Before Visioning, SWOT Analysis is necessary.
Let's analyze your SWOTS. There are some well-proven techniques you can use for building a vision of what you want your organization to become. But first, let’s take stock. Before we go into the future, let's make sure you know what you are now, in the world that exists today. Before the future is the past. Before we think about where we're going, let's think about where we are as an organization. Before we consider how we'll get where we're going, we must understand what got us where we are. Analyzing our Strengths , Weakness, Opportunities and Threats is a proven method for evaluating the good and the bad, the possibilities and the dangers we face in the future. In either a for profit or non-profit enterprise, we consider these factors in a competitive atmosphere. What strengths can help us, which weaknesses will hurt us, which opportunities should we pursue, and which threats must we combat? In the next posts we’ll talk about SWOTs, one at a time.
The technique of analyzing SWOTS is a well-tested method of getting ready for visioning. SWOT means Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. In this process remember that you are thinking about your organization and its environment as it is, not as it might be.
I want to convince you that SWOT analysis is essential to your visioning process, and to your continuing success. In one of the best business books I know, I found this statement in a chapter on the qualities of great leaders: "Recognizing strengths and compensating for weaknesses represent the first step in achieving positive self-regard.*" I think we can't build a vision that is attractive, worthwhile and achievable without understanding where we start from.
*Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus, "Leaders; Strategies for Taking Charge," HarperCollins, New York, 2003.
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