How to Write a SWOT Analysis (Template and Examples Included) | clerk (2023)

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planning the future

Where do you see yourself in five years? And your career? Your business?

These questions keep a surprising number of people up at night. The future can often seem like a dark, ominous cloud hovering just out of sight. As the old proverb goes, we fear the unknown, and there can be little more unknowable than the future.

While there is no crystal ball that can accurately predict future market trends or the steps you should take to optimize your productivity and improve your competitive advantage, we can offer some advice: Rephrase the question. Instead of trying to pinpoint where you think you could be in five years, think about whereI want to beat this moment. Once you have a destination in mind, you can start planning a route to get there. After all, maps are great tools, but they can't help you if you don't know where you're going.

So what is the metaphorical map in this scenario? We present the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).

How to write a SWOT analysis

SWOT analyzes are excellent strategic tools useful in project planning,Business development, financial strategy andpersonal progress🇧🇷 Simple, honest and direct, they facilitate a deep understanding of your current situation or your company. Essentially, a SWOT analysis is a comparative list of all your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

There is more power in this process than you think. You may only be vaguely aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. However, carefully recording and reflecting on them creates a thorough and conscious familiarity with both the resources available and the obstacles that stand in your way. This awareness allows you to chart a path to your goals with great precision and purpose. Writing a SWOT analysis will help you clearly assess whether your goals are achievable given your resources and needs.

In this guide, we'll break down exactly how to write a SWOT analysis and provide some examples along the way. Feel free to use our SWOT analysis template, provided below, to write your own!

Our SWOT Analysis Template

Forces

Your strengths list should focus on your current resources and skills. It should relate to the things you do or your company does well. These could be your or your company's achievements, big and small, and the assets that you or your company own. Your strengths give you your greatest advantage; they are the features that propel you forward and that you can continue to develop as you go.

When you do your first SWOT analysis, you might feel lost. Don't worry, it's difficult for most people to create an objective list of strengths and weaknesses on the spot. For your convenience, we've included a list of questions you can ask yourself to get started.

These questions should help you identify some of your strengths. Remember, while our sample questions relate primarily to business strengths, they can also be applied to personal strengths. Go ahead, brag as much as you can.

• What sets your company apart from others?
• What do you have that other companies don't?
• What are you most proud of in your company?
• What makes customers come back to you?
• What does your company do well?
• What assets do you have access to?
• What qualities does your company have that other companies try to emulate?
• What has always been easy for your company?

weaknesses

Listing your weaknesses can be a little more complicated than detailing your strengths, but trust me, it will help you in the long run. Understanding the obstacles in your path and the elements of your business or skills you may need to improve is just as important as appreciating your strengths. Once you know your weaknesses, you can start working on them and build your next steps around them.

Your weaknesses list should refer to any current issues and challenges. Please see the list of questions below; should give you an idea of ​​where to start. Again, if you prefer to focus on your personal or professional growth, feel free to modify these questions to suit your needs.

• What makes your company stand out from the competition?
• What do other companies have that you don't?
• What are the most common criticisms you receive from customers?
• Why do some customers not come back to you?
• What does your company need to improve?
• What kind of feedback do you get from your employees?
• What might your competition consider a weakness?
• What has always been difficult for your company?
• What are you not willing to do or change?

Opportunities

Think of the opportunities available to you as potential future strengths. Your opportunities are the assets, resources, and events that can benefit you in some way in the future. You may need to change some of your current approaches or adapt in other ways to capitalize on these opportunities, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to identify your potential opportunities:

• What's happening in the current market that you could capitalize on?
• What changes have you made that have produced positive results?
• What's working for other companies?
• How could you introduce new technology to make your processes more efficient?
• What costs can you reduce?
• Could you explore new industries or demographics?
• How can you improve or modernize your marketing techniques?
• How can existing obstacles be removed?

threats

Just as your opportunities are based on potential, so are your threats; these are the possible obstacles or problems that have not yet been directly affecting your progress. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't start thinking about them! Being aware of the challenges you may encounter will help you plan for them or address them with solutions. Try to think of several future events that could realistically undermine the momentum you build by committing to your strengths and opportunities.

To get started, take a look at our list of questions:

• What obstacles could your weaknesses create?
• Are changing market trends negatively affecting your competitive advantage?
• What might get in the way of changes you make to match your strengths and opportunities?
• Do you have a lot of debts?
• Could your competition exploit your weaknesses?

How did you do it? Do you feel like you've listed everything? Or do you think something is missing? Below, we've outlined a sample personal and business SWOT analysis to give you an idea of ​​what a complete analysis would look like.

An example of a personal SWOT analysis

An example of a business SWOT analysis

Last words

The humble but effective SWOT analysis will produce a detailed map of your current environment, its hills and valleys. Knowing how to write a SWOT analysis will give you the perspective you need to choose a direction and lead the way towards your goals. SWOT analyzes may not be crystal balls, but they are like compasses. Use them wisely and you will never get lost.

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