Many planning models include an assessment of internal STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES and external OPPORTUNITIES and THREATS. (Thus the acronym, SWOT). This is often completed during a planning session through a polling or brainstorming session. This is often sufficient, but sometimes it lacks the depth and objectivity needed to inform decisions.
Using the tools on this website you can .......
or you can use the "VIRTUAL SWOT" questionnaire to gather input from key informants, to rank-order that input and to feed the results back to respondents. Once you have the SWOT input, you can then use the planning session to focus on exploring strategies using the matrix below..
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES: When external opportunities (e.g. aging population) meet internal strengths (e.g. services to seniors) the organization is well-positionned to grow and develop new products or services for existing markets or to take existing products and services to new markets. Sometimes it puts organizations in position to do both, that is to take new products or services to new clients!
DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES: The scariest scenario can be the unhappy convergence of a major internal weakness with a real external threat. (Many non-profits recently faced this reality as governments cut back funding and they had no internal capacity to do fund-raisng from other sources.) Many had to respond by hiring professional fund-raisers and or restructuirng their boards to attract volunteers with fund-raising strengths.
PARTNERING STRATEGIES: When an external opportunity is presented to an organization without an internal capacity to respond, one option is to let the opportunity pass. However, there are other options. This is where alliances, mergers, acquisitions and partnering arrangements with complimentary organizations may allow your organization to take advantage of the opportunity. Rural credit unions have used this strategy to access urban markets.
OFFENSIVE STRATEGIES: When an external threat (e.g. Walmart comes to town) comes up against an internal strength (e.g. a large base of loyal customers), some organizations fight back and win by pushing those strengths to the extreem.
