What Is SWOT Analysis?
How do you measure up to yourself and others? How do you know you're making excellent progress in business or life?
To answer this question, consider doing SWOT.
SWOT Analysis: What Does This Mean?
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Developed by Albert Humphrey in the early 1960s, it is a framework that helps businesses in the following ways:
- Conduct a strategic analysis of your organization
- Develop key strategies to improve your operations
- Monitor your performance against your competitors
- Make better-informed decisions
- Uncover opportunities for growth and improvement
Examples of Using SWOT
You can use SWOT in both complex and simple situations. Here are a few examples:
A small business owner has decided to open a second location. She completed a SWOT analysis and found that her business was well-known in the community and had a strong online presence. However, she didn't have enough employees and a robust marketing budget. To address these challenges, she opened a new location closer to her home to be more hands-on. She also created a social media campaign to increase awareness of her business.
A major corporation had been struggling to keep its employees. When conducting SWOT, it discovered that it has a lot of talented staff. But they're not being engaged or challenged. In addition, the company's structure was bureaucratic and hinders innovation. To address these weaknesses, it flattened the organizational structure and created more opportunities for employee development.
A woman in her twenties found herself facing a quarter-life crisis. Nothing inspired her. She stumbled upon SWOT and decided to give it a try. After some soul-searching, she realized that her strengths were that she was creative and had a strong work ethic that she could start a business. However, she was lacking in experience and didn't have much capital. To overcome these weaknesses, she decided to take some online courses to help her get started.
7 Tips to Use SWOT Analysis
Now that you understand what SWOT is and how it can be used, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
1. Be Specific
What do you want to assess? Your business? A new product? A new venture? Being specific will help you focus your analysis and make it more effective.
2. Be Realistic
Be honest with yourself. This is not the time to be rose-tinted about your business or venture. Accept both your weaknesses and strengths so you can work on them accordingly.
3. Get Help from Others
People have biases, and their views on certain aspects (such as their strengths or weaknesses) can be myopic. Having others onboard will help you get different perspectives and improve the accuracy of your SWOT analysis.
4. Keep it Simple
Don't overthink things or try to be too clever. A SWOT analysis is meant to be straightforward.
5. Be Flexible
Your business or venture is constantly changing, which means your SWOT analysis should change too. Conducting regular SWOTs will help you stay on top of your game.
6. Take Action
SWOT is not meant to be a static exercise. It's meant to help you develop strategies and take actionable steps to improve your business or even yourself.
7. Have Fun
SWOT can be a fun exercise, especially when done with others. Brainstorming sessions can be lively and energizing. So enjoy the process and see what you can come up with.
Summing Up
SWOT analysis isn't the be-all, end-all benchmark. However, it provides you with an excellent glimpse of who you are and how your endeavors are going. It tells you opportunities to pursue, weaknesses to improve, and threats to be aware of.
Use it as a guide to make better-informed decisions and continue moving forward in your journey.