SWOT is a term commonly used in the Marketing and Strategy functions in the business world. It simply stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Businesses are encouraged to do a SWOT once a year to have a thorough understanding of themselves and how they can fare in the marketplace.
Strengths and Weaknesses – are assessed internal to the organization.
- S: What are the organizations strengths? What are they good at? What do they do really well?
- W: What are potential areas of improvement? What areas can bring them down if neglected?
Opportunities and Threats – are assessed external to the organization.
- O: What opportunities exist in the marketplace and environment outside that a business should consider leveraging? What should they act upon?
- T: What threats from outside can cause a problem in the business? What factors external to the organization can pose a threat to the business? competitors, supplier problems etc are a few examples.
This information is ideally revisited every year to ensure the organization can set their strategy and direction based on their findings to this exercise.
Let us see how SWOT applies to you and your career.
As a part of your ongoing career management, a Professional SWOT Analysis is a Tool that I recommend you leverage on a yearly basis. Here are a few questions to get you started on your Professional SWOT Analysis.
Questions to consider for Strengths in your professional life:
– What are you known for in your work life?
– What do people come to you for?
– What comes naturally easy to you ?
– What do strength based assessments reveal about your strengths? eg: StrengthsFinder
Questions to consider for Weaknesses in your professional life:
– What are some areas of improvement you are aware of?
– What feedback have you received to work upon?
– What do you feel you struggle to do at work? and does not come naturally to you?
Assess the external environment for potential Opportunities and Threats.
Questions to consider for Opportunities around you:
– What is trending in your industry/functional area etc that can add value to your career?
– What opportunities do you see in the marketplace?
– What opportunities can your strengths be leveraged for?
Questions to consider for Threats around you:
- Is technology a threat to your position?
– Do the changes in your industry/function pose a threat to your career?
– Are there others vying for your position?
What insights were revealed to you as you completed this exercise? Are there action steps you could take to capitalize on your opportunities and weaken your threats?
This is a preview of one of the tools that I recommend in my upcoming book, The Business Of You.
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