SWOT Analysis

Before the Activity

Identify an objective or end state that your group is trying to achieve. This might be the implementation of a product, the completion of a project, or a new program or initiative. Ensure all participants are familiar with the objective you will be analyzing. Drawing a picture or writing up a few bullet points might be helpful. Your objective should be as specific as possible. If it is ambiguous your SWOT analysis may end up being too broad and it will be difficult to evaluate possible courses of action.

Create a large four-square quadrant representing the SWOT Canvas to capture participants’ responses. Label the four squares in the quadrant “Strengths”, “Weaknesses”, “Opportunities”, and “Threats”. You could do this on a white board, on four large flip chart sheets, on a shared online document, or on an online whiteboarding tool. See the illustration below for a template.

During the Activity

1. Introduce the participants to the objective and answer any questions that might help clarify the end state you are trying to achieve.
2. Starting with “Strengths” ask the participants to spend 5 minutes quietly generating ideas about strengths the team has related to the desired objective. Strengths are internal factors that are in your favor (e.g., skills, knowledge, networks, reputation). Responses should be written with one idea per sticky note. Participants share their responses and place them into the quadrant.
3. Now focus on “Weaknesses,” again asking participants to spend 5 minutes quietly generating ideas about weaknesses related to the desired objective. Weaknesses are internal roadblocks hindering you from reaching your goals.
4. Repeat the process with “Opportunities.” Opportunities are external factors that, if used effectively, can help you move towards your objective (e.g., trends, policies, customers, technologies, funding, capital). It can be helpful to consider ideas that have already shared. For example, “What opportunities might arise if we eliminated one or more of our weaknesses?” “What if we leveraged one or more of our strengths?”
5. Repeat again with “Threats.” Threats are factors beyond your control that could thwart your efforts to achieve your end goals. These could include political, environmental, social, or technical factors that put your objective at risk.

After the Activity

Helpful next steps to organize your SWOT analysis might include affinity mapping to synthesize similar ideas or using dot voting to prioritize the top strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in each quadrant.

Your completed SWOT Canvas can help you assess your current position and plan for the future. Review your completed SWOT quadrant and engage participants in a discussion to compare the different insights. Some prompt questions you might consider:

• How might we build on our Strengths?
• What processes, policies, or procedures could be developed to minimize the effects of our Weaknesses?
• What would we need to do to use the identified Opportunities to our advantage?
• What tools do we have to build resilience to manage and mitigate the identified Threats?
• Are there any strengths that cancel out weaknesses or threats?
• How do these insights relate to each component of our objective? If we break things down, do we see things differently?
• What interconnections or dependencies do you see between our insights?
• Do our insights change our thoughts about how we might plan to achieve this objective? Change our thinking about where to place our focus and resources?