SWOT Analysis Dionne Hilton 05/04/2017

What is it? SWOT Analysis is a structured planning tool that evaluates four elements with regards to an organisation, project, issue and ultimately aids decision making . SWOT stands for; Strengths; characteristics that give the option, business or project an advantage over others Weaknesses; disadvantage over others Opportunities; elements that could be explored to the advantage of option, business or project. Threats; elements that could cause problems for option, business or project.

How it works Identify characteristics under each heading. Prioritise each item identified under the four sections is then evaluated, via a scoring system by; Importance – Giving it a number between 1 and 10 based on how important the strength is regarding the challenge or change as some strengths (or weaknesses) might be more important than others Rating – Assigning another number to each item to indicate whether it is a major or minor strength, weakness, or the probability of it occurring (for opportunities and threats) The score is then calculated based on multiplying the importance and rating values The highest scores can then determine the decisions

How it might be useful in coaching It can be useful to help a coachee explore and evaluate options. A coach could help the individual explore the four aspects with regards to the issue or challenge. Questions to ask may include; What are the strengths of this option; Explain the weaknesses regarding this option Describe the opportunities around this option Could there be any threats to exploring this option

How it might be useful in coaching Following the questioning the coach could support the individual to examine which option might be most appropriate based on their answers to the SWOT analysis or evaluate how much strength, weakness, opportunity or threat each item contains and what subsequent action or planning needs to take place A series of goals will then naturally arise from the exercise. This tool also gives the individual an opportunity to discuss the personal values related to their situation.