How do you monitor and update your SWOT analysis to reflect changing internal and external factors?

1 Why review your SWOT analysis?

Your SWOT analysis is not something to be created and forgotten. It is a dynamic and evolving framework that should be updated periodically to accurately reflect your current situation. By reviewing your SWOT analysis, you can track progress and performance against goals and benchmarks, identify new strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may affect strategy, evaluate the effectiveness of actions and initiatives, and adjust priorities and resources to optimize results.

2 How often should you review your SWOT analysis?

The frequency of reviewing your SWOT analysis depends on the nature and scope of your project or goal, the volatility and complexity of your environment, and the availability and reliability of your data and feedback. However, some general guidelines include reviewing it at least once a year, or more frequently if there are significant changes in your internal or external context. Additionally, you should review it before making any major decisions or changes in your strategy or tactics, after completing a milestone or a phase of your project or goal, and whenever you encounter a challenge or an opportunity that may affect your assumptions or outcomes.

3 How to collect data and feedback for your SWOT analysis?

When reviewing your SWOT analysis, it’s important to collect data and feedback from various sources to validate or invalidate your assumptions and confirm or contradict your findings. This can include quantitative data like sales figures and customer satisfaction, as well as qualitative data from customer reviews and employee surveys. You should also look at competitor analysis, industry analysis, and SWOT analysis of successful projects or goals to gain insight into their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, strategies, results, etc.

4 How to analyze data and feedback for your SWOT analysis?

Once you have collected data and feedback, you should analyze them to identify patterns, insights, gaps, and implications for your SWOT analysis. You can employ various methods and tools to analyze data and feedback, including data visualization, data analysis techniques, data interpretation methods, and data validation methods. For example, charts, graphs, tables, dashboards, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, correlation, regression, SWOT matrix, TOWS matrix, SOAR analysis and PESTLE analysis can all be used. Additionally, triangulation, cross-checking and peer review are all valuable data validation methods.

5 How to update your SWOT analysis based on data and feedback?

After analyzing data and feedback, you need to update your SWOT analysis accordingly. Comparing your current SWOT analysis with the data and feedback collected can help identify any discrepancies or inconsistencies. It is important to determine the causes and consequences of these discrepancies or inconsistencies, as well as decide what changes or adjustments need to be made. Finally, you may need to revise your vision, mission, objectives, strategies, or actions based on the new situation and expectations, then implement the changes to your SWOT analysis.