I don’t know if this is a common thing to do, but it struck me as kind of obvious that a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, & Threats) analysis can help identify the proficiencies & deficiencies of your team.  While a lot of it may be obvious, it will help with goal-setting & give you an understanding of what you need to avoid.

I remember learning about this stuff in college.  And the only thing that ran through my mind was, “When the hell am I going to use this…ever?”  Hmmm…how about now?

Strengths: what you & the team do well (what’s helpful internally)

• What is already working well? What related strengths does that reveal?
• What are your team’s core competencies?
• What skills & abilities does your team possess that are relevant to your organizational role?
• What resources do you have at your disposal?
• What specialized knowledge or expertise do you have access to?
• Who can you go to for support or help?
• What proprietary tools can you use?  Is there an opportunity to develop your own (depends on cost to organization)?

Weaknesses: what you & the team do not do well (what’s harmful internally)

• I.e. employees who fail to hold themselves accountable & act in a professional manner.  Team members not asking questions.
• What is not working in this area right now? What related weaknesses does that reveal?
• List the main liabilities related to your team.
• What are the relevant skills & abilities that you would find helpful in this result area?  Which ones are you the least proficient at?
• List the specialized knowledge or expertise that you would find helpful in this result area. Any knowledge or expertise that you lack could be considered a weakness.
• Are there any resources (budget, time, help) that you currently don’t have access to?

Opportunities: what’s helpful externally

• I.e. on-time delivery of campaign assets.  Clear direction.
• What is the one thing you could do that would significantly improve your situation in this area?
• What other important goals should you pursue?
• How can you take advantage of your strengths?
• What opportunities have you considered in the past but never pursued?
• What opportunities would arise if you eliminate some of your weaknesses?

Threats: what’s harmful externally

• I.e. late delivery of assets by client lead to crunched deadlines that increase the potential for mistakes.
• Make a list of serious risks you are facing in this area if you continue along your current path.
• What are the obstacles impeding your progress?
• What environmental factors are affecting you negatively?
• Think about how current changes to your environment or circumstances could affect you negatively.

From this, the following should become clear by the way of each quadrant.

• SO Quadrant – Your low-hanging fruit; use your strengths to pursue new opportunities.
• ST Quadrant – Use your strengths to eliminate threats.
• WO Quadrant – Understand weaknesses & how they are roadblocks to opportunity.  These are things to improve.
• WT Quadrant – Identify weaknesses that will lead to threats.  Use this to avoid or minimize risk.

Should the need arise, take some time to analyze and evaluate both your team’s & your own current situation and environment.  The main purpose is to identify goals that will be most beneficial to your team’s success. It is a way of matching your team’s capabilities, resources and liabilities with the external and internal factors you are facing.  By identifying weaknesses that may lead to future threats, you’ll be ahead of the game & will be able to lessen their impact or eliminate them altogether.  When in doubt, tie everything to the business & how you plan to reach your clients’ goals; whatever they may be.

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• Succeeding in the Face of Failure

Not getting the help you need from above?  Is your team’s performance not up to par?  Because of this, is your ass are your feet being held to the fire?  When you are stuck between the proverbial rock & a hard place, what do you do? 

It is in these times that true leaders emerge & separate themselves from everyone else.  By taking ownership of the situation & making both your team & yourself (even if you are, in actuality, assuming some of your boss’s roles & responsibilities) more accountable you can begin to make your professional life easier.  Hard work & extreme dedication will be required, but it will be to your benefit & ultimately gain the attention needed to get things done.  If it doesn’t, you work for idiots & need to find a new job where your skills & abilities are appreciated & put to good use.

In a tough economy, you should have some awareness of the fact that your job could be in jeopardy (too many people in the agency world fail to grasp this).  The more you can do, the more valuable you are to your company & the harder it would be to get rid of you.  Put that in your pipe & smoke it.

On Monday I’ll post my plan of attack.  The concept & subsequent analysis are not new, but the application of may not be very common.  Who knows?  I don’t.  In the meantime, feel free to share some of your difficult organizational experiences & how you overcame them.

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• Evaluate the Proficiencies & Deficiencies of Your Team