WEBVTT

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Welcome back, everybody. This is Food for Thought.

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Thoughts of it were you. This is your host, Neogentrics.

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And it's been a pleasure doing these podcasts

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with you guys. But today, we're going to talk

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about SWOT analysis. Something that a lot of

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people aren't familiar with or even know exists.

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It's a strategic thinking skill. Something that

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most leaders are required to have. And even if

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you don't have it, it can be earned or learned.

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So it's not completely out of range for a lot

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of people. Now... as to what SWOT means. A SWOT

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analysis is looking at the strengths, weaknesses,

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and opportunities, as well as threats. It's basically

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what it is. Essentially, it's a simple but useful

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structure for examining any situation or event.

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It can be used both on a personal level and a

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business level, depending on who you are and

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where you are. A SWOT analysis is particularly

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helpful in developmental contexts because it

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allows you to explore the positives and negatives

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of both you or your organization if you're a

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business and the external environment in a relatively

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safe and controlled way. You know, like what

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they call a controlled environment. It can therefore

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be used in, I want to say, career discussions

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or in strategic discussions for businesses where

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all options can be put on the table and discussed

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straightforward. I can't tell you how many times

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I've had to tell people to do this as far as

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relationships is concerned because they keep

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coming to me for their problems, but I digress.

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This analysis, the SWOT analysis, has multiple

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functionalities. It can be used in several different

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templates or forms. It just depends on the user

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and whether or not they really want to put in

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the effort to do it. It does take a bit of work

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on their part. So we're going to take a short

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break and we're going to get started, okay? Alright

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everybody, let's go ahead and cover how to do

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a SWOT analysis. As you might expect, a SWOT

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analysis covers four general areas. Strengths,

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weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. That's

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the four main things that it covers. As a general

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principle, strengths and weaknesses relate to

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you or your organization because they're internal

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things, internal factors, things to consider

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within. And then the opportunities and threats

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are related to external environments or external

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factors like people outside, the structure of

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a building. Things of that nature, how much it

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can hold up against. Swarm analysis is often

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done in a grid format, taking a piece of paper

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and dividing it into usually four quarters with

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a heading for each quarter, you know, draw a

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box, put a label on the top of each one. You

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can do it side by side or in the shape of a giant

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square, a brick broken into four squares. This

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means that you can easily see which areas might

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be a problem, and you can... You know, make a

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very simple, easy list on what to do. Now, specific

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or general is the question to ask. So analysis

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can be used to look at the general situation

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or a much more specific problem that you're facing

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or your organization is facing. The things you

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identify in each area will be different depending

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on whether or not you are looking at the general

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or specific issue. therefore important to make

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sure that you and everyone else involved is clear

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about what it is you're actually discussing at

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that point. Otherwise, you're just going to confuse

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yourself and everyone else. Now, first things

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first, strengths. Under the strengths category,

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you need to list things that are unique to you

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or your organization or things that give you

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an advantage for most organizations and things

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of the like. Things like that would be intellectual

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properties like rights, patents, copyrights,

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cheaper manufacturing processes, or cheaper or

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better raw materials, quality advantage that

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they have that others can't copy, or the relationships

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they built with their customers over time, something

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of that nature. What you need to do is you need

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to ask yourself, what can or do we do better

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than anyone else? That is your strengths. It's

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worth answering this both. for your own point

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of view and by considering what your customers

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peers or suppliers might say and if you have

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a good relationship with them you can even ask

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them directly and they'll give you their answer

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the next point to keep in mind is your weaknesses

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this one's not really all that much but I mean

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it's pretty straightforward let's just put it

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this way it can be considered areas that you

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struggle in what you don't do well as your competitors,

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what factors cause you to lose sales. For example,

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your customer service is poor or your prices

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are higher than your competitors, although you

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are offering very similar products. Again, it's

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worth considering both your own views and those

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of your customers or potential customers or lost

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customers or anything of the like, even the people

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that you just communicate with on a day -to -day

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basis. Find out what those people think and may

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need... which may need to have you run what they

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call market research to figure out a solution

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or, you know, just some self -consideration,

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some self -thought. The whole key to this weakness

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thing is to be as realistic as possible. You

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need to face up to the problem areas that you

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have and address them, not walk away from them,

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not hide them, not cover them, you know, do something

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about it. Okay, next is opportunities. Identifying

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opportunities requires you to look outward and

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into the future a bit of ways in some way or

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form. What's on the horizon? What can you take

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advantage of? What can give you that competitive

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edge that you need? You know, possible opportunities,

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possible outcomes, examples, new technologies,

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changes in the markets, things that can help

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you exploit. And this is going to sound weird,

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but exploit. your customers in a faster way or

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rather exploit your competitors you know what

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they can't do but you can do use it to your advantage

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something that can help promote you moving forward

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global changes such as lifestyle changes population

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changes or pandemic we're gonna leave that one

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alone Or political shifts, kind of like the previous

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presidential election, for example. Those may

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affect your customers' views on what they behave

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in, how they buy stuff, things of that nature.

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You know, changes in regulations, political opinions,

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although those you need to consider as early

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as possible. Local nation events, selling opportunities

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that allow you to raise your profile or profit.

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Essentially, that's the whole point of opportunities.

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Opportunities may require you to change... In

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some way, to take advantage of whatever is right

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there in front of you. Example, in hiring new

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staff members or developing new skills. As you

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identify opportunities there, it's therefore

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always worth highlighting anything you would

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need to do to exploit them fully to their best

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advantages. Okay? Tip for the day. Use your strengths

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and weaknesses to identify opportunities. When

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you have identified all your obvious opportunities,

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it's a good idea to review your strengths to

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see if any of them open up any new opportunities

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in anyone else's minds by combining them with

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a weakness that you have to make that weakness

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a strong point for you. You can also review your

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weaknesses in a way and ask them if you can take

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advantage of them in a different way that will

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allow you to also either eliminate the weakness

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or... Shaded enough that it's no longer a problem.

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And then last but not least, threats. Threats

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include anything that can harm you, your business,

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or damage your position in the market. They therefore

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include changes to the government. I think I

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already covered that, but I mean, it's a weakness,

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it's a threat. It's also an opportunity. So this

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is one of those that's like a double -edged sword.

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Changes in the government make it harder to build

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or eliminate business advantages that you hold.

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Changes to your competitors that allow you to

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catch or overtake them. Financial issues that

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might prevent you from taking advantages like

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excessive debt or controlling stockholders, which

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that shareholder, sorry, that could be a bit

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of a pain. Or again, the natural change in the

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market, which is currently going on right now.

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Remember, threats are often the flip side of

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an opportunity, but you can turn those threats

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into opportunities if you know how to do it.

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How you do that is a threat, if identified early

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enough, can be an opportunity because you can

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overcome it faster than your competitors will.

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And this is something to keep in mind, especially

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for big corporations like Microsoft, Google,

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or even Sony with their PlayStation 5. I mean,

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there's a lot of threats out there. There's a

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lot of issues going on out there, especially

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the scalpers. But if you find a way to work around

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it, you can turn it into a profitable situation

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for you. Okay, so now we know how to do a SWOT

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analysis. Now this begs the question, when do

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you use a SWOT analysis? Well, I can answer that

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several different ways, but let's just go with

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the general idea. You can find this information

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anywhere online, so you know I'm not just making

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this up, okay? I'm taking bits and pieces from

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different websites as I go, but this is a known

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fact. I've done this for a while now. So it's

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not that you can't find it, but it'll be a lot

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easier if all the information is in one place

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and summarized to the point where you can understand

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it. So question, when to use a SWOT analysis?

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Well, you can use a SWOT analysis in several

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different ways with several different possible

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purposes that can help you. The most common one

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would be the useful icebreaker or starting exercise,

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you know, in any strategic planning, you know.

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Because it gets everyone thinking about how to

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get everybody on the same line with a common

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understanding of either the problems or the advantages

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that they're currently about to face. Another

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one is, you know, I mean, it can be used to surface

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hidden issues and problems, but in a safe way.

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Because its structure requires discussion about

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the problems and the weaknesses. So it's already

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out in the open, but now you're making it a little

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bit easier for everyone to understand. It can

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be used to discuss one or more specific problems

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and identify a way forward using those issues

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or any solutions that you come up with. It also

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is useful in thinking generally about a change

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in strategy. Like, say, the one you had before

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didn't work. Okay, so where shall we go from

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here? That's the type of question you should

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be asking. Like, what can we do now? This didn't

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work, so what's our next best option? You can

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also use it to think about your competitors.

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if you're a business person, and analyze their

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position to show where you can take advantage

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of whatever they missed. In other words, it's

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very, very, very, very, very flexible. This means

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that if you don't feel that you're getting very

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much by operating at a particular level, for

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example, thinking about general challenges that

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organizations or groups may face, you may want

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to stop and drill down into more detail into

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particular areas instead. So here's a tip for

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that. Getting the most out of a SWOT analysis

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for strategic planning revolves around the personal

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skill of most people and how they handle it.

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A SWOT analysis is at its best when participants

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are required to be as specific as possible. For

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example, they should be challenged to quantify

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likely gains from particular opportunities or

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strengths, this has a better value. Okay. It's

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great that it has a better value, but why does

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it have a better value? What good does it do?

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You know, is there, if there's time, is it also

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helpful to get the participant? I'm sorry. It

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is also helpful to get participants to think

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about which factors are most important so that

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they can get some agreement. on the priorities

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for main action and activity moving forward.

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Now, remember to carry forward the findings from

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the SWOT analysis into later strategic planning.

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Don't just do it once, think that that topic

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is done, and then move on to the next one. You

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carry that information with you, especially if

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the next task requires the previous one. Just

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because the previous task is done doesn't mean

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the whole project as a whole is finished. A SWOT

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analysis helps in many, many ways, and its main

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focus is to help you understand just how much

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work you need to do or your group needs to do

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to either quantify the total result and make

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it the most likely achieved goal that everyone's

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aiming for, or at least if the goal is unattainable,

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make it somewhat reachable or find something

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similar to the goal you were trying to achieve

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before. That's the only purpose that this serves.

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And like I said before, it's very, very flexible.

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Okay? It can be used in many different settings.

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You know, from planning your future to going

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to college to getting an apartment. It's just

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a matter of the person and how much thought they're

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willing to put into it and how much effort they're

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willing to spend. Okay? All right. And that's

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it for a basic SWOT analysis. Okay. Like I said,

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SWOT analysis has been around and used in businesses

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for over 50 years. And they can even be used

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in non -business situations. It's a simple structure.

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It's easy to apply. It's very flexible. It's

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useful in many tools or situations. You can use

00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:29.200
it as a tool. You can use that tool to make other

00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:32.440
tools that are more useful. I mean, yes, we have

00:15:32.440 --> 00:15:34.340
a lot of new features and functions and stuff

00:15:34.340 --> 00:15:37.200
nowadays that we can use. But sometimes the old

00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.659
stuff is better. It's just a matter of how it's

00:15:40.659 --> 00:15:43.460
being used, who's using it, when they use it,

00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.379
and how much effort you're willing to put into

00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:50.120
it. Now, I covered what a SWOT analysis is as

00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:52.480
a general whole. But next time, I'm going to

00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:55.639
cover a personal SWOT analysis in a little more

00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:58.980
detail so that you know how to use this in your

00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:02.299
day -to -day life. with little to almost no effort

00:16:02.299 --> 00:16:09.379
all right well guys it's been fun but it's time

00:16:09.379 --> 00:16:11.679
to go this has been food for thought thoughts

00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:14.600
if it were you and i'm your host neogentrix and

00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:16.360
i'm gonna catch y 'all next time peace