Do a SWOT Analysis and boost your self improvement

What's a SWOT Analysis and why bother?

It is a business planning tool which we are adopting and adapting to help you achieve self improvement.

WHY?, because your self improvement is far too important to be left to chance.

The i-c-s-i process starts with INVESTIGATE and a swot analysis is a great investigate tool.

Let's keep it simple: SWOT stands for:

Strengths.

That is, what are you good at that will help in achieving your self improvement programme.

If you don't like the expression, "strengths", just think of it in terms of what do you do well, or what do you know, that are advantageous re your self help

Weaknesses.

That is, what are you not so good at that may hinder you in achieving self improvement.

If you don't like the expression, "weaknesses", think of it in terms of what could you do better, or know that you don't know now, which will benefit your self help.

Opportunities.

That is, what is there about you, and / or in the external environment in which you operate, that creates a chance to achieve something or change?

Threats.

That is, what is there about you, and / or in your external environment, that might damage your achievements or hurt your progress or limit what you may change?

A SWOT Analysis is a subjective assessment open to interpretation (e.g. what one person sees as a strength, another may see as a weakness; what is an opportunity for one, may be perceived as a threat for another).

And both perceptions may be valid. Treat a SWOT Analysis, therefore, as an investigation which will raise many questions.

Taking stock of your strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities and threats they create (or that are evident in your external environment) will yield the following major benefits:

* it will enable you to improve your goal setting (e.g. by raising your awareness of the priorities that will yield the best results; by recognising factors that may help or hinder your intended achievements)

* it will help you to learn more about yourself and your external environment

* it will stimulate your motivation to succeed

* it will clarify key areas for change and what may facilitate it or inhibit it

* it will help you to prepare your personal development plan (click the link to see an example)

* it will help with your decision making process by generating questions and options

* it will help to develop your informal leader role and leadership skills, especially as they relate to creating the future of your choice.


Ok, so how do you do it?

There are, basically, three steps, as follows:

1. preparation.

That is, be clear about the overall purpose or objective that you are doing the SWOT Analysis for.

In this case, you will be using it to facilitate your self improvement (which means that your question, "what are my strengths?", is REALLY, "what are my strengths with regard to self improvement?".

That is, your answers are not ABSOLUTE, they relate to the context of self improvement (and a strength in this context could be a weakness in a different context).

Also, here, as this relates to YOU, and self appraisal is always a bit tricky, you may want to invite trusted others to share their feedback re your strengths and weaknesses.

If so, you may want to communicate some of the above with them before they start.

2. generate your lists of answers.

List all the strengths that you, and / or others, can think of.

Be realistic and honest - although this is a subjective exercise, it will be worthless if it is superficial or only includes what you, or others, want to hear (rather than what you NEED to hear).

Do the same for weaknesses, opportunities (potential future strengths) and threats (potential future weaknesses).

Take a look at what has emerged and make a judgement call as to its quality and quantity.

If you feel that you need to, and your investigation would benefit as a result, try brainstorming to generate more views and ideas.

3. interpretation.

That is, reviewing the outcomes of your SWOT Analysis to:

* identify areas where you now want to set some SMART goals

* build your action plan re specific priorities that may have emerged. For example

~ what strengths need to be maintained or developed / improved?

~ what weaknesses need to be addressed, changed or stopped? (you can use the start?, stop?, do differently? approach, of course)

~ which identified opportunities do you need to exploit? (and how?)

~ which threats need to be avoided or minimised or defended against? (and how?)

* capture learnings or ideas for future action in your learning log

A SWOT Analysis is a really useful investigate tool that can be applied in most situations.

Valuable learnings always emerge from the process, especially if you involve trusted others.

A SWOT Analysis makes available to you what already exists - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It will help you with goal setting, motivation, leadership and change.
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