Think through anything in four quick steps.
When your team is stuck on a project and you want to break through, one way to organize your thoughts is to do a SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats. The list is usually arranged in a simple two-by-two framework, but that’s not a requirement to get the most out of it. Let’s jump right into it.
Strengths
First, you want to assess what’s working. Think through all the aspects of your current strategy that are on point. What do you do well? What do outsiders see as your strengths? What’s your competitive advantage? One thing to remember, if your competition is also doing the same thing well, then it’s not a strength, it’s a must-have in the industry.
Weaknesses
Identifying your weaknesses is next. Be honest here – what could you be doing better? Where do you lack resources? What are others likely to view as a weakness? One way to think about this is to determine where your competitors are doing better than you and pinpoint why.
Opportunities
Now for the real work. What opportunities are open for you? What trends can you take advantage of? What’s a trend that you’ve been wanting to get on board with? This may take more research than the first two sections. Remember, opportunities don’t have to be huge. Making small changes can sometimes mean a big difference.
Threats
Lastly, you need to consider threats – those outside factors that could jeopardize your plans. Threats are usually uncontrollable, like supply chain issues or shifts in industry requirements. It’s not always easy to identify threats so be sure to review this category carefully.
Once you feel comfortable that each category is complete, what do you do with it? It’s time to create an action list. You’ll want to build on your strengths, find ways to boost your weaknesses, explore your opportunities and decipher how to combat threats. You should also see how the different categories play off each other. For example, can you use a strength to go after an opportunity? Or eliminate some weaknesses that would lessen something in your threats category? After you have a good list of action points, put them in a prioritized list.
You can use SWOT analysis for projects big and small, including overall business strategy.