How To Use Swot Analysis At Its Best

Unfortunately, not all organizations use SWOT analysis. Usually, those are the organizations that chose to manage using their mere guts and since they managed to keep their company alive, they develop this sense of complacency. Now, too much complacency is bad, either in business or in our personal lives because it makes us completely unaware of impeding harms that may cause our ultimate downfall. In business, it is essential to make risk-taking steps and get out of your comfort zone. Why? Because expansion and development lies within the real world for a simple reason that your consumers are there. Organizations use SWOT not just because they want to evaluate internal and external factors but also because they want to embrace the competition, make the best out of it and set a mark.

The only reason why some strategy fails is because they don’t know how to use SWOT Analysis at its fullest. Sure, they know the core concept and perhaps understand the idea a little, but that is not enough. SWOT Analysis does not a cost a dime but it requires very critical thinking. It requires a haystack of ideas and opinions from different experts, hence, the importance of brainstorming. To merely use SWOT analysis and not pour enough time and attention to it is completely pointless. For one, the tendency to have inaccurate data to feed may happen. With wrong data comes a wrong result. Wrong results lead to bad decision-making and bad decision- making leads to fail strategies. Secondly, without enough time for critical thinking, the organization won’t be able to determine which factors are irrelevant and which factors are not.

When trying to use SWOT analysis at its optimum capability, there are key questions that you can ask yourself and your team. When you use SWOT Analysis, as often said, you have to breakdown each internal and external attribute and slice them to come up with the core factor. These core factors will then serve as your basis, depending on your company’s focus, but since you decided to use SWOT, it is safe to say that you are concentrating on company profitability. The key questions that you can use are as follows:

Strengths:

-What are your organization’s experiences?

-What is your specialty?

-What do you have that your competitors do not have?

-What services or goods bring you the most money?

Weaknesses:

-Do you have complete resources? If not, what do you need to add?

-What specific areas of your organization do you think need improvements?

-Which aspect do you lose money the most?

Opportunities:

-Are there any new target markets that you think you have the potential to serve?

-How can you do more for your already existing customers and clients?

-Do you think there is a shot to expand in your chosen marketplace?

-How can you use technology to enhance your services and attract more customers?

Threats:

-How is the economy at the moment?

-Is there anything that your competitors are doing which you are not?

-What obstacles are you facing?

-Is there any change on trends?

Once you use SWOT Analysis, it is already a given that you are expecting successful results. The results depend upon how you performed the analysis in the first place. The key to a successful SWOT Analysis is to keep it clear, simple and realistic. Also, make sure that you are keeping things specific and that you avoid grey areas.

By: Sam Miller

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