Are you analysing SWOT correctly?

The task of engineering science is not only to know, but to know how - Alfred Korzybski

Background

The circumstances of World War II introduced major changes to the way in which societies operated all over the world, and much of what constituted 'normal life' had to be sacrificed to the war effort. The academic world, being affected by the environmental changes could not remain immune since young men went off to fight in the armed forces, and the efforts of many of those remaining were concentrated on satisfying the demands exacted by the war on producing more arms and material for the conflict as also provide food to the population. The changes of attitude consequent on these new demands meant that academia, in general, was more devoted to problem-solving than theory generation, and this orientation affected what was written and published during this period.

The second change which came about during this process was that a lot of studies were carried out in the field of 'man management' and how someone could be motivated to go and get himself killed when the basic nature of man was to 'survive'. This led to 'management research' and use of what was done in the military to be adopted for 'business'. However, as is always the case, changing the context involves some amount of deletions, distortions and generalisations and these with time led to incorrect judgements and conclusions.

One of the 'tools' used by Trainers in the corporate environment is the 'SWOT Analysis'. I recently attended a training session where I was the next speaker and the gentleman who was training was talking how SWOT Analysis is a useful tool and asked the participants to do a 'Self SWOT Analysis'. 'What are your strengths?' he said, 'what are your weaknesses?, what opportunities do you have and what are the threats?' as I looked on aghast at the absurdity of these questions in the absence of context.

Context Dependency

Any 'tool' is always context dependent. Which means, created for a particular context. The Trainers who understand this use appropriate tools for appropriate trainings. Take for example the FISH! philosophy, modeled after the Pike Place Fish Market, in Seattle, USA. John Christensen, a filmmaker, visited the market, saw what was going on and created this philosophy in 1998 to improve 'organisational culture' and create a happy workplace. He studied that the people working at that market were happy and wrote his bestselling book in which he devised the 'mantra' to be happy at work. The central four ideas are: choose your attitude; play; make someone’s day; and be there.

The Fish Market at Pike Place Seattle runs from about 4 am to 10 am. For 6 hours, in the cold climate, throwing fish from one end to another keeps the fishmongers warm, it brings in more customers who come to see the spectacle and thereby buy the fish, and that act makes someone's day. Also, if you are 'not there' you will have a two kilogram fish landing on your face! Expecting a BPO telecaller who has 12 hour shifts in which neither does he see the customer nor has the customer voluntarily come to him follow the FISH philosophy is plain darn stupid. Especially the HR Manager who got the Trainer to conduct this particular training - like it is seen in the training industry. Zero Training Needs Analysis and tick marked trainings fulfilled which maintains status quo. Right?

SWOT

Before any military operation, one of the ways in which options are weighed and the best option arrived at is called 'a tactical appreciation'. In this process, all possible factors are evaluated, deductions arrived at, options prioritised on various counts ultimately leading to the outline plan of action. Which is then made into a detailed plan for execution. One of the parts of any military tactical appreciation process is a SWOT Analysis.

A SWOT Analysis is carried out as a 'comparison' between two options. What is the Strength vis a vis others? What are the weaknesses of this option? What are the opportunities that will be exploited by this option? What are the threats that we have to keep in mind and overcome if we were to choose this option?

In the business context, where can a SWOT Analysis be carried out? Anywhere you are weighing options - should we launch a product now or after Diwali? Should we launch Product A or Product B. Should the CEO train the Management or train the Executives first? Anywhere there are more than one option, the SWOT Analysis, if framed well and carried out within the boundaries of context, will give fruitful results.

Let's take an example. A corporate entity approached me to train their Sales Team. They had got the same training done from Dale Carnegie Training India (DC) last year. So if this company 'X' decided to carry out their SWOT Analysis for Anchor NLP (my company) it would be as under:-

(a) Strengths. Anchor NLP uses Brain Pattern Reengineering as opposed to Templated Sales Techniques by other companies and thus will make lasting changes and get sales force to remain motivated and achieve laid down targets and maybe even surpass them leading to more revenue, better results and happier manpower.

(b) Weaknesses. Lack of experience of Anchor NLP (established in 2016) in comparison to DC (which has been around for a 100 years) and also it is a smaller company vis a vis DC.

(c) Opportunity. Because of less experience and being a smaller company, the training is reasonably cheaper as well as being based out of Noida, Anchor NLP is easily accessible and the company deals directly with the person carrying out the Training and not some Head Office Sales guy.

(d) Threat. Since we have not used them earlier, can they deliver what they promise? What would happen if they can't?

So for Company X to engage me, they have to overcome the threat - either believing what I have said that I will deliver or saying that yes we will write off this amount of money and conduct training from someone more established in the business in case this training fails. And since both these criteria can be met, we will go ahead and use Anchor NLP for the training.

Individual SWOT

There are Trainers (unfortunately even ex Military Officers) who ask participants to conduct a SWOT Analysis about themselves. Ironically, I heard this in a seminar organised for about-to-retire armed forces personnel who were preparing for a second inning after military duty.

Each person operates from various self identities. A woman may be a mother, a sister, a wife, a daughter and a professional. Each of these identities require different attributes. As a mother she is more assertive, decisive and yet patient. As a daughter, when she goes back to the home she grew up in, she need not take responsibility and would rather bask in the love and care afforded by her parents. As a professional, on the other hand she has to adhere to deadlines and therefore may have to rescind patience sometimes. These are just examples and I am sure when you start thinking along these lines you will come up with many more.

Another important aspect that we must keep in mind at this juncture is that strengths and weaknesses are again context dependent. We conducted a research last year (on a sample group of about one hundred adults between the ages of 28 and 42) as to what each of them thought and was convinced was their biggest strength. And we proved to each one of them that the same happened to be their biggest weakness in a different context.

Like for example according to Ms A, her greatest strength was 'hard work' - which is why she was never satisfied doing something which did not require her to toil hard and burn the midnight oil. She was never satisfied with her creative pursuits because she thought there was always more to be done and although she had brilliant paintings ready to display, she didn't think she could ever have an exhibition of her work.

Another example was Ms S. Her greatest strength as per her was tenacity, the ability to hold on. Which worked in some contexts but not in the context of the abusive marriage she was in. Her strength in other contexts was preventing her from walking out of the abuse. Strength in one context = Weakness in another context.

So all those Trainers who ask you to do a SWOT Analysis devoid of context are running you up the hill only to run you down again. It will not lead you to any conclusion nor to any outcome. Because SWOT Analysis is designed as a comparative analysis.

We live in a world that is constantly changing, and the only way we can remain updated and relevant in this constantly changing world is to adapt at the speed of change. The biggest roadblock in this path of change is the inertia of rest - our safety in the comfort zone. We need to get out of the comfort zone and develop the ability to question Trainers as to what they are teaching.

Then, and only then, will you not get stuck on tools and techniques and excel by getting over the blocks that we have created for ourselves in our heads.