitation of tin cans (which aren't biodegradable) creates an opportunity for leadership in developing biodegradable containers. There are several formats yous tin can use to exercise a SWOT analysis, including a bones SWOT class that you lot tin use to prompt assay, just whatever format yous employ, don't be surprised if your strengths and weaknesses don't precisely match upwardly to your opportunities and threats. You might need to refine, or you might need to simply look at the facts longer, or from a unlike bending. Your nautical chart, list or table will certainly reveal patterns.

Listing Your Internal Factors: Strengths and Weaknesses (S, Westward)

Internal factors include your resource and experiences. Full general areas to consider:

• Human resource - staff, volunteers, board members, target population
• Physical resources - your location, edifice, equipment
• Financial - grants, funding agencies, other sources of income
• Activities and processes - programs you run, systems y'all employ
• By experiences - edifice blocks for learning and success, your reputation in the community

Don't exist too modest when listing your strengths. If you're having difficulty naming them, start past simply listing your characteristics (e.g.., we're small, we're connected to the neighborhood). Some of these will probably be strengths.

Although the strengths and weakness of your system are your internal qualities, don't overlook the perspective of people outside your grouping. Identify strengths and weaknesses from both your own point of view and that of others, including those you serve or deal with. Do others encounter problems--or assets--that you don't?

How practice y'all get information well-nigh how outsiders perceive your strengths and weaknesses? Yous may know already if y'all've listened to those you serve. If non, this might be the time to assemble that type of information. See related sections for ideas on conducting focus groups, user surveys, and listening sessions.

Listing External Factors: Opportunities and Threats (O, T)

Cast a wide net for the external part of the assessment. No organization, grouping, program, or neighborhood is immune to outside events and forces. Consider your connexion, for improve and worse, every bit yous compile this part of your SWOT list.

Forces and facts that your group does non command include:

• Future trends in your field or the culture
• The economy - local, national, or international
• Funding sources - foundations, donors, legislatures
• Demographics - changes in the age, race, gender, culture of those you serve or in your expanse
• The concrete environment (Is your building in a growing role of town? Is the motorcoach company cut routes?)
• Legislation (Do new federal requirements make your job harder...or easier?)
• Local, national or international events

How practise you create a SWOT assay?

Who develops the SWOT?

The near common users of a SWOT assay are squad members and project managers who are responsible for decision-making and strategic planning.

Simply don't overlook anyone in the creation stage!

An private or modest group can develop a SWOT analysis, just it will be more constructive if you take advantage of many stakeholders. Each person or grouping offers a different perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of your program and has dissimilar experiences of both.

Too, one staff member, or volunteer or stakeholder may have information about an opportunity or threat that is essential to understanding your position and determining your future.

When and where do you develop a SWOT analysis?

A SWOT assay is ofttimes created during a retreat or planning session that allows several hours for brainstorming and analysis. The all-time results come when the process is collaborative and inclusive.

When creating the analysis, people are asked to pool their private and shared knowledge and feel. The more relaxed, friendly and constructive the setting, the more than true, comprehensive, insightful, and useful your assay will exist.

How practise you develop a SWOT analysis?

Steps for conducting a SWOT assay:

• Designate a leader or group facilitator who has skillful listening and group process skills, and who can keep things moving and on track.
• Designate a recorder to back up the leader if your group is large. Use newsprint on a flip nautical chart or a large board to tape the analysis and discussion points. You can record later in a more than polished way to share with stakeholders and to update.
• Introduce the SWOT method and its purpose in your organization. This can exist as simple as asking, "Where are nosotros, where can we go?" If yous have fourth dimension, you lot could run through a quick example based on a shared experience or well-known public issue.
• Depending on the nature of your group and the fourth dimension bachelor, let all participants introduce themselves. And so carve up your stakeholders into smaller groups. If your retreat or meeting draws several groups of stakeholders together, make sure yous mix the small-scale groups to get a range of perspectives, and requite them a take a chance to introduce themselves.
  • The size of these depends on the size of your unabridged group – breakout groups can range from iii to ten. If the size gets much larger, some members may not participate.
• Have each group designate a recorder, and provide each with newsprint or dry -erase board. Directly them to create a SWOT analysis in the format you cull-a chart, columns, a matrix, or even a page for each quality.
  • Give the groups twenty-30 minutes to brainstorm and fill out their own strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats chart for your program, initiative or effort. Encourage them not to dominion out any ideas at this phase, or the next.
  • Remind groups that the way to have a practiced thought is to have lots of ideas. Refinement can come later on. In this manner, the SWOT analysis also supports valuable word within your group or organization as yous honestly assess.
  • It helps to generate lots of comments about your organization and your program, and even to put them in multiple categories if that provokes idea.
  • One time a listing has been generated, information technology helps to refine it to the best x or fewer points so that the analysis can be truly helpful.
• Reconvene the group at the agreed-upon time to share results. Gather information from the groups, recording on the flip-nautical chart or board. Collect and organize the differing groups' ideas and perceptions.
  • Proceed in S-W-O-T order, recording strengths beginning, weaknesses second, etc.
  • Or you lot can begin by calling for the top priorities in each category -the strongest strength, most dangerous weakness, biggest opportunity, worst threat--and go on to work across each category.
  • Inquire one group at a time to report ("Grouping A, what do you encounter as strengths?") You can vary which group begins the written report and so a certain group isn't ever left "bringing up the terminate" and repeating points made by others. ("Group B, let'due south start with you for weaknesses.")
  • Or, you can open the flooring to all groups ("What strengths have you noted?") for each category until all have contributed what they think is needed.
• Talk over and record the results. Depending on your time frame and purpose:
  • Come to some consensus about the most important items in each category
  • Relate the analysis to your vision, mission, and goals
  • Translate the analysis to action plans and strategies
• If advisable, set up a written summary of the SWOT analysis to share with participants for continued employ in planning and implementation.

More ideas on conducting successful meetings can be institute in Community Tool Box resource on conducting public forums and listening sessions, conducting focus groups, and organizing a retreat.

How practise y'all use your SWOT analysis?

Better understanding the factors affecting your initiative put you lot in a better position for action. This understanding helps as you:

• Place the bug or problems you lot intend to change
• Set or reaffirm goals
• Create an activeness plan

As you consider your analysis, be open to the possibilities that exist within a weakness or threat. Likewise, recognize that an opportunity tin become a threat if anybody else sees the opportunity and plans to take advantage of it likewise, thereby increasing your competition.

Finally, during your assessment and planning, you might go on an image in mind to assistance yous make the virtually of a SWOT analysis: Wait for a "stretch," non just a "fit." As Radha Balamuralikrishna and John C. Dugger of Iowa State Academy point out, SWOT commonly reflects your current position or state of affairs. Therefore i drawback is that information technology might not encourage openness to new possibilities. You can utilise SWOT to justify a course that has already been decided upon, but if your goal is to grow or amend, y'all will want to go along this in mind.

In Summary

A realistic recognition of the weaknesses and threats that exist for your effort is the first step to countering them with a robust ready of strategies that build upon strengths and opportunities. A SWOT analysis identifies your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to assist you in making strategic plans and decisions.

brownrect1985.blogspot.com

Source: https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assessment/assessing-community-needs-and-resources/swot-analysis/main

Share this post