SWOT Analysis: Empower Yourself to Crush Challenges

Imagine that you, an executive, are facing a changing, difficult market. Instead of softening to allow for this market, your sales goals have nearly doubled. Your product is strong, but adoption is slow. Your team functions are siloed, and communication is tricky. As usual, funding is scarce. You need to make progress quickly, but everywhere you look you see obstacles. 

To help you navigate the challenge. The SWOT analysis will provide insight into your

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats

Let’s take a look at how to run one and why it will help you see your problem, and its possible solutions, clearly. 

SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) is usually used as a strategic planning framework. In my work as an executive coach, I use it as a pin-dropping tool on the organizational map. 

When clients are facing a challenge, I encourage them to list the strengths inherent to the team working the challenge, the weaknesses limiting performance, the opportunities the challenge presents, and the external threats to success. Once those components are on paper, we consider the possible options for action, vet those with a broader team, and move forward. 

SWOT analysis is especially helpful when clients are facing a specific challenge or decision point. The reason it’s helpful to break down and identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats is because it will give you an accurate idea of your current situation.

Where are you now?

You need to see accurately where you are and work out how to get from there to where you want to be. Imagine driving in an unfamiliar place without a GPS. You pull over at a rest stop to study a large map posted on the wall. What’s the first thing you look for?

You look for the You Are Here marker, not for where you want to be, nor at where you should’ve gone. You don’t look at the path you’ve traveled. You look first for where you are.

Now that you understand why a SWOT analysis is useful, here is how to use one with your team to overcome obstacles and move closer to your shared goal. You can also do an analysis on your own to overcome individual problems. 

First, brainstorm the strengths inherent to the team working the challenge, the internal weaknesses limiting performance, the opportunities the challenge presents, and the external threats to success. 

Then, ask the following questions:

• What do we do well? 
• What are our unique capabilities? 
• What obstacles do we face? 
• What resources are limited? 
• What’s possible if we get this right? 
• What’s the best-case scenario? 
• What if others beat us to market? 
• Where might we be surprised by competitors? 

If you’re performing the SWOT analysis as a group activity, be sure to collect feedback and insight from your team members—they might offer perspectives you can’t see from your leadership role. Once you’ve heard your team’s answers and contributed your own, consider possibilities for action. 

Who can act to fix the problems? When should you make changes? Where in the business do issues need to be addressed? Develop an action plan, vet it with your larger team, and act.

Remember, without knowing your team’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, you’re driving without a GPS. You need to know where you are to find where you’re going, and the SWOT analysis can help you get oriented and move toward your solutions. 

For more advice on improving your professional performance, find Naked at Work on Amazon.  More coaching is available at Avenue 8 On-Demand, on the topics of Situational Leadership, Operating in a Matrix, Giving Powerful Feedback, and more.

Danessa Knaupp is an executive coach, CEO, and keynote speaker, shifting the global conversation on leadership. She has coached hundreds of executives across every major industry and has developed a reputation as a candid, compassionate and courageous leadership partner. She is the author of the leadership manual, Naked at Work: A Leader’s Guide to Fearless Authenticity. She regularly addresses C-suite audiences on how to harness the power of real authenticity (not #authenticity) to drive measurable business results. Danessa earned her executive coaching credentials from Georgetown University, is credentialed by the International Coach Federation, and holds a B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from the College of William and Mary. She spent more than 20 years as an entrepreneur and a senior executive, and ultimately, CEO, before founding her coaching practice. Connect with her at danessaknaupp.com.