An inquiry based leader will...
implement S.w.o.t. (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
S.W.O.T. stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This analysis serves as a guide for leaders to identify the positives and negatives inside and outside of their organization. School leaders often use this type of analysis to guide creation of a vision and guide the planning process. The S.W.O.T. analysis can provide insights and perspectives to guide the decision making process and reveal explicit and tacit knowledge within the learning organization. As shown in the sample S.W.O.T. analysis chart below, strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors and opportunities and threats are the external factor that need to be considered throughout the planning process.
Reference: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1049.aspx
Steps for Implementing SWOT:
- Create four quadrants. Label the first quadrant strengths, the second quadrant as weaknesses, then opportunities, and finally threats.
- Inquire with stakeholders regarding the strengths of your district and record them in the corresponding quadrant. Remember that these are internal forces.
- Analyze your weaknesses and record them in the corresponding quadrant of your SWOT analysis. Like strengths, these will be internal. It is important to be honest. By identifying the organization’s weaknesses, you can be better prepared to lead the process of overcoming them.
- What external factors can become opportunities? How can your district develop partnerships with community businesses and agencies? How can you encourage parents to be more involved in the learning process? List all possibilities in the opportunities quadrant.
- Threats are external. What threatens your plan and vision? Identifying threats will help the school to be more prepared to avoid or overcome them.
- The final step is the analysis. Analyze what you've recorded. This is most effective when done with a team.
For additional resources on implementing S.W.O.T. Analysis in your school district:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/SWOTAnalysisWorksheet.pdf
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1049.aspx
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/worksheets/SWOTAnalysisWorksheet.pdf
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1049.aspx