Most people remember the acronym SWOT for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.

One time I had a client ask to do a SWOT before they renewed their strategic plan.  It was a difficult time right after a provincial election that was creating chaos in their funding.

They first did a brainstorm of their Strengths and Weaknesses in their own teams.    

I then had a day to facilitate workshops on their Opportunities and Threats. I decided to do it the other way around, to focus on the negative of threats first, and then challenge them to think of opportunities.  The threats were an easy brainstorm, but it was hard to keep them moving.  Clustering by underlying threats was a challenge, to come up with the contradictions language for naming them that was beyond blame and despair.  I left the workshop results on the wall but moved them to the side.

After a break, we came back to articulate the Opportunities.  I asked the question “What are opportunities at this current time to do things in a new way?” The brainstorm took a long time, but it started gaining momentum in the small groups.  Then we clustered the opportunities, and the naming came up with some really big and creative opportunities.

The mood of the group shifted, and when we did the strategic plan renewal after a week or so, it was filled with creative new directions that made a huge difference in the organization’s impact.   

I now try to use the acronym as SWTO, although it is more difficult to say as a word!