How to Create a Simple SWOT Diagram

A SWOT analysis is a valuable tool for any business, and especially useful for business consultants and students. SWOT is the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is often diagrammed for comparisons. Identifying and analyzing these criteria gives a manager, consultant or business owner a snapshot of how an organization is doing. Create a simple SWOT Diagram to identify these four defining factors for your company or organization.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Begin to mentally categorize and think about strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats within and surrounding a company, organization or situation you want to analyze to create a simple SWOT diagram.
2. Draw a large box and then draw lines to divide it into four equal boxes. Label each box with one title, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Put the titles in order so that you can compare strengths with weaknesses and opportunities with threats.
3. Use different colored pens or markers to draw and write with if you have them available so that you can make the different box titles and lists stand out more. Leave enough room for lists in each box to make a simple SWOT diagram.
4. Determine the organization's current strengths. Include items that add value to the organization, such as products, location or expertise. Take account of financial successes and recent growth as well.
5. Identify the organization's existing weaknesses next. Ask yourself what the organization's value destroying issues are. Find things that are now hurting your company or organization, such as products that are exactly the same as your competitors which are not selling, a tarnished reputation and employee morale.
6. Compare your strengths and weaknesses once you've exhausted ideas and items for each list. These are your internal factors to work with. Evaluate your opportunities and threats next—they are your external factors.
7. Recognize your organization's opportunities. These are creating value for your organization or company from the outside (things beyond your organization's control) and should include items like a growing market and weak competitors.
8. Make decisions about what to list for your threats. Understand that these will be items that are affecting your organization or company from the outside and you have no control over them. Add items to your list that are threats to your company or organization, such as a competitor has come out with an innovative product that will make yours obsolete, new trade regulations or new laws that will inhibit your operations.
9. Start comparing your organization's opportunities and threats now. Look for patterns that emerge in your comparisons. Realize that although you may be able to identify items that can be changed immediately from your SWOT diagram, other things may take some time and consultation with other members of your organization. Understand that you may not be able to resolve certain issues right away or at all.

Tips & Warnings

• Know that you can make your SWOT diagram more complex with subcategories but simple is better because it's easier to see and compare items.
• Download software or templates for SWOT diagrams online to use in presentations and for meetings.