Ever feel confused where to go next with potential opportunities?  Try the SWOT analysis: a quick and easy way to evaluate new programs, ideas, and strategies.

During a strategic meeting today, the leadership team was dropping the phrase, "We should do a SWOT on that" and our admin assistant finally asked me what the hell they were talking about. I'm glad she asked the question - and it made me realize there are some incredibly effective techniques for dealing with new opportunities that many people are not familiar with.

Do you know what SWOT stands for?  It's okay if you don't - you're here to learn.  SWOT is an acronym (that's a word where each letter represents a word - wow, you're learning all kinds of stuff today! including some terrible grammar and punctuation from this blog post!). Anyway, it stands for STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, and THREATS (S.W.O.T.).  As you work with it, keep in mind that typically the 1st two (strengths and weaknesses) are typically internal to the team or organization, the 2nd two are usually external (outside of the company, team or organization).

Here's an example, which hits close to home and is totally transparent:

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• Lorenc Consulting and Entertainment wants to launch corporate training to companies worldwide, using the concepts of improv comedy:
• (S) STRENGTHS:
• * We've been doing it for 8 years
• * Whenever we do it, we get rave reviews
• * We can customize the training for groups and companies
• * Our trainers are very knowledgeable on improv
• * We have worked with large, worldwide clients already
• * We have a niche market for team building using improv comedy
• (W) WEAKNESSES:
• * Schedules of trainers make it tough to schedule
• * We don't currently have a worldwide reach other than previous clients
• * Our costs are prohibitive for smaller companies or organizations
• * Communicating the importance of our message
• * Creating a sales pitch that encompasses what we do 
• * Helping organization and teams find value before they see the results of the training
• (O) OPPORTUNITIES: 

• * Using our connections through Center for Creative Leadership and other worldwide organizations to promote our training
• * Finding non-profits to "donate" our training hours with hope of word-of-mouth advertising

• * Making more connections to Organizational Development (OD) professionals
• * Networking with individuals with whom we've done Confidence Coaching
• (T) THREATS:
• * Larger improv groups and training companies taking development money 
• * Online training and low-cost solutions