How
to Do a Team SWOT Analysis
By Jeannette
Buller Slater
You know the
scenario…your mission team leader has just called you and asked if you would
come to the team meeting on Thursday to help them set a new direction for the
year. With new members on the team, there’s great energy to see some new
initiatives started. You don’t want to
walk in empty-handed but you really want to see the team take ownership for the
direction they choose. How can you help them catch a fresh vision for missions?
Coaching,
whether with an individual or a team, starts with the premise that God has
already been speaking to those you coach and your role is simply to ask the
right questions to help the coachee discover that direction. When coaching a
team, one of the challenges is to help each person on the team participate and
yet keep the whole team moving in the same direction.
Before
setting new direction, it’s always good to begin by evaluating where you are
right now. Getting ‘the lay of the land’ will enable you to see, evaluate and
celebrate what God has already been doing. You will also be able to assess
on-going ministry opportunities and resources you can take advantage of.
The SWOT Model
A great tool
to help you do this with a team is the SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The tool is a 4 quadrant square (see example
on next page). Strengths and
Opportunities are positioned on the left side of the square, encompassing the
positive aspects of your situation. The Weaknesses and Threats, on the right
side, help you look at the challenging aspects of your ministry situation. Strengths and Weaknesses are on the top,
primarily focused on internal aspects of the ministry while Opportunities and
Threats, on the bottom, focus on external aspects of your situation.
When
working with a team you will need a writing space large enough, such as a white
board, to capture the teams input. We
suggest that you begin by asking the team what strengths they see in the
existing ministry. It’s always good to
start out with the positive and take time to celebrate what God is already
doing. Then move on to Weaknesses,
Opportunities (not yet taken advantage of) and Threats or obstacles that would
keep the team from accomplishing their goals. Try to exhaust ideas for each
list before going on to the next.
As
a coach you will need to help the team keep the focus on the present ministry
and not get side-tracked. You may want
to go around the group and have people take turns adding their comments to each
list. In this way everyone will contribute which will increase their investment
in the process and the outcome. Resist
the temptation to rephrase their comments into your own language – use their
words! If the comment is too long to write, ask them to rephrase it.
After
you have filled out each quadrant to the satisfaction of the team, ask them to
reflect on what they observe about their present situation. Have someone
transcribe the list onto a paper that can be given or emailed out to the team
for their prayer and reflection.
You
now have a word picture of your present situation! To take the next step,
follow up with an APA
Analysis using the tool found at this link.
SWOT
Analysis Tool
Use this
tool to help a team take an honest look at the present ministry landscape.
|
Strengths What is
working well? |
Weaknesses What needs
improvement or change? |
|
Opportunities What
opportunities are around us? |
Threats What
obstacles do we face? |
Jeannette Buller Slater has
been a coach since 1984. She offers executive coaching for pastors and church
planters through www.CoachingPastors.com