Like the QWERTY keyboard which refuses to go away, SWOT analysis as a way of analyzing your readiness for engaging with the future, has also become very persistent and pervasive.
For some of us who work in the world of personal and organizational change, we know that a focus on the negative merely reinforces past patterns of activity, and so we try to analyze situations in a more positive or dynamic way that generates forward movement, generates enthusiasm and taps into passions.
In the world of Appreciative Inquiry, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) has been recast with a positive spin with SOAR - stories of success, opportunities available to us, aspirations for the future and resources available and needed to attain our aspirations.
For some of us who work in the world of personal and organizational change, we know that a focus on the negative merely reinforces past patterns of activity, and so we try to analyze situations in a more positive or dynamic way that generates forward movement, generates enthusiasm and taps into passions.
In the world of Appreciative Inquiry, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) has been recast with a positive spin with SOAR - stories of success, opportunities available to us, aspirations for the future and resources available and needed to attain our aspirations.
In our world of the complex adaptive systems, we have developed the Choice Trilogy, to take into account the fact that every so often, our socio-technological system undergoes huge upheavals, and some aspects of our lives need to be shed before we can move forward. At these turning points, which we as major societal shifts, such as the current transition from the Knowledge Economy to the Wisdom Economy, we reinvent not only our products and services, but the way we make them, the skills we need, and our more complex roles.
The Choice Trilogy has a dynamic forward motion, that includes a step of reinvention. It helps us think about what's working well that we want to KEEP as a firm foundation, what's getting in the way we need to ABANDON, and what we could do differently that we should REINVENT.
We use the question as part of a series of questions. We begin by developing a shared model of the major changes that are taking places in the world, and within this context, explore what we have to now do to be successful.
So why not give the process a try::
1. Trends: Describe the major trends that are impacting on your world. Social, economic, political, environmental, cultural etc.
2. Choice Trilogy: Thinking about your most recent projects or programs, what aspects of the project worked well that you want to KEEP? What do you want to ABANDON that was a barrier to your success? What do you feel drawn to REINVENT that shows potential? Respond like this KEEP: (25 word descriptions of what worked well).
3. Project: Describe a project you would like to start to day that will make a big difference to the future. Respond like this. Name of project (5 word title), 25-word description, and the results we want to achieve: (time, savings, and deliverables Say why it will be a success?
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