Doing a SWOT?

Whenever I’ve done the SWOT, for whatever it might be, I realized the points I would put down got a little confused as I went ahead to complete the SWOT.  Perspective would change even as I thought through the points.  Opportunities and Threats would become confused about who or what I had to focus on.

I realized if we had a framework which guided our thinking with constant questions, it would do so much for the quality of the SWOT, its completeness, consistency of perspective, and relevance.  Here I share a framework for doing the SWOT for an Individual, as well as another for an Organization/Team.

Happy SWOTing!!

1.  SWOT for an Individual

SWOT for:  ________________________________________________

S-trength	Trend	W-eakness	Trend
C A S K B <enter here what current Competencies, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Behaviors, are helping you to achieve what is needed>	+/-/= <enter here whether trend is ‘+ve’,     ‘-ve’, or ‘flat’>	C A S K B <enter here what current Competencies, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Behaviors, are preventing you from achieving what is needed>	+/-/= <enter here whether trend is ‘+ve’,     ‘-ve’, or ‘flat’>
O-pportunity	Need	T-hreat	Need
C A S K B <enter here what current Competencies, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Behaviors, are you working on which will help you to achieve what you expect will be needed.  Look at trends in S and W, as well as any new C-A-S-K-A-Bs you realize that you are working on.>	<enter here for which need a point is an opp-ortunity>	C A S K B <Look at downward trends in S and W to identify which Competencies, Attitudes, Skills, Knowledge, and Behaviors, might prevent you from achieving what will be needed>	<enter here for which need a point is a threat>

2.  SWOT for an Organization/Team

SWOT for: ______________________________________

S-trength	Trend	W-eakness	Trend
Market/Customer – needs, behavior, trends Competencies – includes reservoirs of Knowledge, Skill, Attitude Processes – includes policies, methods, standards, best practices Capacity – includes people, funds, resources, infrastructure Vision – includes values, motives, and beliefs <enter under each heading what current facts are helping the organization to achieve what is needed>	<enter here whether trend is ‘+ve’,     ‘-ve’, or ‘flat’>	Market/Customer – needs, behavior, trends Competencies – includes reservoirs of Knowledge, Skill, Attitude Processes – includes policies, methods, standards, best practices Capacity – includes people, funds, resources, infrastructure Vision – includes values, motives, and beliefs <enter under each heading what  current facts are preventing the organization from achieving what is needed>	<enter here whether trend is ‘+ve’,     ‘-ve’, or ‘flat’>
O-pportunity	Need	T-hreat	Need
Market/Customer – needs, behavior, trends Competencies – includes reservoirs of Knowledge, Skill, Attitude Processes – includes policies, methods, standards, best practices Capacity – includes people, funds, resources, infrastructure Vision – includes values, motives, and beliefs <enter under each heading what current initiatives are you working on which will help the organization to achieve what you expect will be needed.  Look at trends in Strengths above and Weaknesses, as well as any new Competencies, Processes, Capacity, etc.that you realize the organization is working on.>	<enter here for which need a point is an opp-ortunity>	Market/Customer – needs, behavior, trends Competencies – includes reservoirs of Knowledge, Skill, Attitude Processes – includes policies, methods, standards, best practices Capacity – includes people, funds, resources, infrastructure Vision – includes values, motives, and beliefs <Look at downward trends in Strengths and Weaknesses to identify which of the above (bulleted) attributes might prevent the organization in the future from achieving what will be needed.>	<enter here for which need a point is a threat>

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Time, and Time again…

The only value we add to time, is what we gather from it.

Time would pass still, though we would not gain from it if we didn’t pay attention and attempted to gather more, to understand more from its passing.

An example will make it clearer.  Say we are managing a two month project.  As the project progresses over the two months, if we don’t try to understand what the project goes through we will have no reason to do any differently or better on our next project.  We wouldn’t have managed this project if we couldn’t benefit from the numerous learnings it could make possible.  If only we looked for them.

To have managed is to have gained from the time we spend in any environment.