You’ve heard of a SWOT analysis. But, you don’t know where to start. Even if you did, you don’t have the time.
What if a SWOT analysis could really help your small business, though? What if it could provide direction and help you to look at business decisions through a more beneficial lens?
Are you certain that a SWOT analysis isn’t worth the time and effort? How much of either have you put forth in this pursuit, thus far?
What business decisions have you made recently that you felt were “off.” Do you feel like these decisions are nudging your small business in a decision you don’t want to go?
If you’ve read some of my other posts, you might know that I’m a big believer in the Pareto principle. I think that principle applies here.
Most of the benefits of analyzing your opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses will come from 20% (or so) of the time and effort.
Hopefully, this post will help you isolate that 20% and reap the rewards of a SWOT analysis.
The 5 minute SWOT analysis
Set a timer for 1 minute
Use the ideas I provide as inspiration
Hyper-focus on each section of the SWOT analysis
Don’t overthink
Come back to the analysis with fresh ideas later
For each section, I suggest you take a timer and set it to a minute. Then, spend that minute laser-focused on the task at hand.
In the sections below, I’ll provide thinking points for your small business SWOT analysis. These will hopefully grease the gears and help you to utilize this time to create something useful.
Write down or type whatever comes to mind. Don’t scrutinize your answers too much – there’s not enough time!
The “5-minute” time limit is only used in the title to draw readership. Of course, if you want (or need) more time, take it.
Think of an opportunity while driving home? Discover a threat you had not thought of while reading the news? Has a customer mentioned an undiscovered strength? You can always return to your SWOT analysis and edit it.
Opportunities
Opportunities may not always be obvious. If they were, every company would have a better chance of being successful. You need to keep looking for opportunities and you need to think hard on them if you find one.
Opportunities, in a SWOT analysis, are positive external factors affecting your business. They are outside of your control. Opportunities are great. But, your opportunities are most likely opportunities for your competitors too.
That being said, opportunities aren’t always obvious. If they were, every business would be successful. It can take a keen eye to spot opportunities. If you’re more of a pessimist – remember that nearly every threat can be turned on its head to represent an opportunity. And…vice versa.
It can also be difficult to know how to react to opportunities. But, if you can spot them and take the time to calculate your actions – the result can be very positive for your business.
Ideas for opportunities
What is handled inefficiently in your industry?
What middlemen are offering little value in your industry?
What parts of your business can be digitized?
What would your customers like to have customized?
What training could you provide for customers or other businesses in your industry?
How have franchises performed in your industry?
What are the best-performing businesses in your industry doing right?
Threats are things outside of your control. You should not worry about them for no reason, but make sure you try to be as realistic and reasonable as possible.
Threats, in a SWOT analysis, are negative external factors that could affect your business. They are also outside of your control. But, that doesn’t mean they can’t do serious harm.
Threats, like opportunities, can be turned on their head if you need ideas. Threats and weaknesses are what cause businesses to shut down. Especially when they work in tandem.
You don’t want to drive yourself crazy with threats. But, don’t stick your head in the sand either. Try to be as reasonable and realistic as possible.
Strengths are things that make your business special. This is what makes you better than other businesses. Use them to do good things for your business.
Strengths, in a SWOT analysis, are positive internal factors that (can) help your business succeed. They are unique to you and they give you an edge over the competition.
You want to crank these qualities up and get the most you can out of them. Particularly in instances where you can use your strengths to exploit opportunities or hedge threats.
Being humble is normally good. But, this is not a time for that. On the other hand, don’t let your ego get the best of you. Pretending you have a strength that you really don’t have, is a weakness.
You should try to improve your weaknesses. These flaws could prevent you from capturing opportunities in the future.
Weaknesses, in a SWOT analysis, are negative internal factors that (can) hurt your business’s chances of success. Your competition may or may not do these things well.
You should strive to improve these shortcomings. You don’t necessarily have to turn them into strengths. But, ideally, you’d like to get them to the point of being “good enough.” Weaknesses could prevent you from capitalizing on opportunities. They could also ruin your business if a threat comes along that exploits them.
Nobody likes to admit their shortcomings. Be honest with yourself here and get input from dependable third parties if you must. Weaknesses that are ignored can’t be fixed.
A SWOT analysis is a good way to think about your business environment. You can find out if you have strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats you weren’t aware of. It might seem complicated at first, but it will be worth it.
A SWOT analysis might seem like business school mumbo jumbo. And, it can be if you get lost in the weeds.
Hopefully, if you took the 5 minutes or so to perform a SWOT for your small business, you now have some ideas on:
Opportunities to exploit
Threats to protect against
Strengths to utilize
Weaknesses to fix
Finally, here’s a little food for thought as you work on your business’s SWOT analysis. This poll can be found in my church SWOT analysis post.
If you decide to perform a SWOT analysis (even if it’s a quick one) AND follow up with action, you’ll probably be in rare company. It could give your company the boost it needs to beat the competition and reach your growth goals.
This post was created to provide one of the most thorough resources available on the internet in terms of SWOT analysis templates. Additionally, ideas for completing your small businesses SWOT analysis are also included.
A SWOT analysis helps you to understand the environment your small business operates in. Understanding your environment will help you to capitalize on your strengths, shore up your weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and neutralize threats.
In total, there are 15 templates available for download. Each one with a different design and representing a different type of small business.
The businesses are:
Yoga studio
Healthcare
Restaurant
Retail
Financial Advisor
Web Design
Auto Repair
Life Coach
Pet Services
Real Estate
Cleaning Service
Bed & Breakfast
Bookkeeper
Construction
Consulting
These templates come in a variety of formats including Google Sheets (Excel), Google Docs (Word), and Google Slides (PowerPoint).
Download the SWOT analysis templates
Complete the form below and click Submit. Upon email confirmation, the workbook will open in a new tab.
Filling out the form above will open a spreadsheet with the Google Sheets (Excel) templates.
On the Slides & Docs SWOT worksheet, you will see links to the Google Slides (PowerPoint) and Google Docs (Word) templates. Hover over the template you want to see and click the link that appears to the upper-left.
Sheets (Excel) SWOT analysis templates
The spreadsheet templates are good if you need flexibility in terms of size. Columns and rows can be adjusted as needed. If you need to incorporate any sort of math, spreadsheets will work well. Also, generally, spreadsheet templates are easier to customize than presentations or documents.
On the flip side, spreadsheets aren’t ideal for distribution to outside parties. The presentation or document templates would serve you better for that.
Ranked SWOT for a yoga studio
This SWOT analysis template is a relatively simple 2×2 layout. It gives you the ability to assign a numbered ranking to each Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat. This ranking gives you the ability to quantify elements of your internal and external environment in order to better focus on what matters most.
Ten rows are provided for each factor. More rows can be inserted if needed.
Competition SWOT for a healthcare company
Click to enlarge
This elaborate spreadsheet template doesn’t just look at your company – it looks at your competitors too. Doing so allows you to measure yourself up against the competition.
At the top, the Company Information section is where you’ll enter the Name of your company and your competitors. If you like, you can also enter a Location, Website, Revenue, Employees, and other Notes for each business.
The Company Names you enter will be carried down to the Strengths and Weaknesses sections. Since, in theory, you and your competitors share the same External Environment, Opportunities and Threats are not broken out by company.
This is a great template for companies in competitive industries. It forces you to look beyond your own environment in order to determine a strategy for gaining market share.
Flow chart SWOT for a restaurant
Click to enlarge
This spreadsheet template incorporates some simple graphical elements. Through the use of arrows, the reader’s eye is led through each of the factors.
The expanded cells allow for longer bullet points to be entered if needed. Plus, the horizontal format might provide better readability. If you are planning on distributing a spreadsheet template to outside parties, this would be the one to use.
SWOT interaction for retail
Click to enlarge
This is one of the more in-depth templates.
As recommended in my Church SWOT Analysis post, you should think about how the different factors interact with each other. For instance, how can Strengths be used to neutralize Weaknesses? How are Weaknesses preventing you from capitalizing on Opportunities? And so on…
This template allows you to document the relationships between the Internal and External Environmental factors. Doing so will (hopefully) help you to come up with goals to use during your strategy formulation stage.
With all of the information contained in this template, bullet points can’t be too long. However, rows can be inserted, if needed.
Google Slides (PowerPoint) SWOT analysis templates
Complete the form above to access these templates.
Presentation templates are good for…presentations, of course. They are designed more for form than function. Graphical elements that might not be practical in spreadsheets can be incorporated into presentations.
Presentations also aren’t as easy to customize as spreadsheets. Elements can get out of alignment and harm the effectiveness of the visuals. So, I would recommend only changing the text unless you know what you’re doing. Be sure to use Ctrl+Z if you make any mistakes!
If you want to use one of these templates, you can copy the slide and paste it in your presentation.
Simple SWOT for a financial advisor
Click to enlarge
This clean layout is straightforward and simple. It uses a lot of whitespace and nothing extraneous. Just the “facts,” with plenty of room to type bullet points. This makes it easy to read and understand.
Cylinder SWOT for a web design company
Click to enlarge
Here, a few graphical elements are added for visual interest. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats are each listed on a separate cylinder.
Additionally, as is done with most of the templates, Internal factors and External factors are colored slightly different for distinction. The use of the cylinders doesn’t allow for as many bullet points as with the simpler templates. This is a good option for those who believe in minimizing words on slides.
Graphical SWOT for an auto repair business
Click to enlarge
Here’s another unique graphical template. Similar to the previous cylinder template. It uses the typical 2×2 format, but with thought bubbles (or clouds…) for each factor.
I think it’s a little more visually engaging than the cylinder template. However, it also has limited room for bullet points. So, it is a good choice for those who would rather elaborate verbally.
Pie chart SWOT for a life coach business
Click to enlarge
This presentation template takes a step back to a simpler design.
It is made to look kind of like a pie chart. A pie chart with all the pieces the same size. This implies that each factor is of equal importance.
Lots of whitespace here. Good for someone who wants the focus to be on the information presented. That much whitespace means not much room for bullet points though. So, if you use this template, you had better keep them succinct.
Puzzle piece SWOT for pet services businesses
Click to enlarge
Determining how are your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats fit together can be a bit of a puzzle. This notion is represented by the graphic on the left of the slide.
Though graphics are used, the areas where the factors are listed is very clean and simple. There is room for six to eight bullet points for each factor. This presentation template is a good choice for someone who likes to incorporate just a little bit of design in their presentations.
Icon SWOT for a real estate company.
Click to enlarge
Here the typical 2 x 2 format is abandoned for a horizontal theme.
Additionally, the use of imagery is relied upon. Each factor has it’s own relevant icon to help reiterate what is being examined in this SWOT analysis.
This is a good template for factors that require a long explanation. In fact, entire sentences can be written for each bullet point. If you’re long-winded (like me) and don’t mind some graphics, this is a good template for you to use.
Columns SWOT for a cleaning service
Click to enlarge
Contrasting with the previous template, this one is a vertical design.
Here, you will want each bullet to be short and sweet. This is a good choice for presentations that went to grab attention to the fact that this is a SWOT analysis. A fact that will be tough to ignore with the acronym spelled out across the top.
It’s also a simple format that has a unique look. Most other templates don’t utilize a vertical format.
SWOT analysis templates for Google Docs (Word)
Complete the form above to access these templates.
Document templates can be used internally or externally. They have some of the pizzaz of presentation templates but without as big of a risk of ruining the formatting.
They also might make a good alternative if users are nervous about spreadsheets (yes, those people exist!). Almost everybody who is comfortable with a computer is comfortable with a document.
If you want to use one of these templates, simply copy the text and paste it into your Doc. If you’re using Word, you should be able to do the same thing without downloading.
Simple SWOT for a bed-and-breakfast
Almost identical to the simple presentation template.
This is the old reliable 2×2 design. A little bit of color is added to help it grab attention. There’s an average amount of room for each bullet point, but you should have enough room to list as many as you need.
Simple and straightforward. No frills.
Strategic planning SWOT for a bookkeeper
This SWOT analysis template has more than just the typical factors (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). It allows you to list your objectives beforehand. This makes it clear what you hope to accomplish by undertaking this analysis. This will help you, and others, stick to the task at hand better.
Also, at the bottom, you can write a brief summary of the impact on your strategy formulation as a result of this analysis.
This document template is a good option if you’re planning on seeking input electronically.
Summary SWOT for a construction company
This document template has a typical 2×2 matrix. But, it has an additional section at the bottom where you can write a summary of what you learned.
It is similar to the Strategic Planning SWOT, but without the objective section. Also, rather than astrategy, you’ll include a summary at the bottom. 2-3 sentences that capture the essence of the whole analysis.
This template doesn’t have a ton of room for a lot of bullet points, but there is room for medium sentence length. It is perfect for communicating the most important points from the SWOT analysis.
Guidance SWOT for a consulting company
At first glance, this might seem like yet another simple 2×2 matrix. But, what this document template has that the others don’t, is guidance questions. Questions that help put your mind on the correct path for determining your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
If this document template is to be shared between others in your organization, then you might find it helpful to have the guidance. It’s also helpful if this is your first SWOT and you have no idea where to start.
This guidance, obviously, takes up some of the room for bullet points. So, if you don’t feel you can keep them short and sweet, you might choose a different template.
What is a SWOT analysis?
A SWOT analysis is a thought exercise for understanding the internal and external environment that your business operates in. It is sometimes known as “situational analysis.” Its purpose is to help in strategic planning. Specifically in conjunction with your mission statement in order to set goals and formulate a strategy for the coming year.
SWOT analysis has four main sections. These are, of course, strengths weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths and weaknesses represent your internal environment. These are factors that are within your company’s control. Factors that you can do something about. That’s important to remember as you formulate a strategy based on these factors.
Opportunities and threats are factors outside of your control. Opportunities are good of course, and threats bad. These two factors represent your external environment. Since they’re outside of your control, these are the factors (opportunities) that you want to leverage and factors (weaknesses) that you want to hedge against.
Strengths are the things that your business does well. The things that your competitors and customers would say you do well. Things that you know you do well. This is no time to be humble. If you do it well, if you’re proud of it, then list it as a strength.
Weakness is the opposite of strength. Again, think about what others might say are your shortcomings. Just as you shouldn’t be humble with strengths, you shouldn’t be prideful with weaknesses. If you’re like me, you’re your own worst critic. That’s fine. At least for this exercise. List everything that really holds you back.
Opportunities are the things happening outside your walls that can benefit you. The genesis of opportunities is limitless. They can come from anywhere. So don’t be close-minded. If I can benefit you – list it.
Threats, of course, are the opposite of opportunities. But, they are also outside of your control. Much like the coronavirus pandemic we’re going through as I write this, there ain’t much I can do about it. All I can do is figure out how I want to respond to it. Don’t turn a blind eye to threats. Take control of what you can.
What’s the purpose of a SWOT analysis?
A SWOT analysis is a key component of strategic planning. In order to formulate a plan that has a chance of success, you need to understand the environment you operate in.
Think about a sports team. As a coach/leader, you need to understand what your own players can and can not do. This is your internal environment.
But you also need to understand what the other team is capable of. How they can hurt you, and what their shortcomings are, etc. This is your external environment.
With all of this knowledge, you can put together a game plan that gives you the best chance of winning possible.
The formulated strategy doesn’t have to be rigid. Just as you would in an athletic contest, you have to be willing to adapt. Your ability to adapt will be enhanced by an understanding of your internal and external environment.
How to use a SWOT analysis
Like most elements of strategic planning, SWOT analysis gets a lot of its value through the simple act of doing it. Taking the time to dedicate just a little bit of thought to these matters goes a long way.
Beyond that, the first thing you want to do is download the templates above.
Then, you want to start brainstorming strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Set a timer if you need to and just start jotting down everything that comes to mind. There are no wrong answers. You don’t need to keep everything you write down. The point is to get in the right mindset and get some momentum in regards to the internal and external factors that affect your business.
Next, you might want to do a little research on some of the bullet points you brainstormed. Whether it be internally – by examining your own reports and financial statements. Or, externally via the internet. The point here is to find information that either backs up or negates what you brainstormed.
Now with a big old brainstormed list, you can start narrowing things down. On this site, I often reference the Pareto principle. The Pareto principle states that 80% of the results are usually attributable to 20% of the variables. Keep this in mind and focus on the most impactful strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Finally, though not every template allows for it, you want to think about how these factors interact. What do I mean by that? What I mean is – how your strengths affect your weaknesses, weaknesses affect your opportunities, opportunities affect your threats, and so on…
Set the foundation for sound strategic planning by using these SWOT analysis templates
Download (and use!) the SWOT analysis template that’s right for you from above. Beyond that, read this post on Church SWOT Analysis. Though you probably run a for-profit business, the principles will still apply. This information will help you perform a SWOT analysis that contributes to a sound strategic plan.
Also, check out the related posts below. SpreadsheetsForBusiness.com was created to help small business owners, like you, to get control of their businesses and succeed.
00:00 how’s it going small business owners and 00:04 church professionals this is Chris 00:07 Charles with spreadsheets for business 00:10 comm and this is the accompanying video 00:16 for my post on conducting a SWOT 00:21 analysis for your church it’s the second 00:27 in the series that focuses on strategic 00:31 planning for churches and it’s another 00:35 one like my previous one I focused on 00:40 mission statements that is on in the 00:43 soft skills as I put it 00:47 most of what you’ll find on spreadsheets 00:50 for business comm is of course about 00:53 spreadsheets you know conducting the 00:57 SWOT analysis isn’t necessarily a 01:00 spreadsheet centric sort of thing 01:04 so it’s there’s no spreadsheet in this 01:09 one so I’ll apologize in advance for the 01:11 kind of dull background this might be in 01:14 the type of video you’ll just want to 01:16 put on in the background I don’t really 01:19 have much visually to put in there to 01:26 spice it up it’s just mostly gonna be 01:28 audio so I admit that that’s probably a 01:33 touch boring I mean I could have put 01:35 together a fancy-pants spreadsheet I 01:38 guess but in the interest of getting 01:41 this done and getting it out and you 01:43 know ultimately arms not fancy-pants 01:45 spreadsheets are a fancy-pants 01:47 presentation slideshow that’s what I was 01:50 looking for could have done that but you 01:55 know ultimately the value in this is in 01:57 the audio so you might be wondering well 02:04 okay if your spreadsheet if you’re gonna 02:08 spread sheet on the brain if your 02:09 website is 02:11 around spreadsheets then why do a post 02:14 on in a video on SWOT analysis and 02:19 that’s a good question and kind of like 02:21 a touched on in the mission statement 02:23 video because there are other elements 02:27 of strategic planning that involves 02:31 spreadsheets involve them heavily 02:33 capital budgeting for the church 02:36 operating budget for the church 02:38 financial budget for the church those 02:42 all build upon the softer points of 02:50 strategic planning specifically mission 02:52 statement SWOT analysis and strategy 02:59 formulation is the other one so they you 03:05 know these this video and post serves to 03:09 kind of round that out fill in fill in 03:13 the blanks kind of paint a complete 03:14 picture of what takes place during 03:17 strategic planning so you know since I 03:20 covered the the harder skills if you 03:24 will the spreadsheet and number 03:28 crunching and all of that I wanted to 03:30 like I said paint a complete picture by 03:32 covering some of the softer skills 03:36 heading out there will be a link to this 03:40 post on the website in the description 03:43 and it’ll kind of serve as a reference 03:48 if you know you want something in print 03:52 to refer to if you think back to 03:56 something in the video that I mentioned 03:58 and maybe you wanted to touch on again 04:00 it might be easier search for it and 04:02 print you know some of them the link 04:04 will be like I said in the in the 04:07 description there okay so let’s get into 04:13 a little bit of what a SWOT analysis is 04:14 and I’m gonna do my best to kind of push 04:18 through this this is a 04:20 it’s a big post it’s a complex topic 04:23 it’s you know it could go on for a while 04:26 and if you’ve seen in my other videos 04:29 you know that I’ve got no problem 04:32 rambling on about these subjects but you 04:37 know I’ve got a lot say on the matter 04:41 and you know I’ll try to but I’ll try to 04:43 keep it focused keep it moving here and 04:45 get this bad boy done under an hour okay 04:50 so a SWOT analysis what is a SWOT 04:52 analysis and if you can probably read it 04:54 in description 04:56 it’s about s wo T and that is an acronym 04:59 and that stands for strengths weaknesses 05:02 opportunities and threats okay s wo t 05:08 alright and what it does the point of it 05:12 is to paint a picture of the environment 05:15 that your church operates in so you’ll 05:19 hear a SWOT analysis referred to 05:22 sometimes as a situational analysis okay 05:26 the same thing it’s just taking time to 05:29 commit thought to your environment okay 05:37 understanding what your internal 05:40 environment is you strengths some 05:42 weaknesses your external environment 05:44 your opportunities and threats and how 05:47 all those interact will help you should 05:51 help you in your decision making over 05:54 the coming year okay so you know where 06:01 to even start with a SWOT analysis 06:09 start with thinking about you can start 06:13 with strengths and weaknesses or 06:14 opportunities and threats but you know 06:16 sometimes it’s easier to wrap your arms 06:21 around things that are within your 06:22 control and that’s the strengths and 06:24 weaknesses okay and when you’re thinking 06:31 about your strengths and weaknesses it’s 06:36 not a time to let yourself off the hook 06:41 it’s not a time to you know put on your 06:46 rose-colored glasses you if you want 06:49 this whole exercise to be effective 06:50 you’ve got to be painfully honest with 06:54 yourself okay so don’t list things you 07:01 think should be your strengths or wish 07:03 were your strengths and ignore things 07:06 that are your weaknesses you know you’ve 07:10 got a ultimately to put to make this 07:15 whole strategic planning process worth 07:18 your time you know you’ve got a deal in 07:21 reality so you’ll want to focus you know 07:25 once the SWOT announced has done focus 07:28 on your strengths and control your 07:32 weaknesses okay so the other side of the 07:35 coin is or excuse me opportunities and 07:39 threats these things outside of your 07:41 control be and you’ve been done so to 07:46 speak 07:48 you could probably be a little more a 07:54 little more in touch with reality when 07:59 listing your opportunities and threats 08:03 but you know don’t also when you’re 08:09 thinking about these you know don’t 08:13 don’t let political correctness or 08:15 stubbornness or you have your blinders 08:17 on or anything you know be be forthright 08:20 about 08:21 with real opportunities in your external 08:24 environment armed with the real threats 08:25 are okay so what I’m getting at kind of 08:31 in the intro part there is just be 08:33 prepared to see things as they are and 08:42 communicate things as they are because 08:44 you and your team that are doing this 08:47 SWOT analysis don’t really stand to gain 08:49 anything by fooling yourself or by you 08:54 know pretending really reality something 08:57 different than what it is okay so we’ll 09:04 get into how kind of a strategy for 09:09 doing the SWOT analysis I’ll make the 09:12 point like I did with the mission 09:14 statement excuse me that you know 09:19 whatever gets the job done its job done 09:22 you know this is looking at this video 09:25 and the post as a guide and an idea of 09:29 where to start they you know build on 09:32 that in whatever manner serves your 09:36 church best okay it’s not a you know a 09:41 strict step one through whatever process 09:44 that I promise is the only right way to 09:47 do a SWOT analysis now I mean whatever 09:49 works works and you know it’s sort of 09:55 thing every year 09:56 we should do it you’ll get better at and 09:59 more efficient at it but before I get 10:06 into that let me also qualify myself 10:11 briefly in terms of you know 10:16 Who am I to give you advice on how to 10:19 manage your church and you know as I 10:22 kind of hinted at earlier I’m more of a 10:25 numbers guy okay that’s that’s my 10:29 strength what I’m good at 10:31 it’s when my website revolves around and 10:34 you know so I don’t manage a church I’ve 10:39 never done a SWOT analysis with the 10:43 church and I don’t go to church on a 10:47 regular basis I have been to church I 10:49 think churches certain valuable purpose 10:53 and for the most part are a valued part 10:59 of society so I’m not coming from this 11:03 from some sort of weird angle or 11:05 anything okay I go to my website my my 11:11 post my free downloadable workbooks 11:16 spreadsheets okay all free so I’m not 11:20 trying to again pull something over on 11:24 you here by talking about something I 11:28 don’t know anything about you know what 11:30 what I did do when writing my post and 11:33 in making this video is give a lot of 11:38 thought to how I would do it so it’s 11:40 authentic in that respect anticipating 11:44 on my site is something I’m strive for 11:46 so you know not not trying to be a 11:53 charlatan or anything here you know I 11:56 here’s the thing it you know I I make 11:59 these videos for a for churches these 12:03 strategic planning videos because 12:05 there’s a demand for them based off of 12:07 what I found looking on the Internet 12:10 okay so it’s no different than I made 12:15 the point in the mission statement video 12:18 that if I were a or I might not never go 12:23 to like a nail salon or a women’s 12:26 clothing boutique to shop okay and I 12:29 wouldn’t start those types of businesses 12:31 because that’s just not what I’m into 12:34 but but nevertheless you know these a 12:36 lot of the things that I’m going to 12:37 cover in this video and 12:40 the soft skills and strategic planning 12:42 in general are applicable doesn’t matter 12:46 the industry you know the the thing is 12:48 and part of the one of the other reasons 12:50 I chose churches was because it gave me 12:52 the opportunity you know most of my 12:54 education training experience in that is 12:57 in the for-profit realm okay this gives 13:00 me an opportunity to look at things from 13:02 the not-for-profit perspective and I 13:06 thought that was a good opportunity for 13:07 me to learn something and kind of look 13:10 at things from a different point of view 13:12 you know because churches not not 13:15 everything’s about the bottom line okay 13:18 there’s a greater good to be served so 13:23 to speak so you know it was a great 13:25 opportunity for me to dedicate a lot of 13:28 thought and research to these sort of 13:30 things and again I’m not giving any any 13:33 advice that’s inauthentic tonight you 13:35 know if you’ve had me start a church 13:39 tomorrow these are the steps I would 13:41 take to do a SWOT analysis okay so let’s 13:44 get into it here first thing you’re 13:54 probably going to do is again like the 13:57 mission statement or brainstorming it’s 14:03 okay this gets the gears turning and 14:07 your brain gets you and your team that’s 14:13 doing a strategic planning and the right 14:16 frame of mind okay the right mindset so 14:21 really I think you know you can use some 14:26 of the tactics that I outlined there in 14:29 the mission statement video like I said 14:35 if you do a quick search online for 14:41 brainstorming techniques let’s bring 14:43 that up here 14:47 pardon my ancient computer and slow Cox 14:54 internet web connection disappointing 15:04 hang on you can search for brainstorming 15:08 techniques and you’ll get a multiple 15:12 multiple multiple of results that will 15:20 give you ideas of different ways to 15:21 approach brainstorming so you know yeah 15:24 there’s these the old fashioned lists 15:26 the first thing to come to your mind 15:28 no ideas are off the table it’s fine and 15:31 good there’s resources out there for 15:34 different techniques ok so let’s see so 15:49 ok so you get all that kind of down on 15:51 paper and then you want to start 15:58 consuming kind of information ok so 16:03 you’ve got you have a bunch ideas down 16:05 for your strengths of weaknesses your 16:08 opportunities and threats and you know 16:15 it’s time to start gathering some 16:19 solidifying those kind of vague ideas ok 16:25 here are a couple ideas that I have on 16:30 what it might help you to gather in 16:33 terms of strengths weaknesses 16:39 opportunities and threats there are 16:43 several different well I mean really an 16:47 infinite number of different things that 16:51 might qualifies a strength weakness 16:53 opportunity or threat again this is just 16:56 kind of an idea kind of get the 16:59 I get the gears turning and everything 17:01 to get you help give June the right 17:05 mindset so for instance you can start 17:11 with traffic count okay your church is a 17:16 piece of real estate okay what is the 17:20 most important thing in real estate 17:22 location okay so one of your strengths 17:28 or weaknesses might revolve around 17:30 simply the number of people that pass in 17:32 front of your church any given dating 17:35 okay most metropolitan areas that I’ve 17:44 found keep traffic count information 17:48 okay what that is is basically where the 17:52 Department of Transportation or 17:53 something similar similar counts the 17:56 number of vehicles that drive in front 17:58 or on a particular stretch of road in a 18:02 given day well day week month whatever 18:05 it might be 18:06 [Music] 18:08 let’s look at an example here we need to 18:12 search for one like we look for traffic 18:16 count what’s kind of a midsize it’s just 18:25 a single this big city not really 18:28 midsize bit you look here that’s just 18:35 not gonna work with me is it 19:04 that’s Google or what apologies for the 19:08 delay let’s see okay there we go so we 19:14 look first result was Missouri 19:16 Department of Transportation traffic 19:18 volume maps st. Louis district okay it’s 19:22 2016 it’s a couple years old at this 19:24 point well let’s see what they got here 19:27 I just pulled this out at random okay so 19:31 here we are we got us a PDF and Kenneth 19:38 and this one here scroll over you can 19:43 see we’re in the st. look a st. Louis 19:45 metropolitan area and it’s got data now 19:50 this one’s kind of on the like the 19:55 highways state highways interstates and 19:58 that sort of thing but gives numbers and 20:05 I bet there’s kind of a key somewhere 20:07 here the traffic volume and truck volume 20:13 for each of them so you can see in red 20:15 and black respectively so I said I 20:19 literally just pulled that up at random 20:22 and I did that to make the point that 20:24 this information is out there so your 20:27 your particular city I mean if you’re in 20:29 the real small town maybe not but you 20:32 know if you’re in at least a decent 20:36 sized metropolitan area you can find 20:40 this sort of information okay 20:44 so what what’s that tell you you know I 20:47 mean it’s basically you want to 20:49 understand what your visibility is to 20:51 passersby 20:52 okay if you’re getting heavy traffic in 20:55 front of your church that’s an 20:56 opportunity to reach people with a limit 21:01 call them just the marquee or whatever 21:04 or you know if you have a little better 21:07 technology out there a you know like a 21:11 LED like a display same thing input 21:15 video or 21:17 you know some sort of advertising 21:18 something so that’s a big billboard on 21:25 your property that’s a big opportunity 21:27 to reach people but more of a strength 21:29 excuse me not an opportunity 21:31 okay opportunities in external this is 21:33 under your control so hey I’m there’s 21:37 one idea another thing is to track your 21:41 church attendance okay and the point of 21:46 doing so is to gather data okay so you 21:52 just want to know how many people are 21:55 attending maybe you have a rough idea 21:56 maybe it’s small enough where you know 22:02 really well how it can fluctuate from 22:03 week to week but you know this this just 22:08 gives you an idea of the number of 22:10 behinds the chip put in the pews okay so 22:16 soft Lord exists for this depending on 22:18 the sophistication Church probably even 22:20 needs software but it’s just a matter of 22:22 accurately you know counting how many 22:25 people are you getting in getting an 22:27 idea you know the of your of your 22:30 customers okay in this case for your 22:32 church you know the people that attend 22:35 or your customers kind of so on the same 22:38 token you can do a church census alright 22:43 and what that is and it just might sound 22:45 a little intrusive and in a certain 22:48 sense that it is but you know like I 22:50 said if if the members are your 22:53 customers okay these are the people that 22:55 you’re serving the better you can 22:58 understand them the better you can serve 23:00 them okay and then what they need and 23:03 and again it it depends on your church I 23:06 mean if you’re you’ve got a tiny little 23:09 Church you might know in a small town I 23:12 come from a small town you know you 23:13 might know everybody’s family tree and 23:18 you know business that extends well 23:21 beyond church and and all that neck you 23:25 know might know they work 23:27 they live all those sort of things okay 23:29 you know in that case maybe an official 23:33 census wouldn’t make sense but other 23:35 instances where you’ve got you know a 23:38 lot of people that you know that you you 23:45 might recognize faces but not know 23:47 circumstances of or so many that you 23:50 don’t even recognize any but just a tiny 23:54 few amount of faces you know so since 23:58 it’s what it sounds like it’s like a 24:00 census that the government does today 24:02 you know you’re just basically getting 24:05 demographic information you know and you 24:07 don’t have to be intrusive with it you 24:12 know it depending on the culture of your 24:15 church the information together might 24:19 you know might be real high level or a 24:22 little more personal to to do a point of 24:26 course so depending on just things age 24:30 professions you know family size contact 24:37 information this is a good opportunity 24:38 to get that contact information I mean 24:41 look you might not ever use it you know 24:43 and I mean you probably not the type of 24:45 church that once put the hard sell on 24:47 people and exactly I don’t think you 24:48 should be but to have contact 24:51 information is valuable a to let if for 24:55 no other reason to let members should 24:57 know you know you’re doing a fundraiser 24:59 you’re doing volunteer opportunities 25:02 they you know things that they would 25:03 want to take part in potentially but 25:06 might not know about unless you market 25:07 it to them so you know none of this has 25:10 to be Shady or you know underhanded or 25:14 anything like that so the the challenge 25:18 you might run into with doing a church 25:21 census is how to get people to fill it 25:22 out you know and that’s just a my 25:28 opinion a matter of being the right 25:30 amount of pushy okay just general 25:33 reminders that you know during service 25:36 that you would appreciate if people 25:38 would fill 25:39 would complete these returned them to 25:41 you you know you don’t want to be 25:44 obnoxious of course but just you know 25:46 just reminder over a several week period 25:49 you know and you get what you can not 25:51 everybody’s gonna turn it in not 25:53 everybody’s gonna participate but you 25:55 just keep your your information in check 25:58 now once you have that information 26:00 depending on the size of your church it 26:03 might be a pretty high volume of 26:04 information okay so so then you’ve got 26:07 an issue of what what to do with all 26:10 that alright and you know you can use a 26:14 database you know access you can even 26:17 use Excel potentially depending on how 26:19 much information you talking about and 26:21 and I love Excel but you know it it’s 26:25 not a it’s darn close but it’s not a 26:28 cure-all for everything excuse me but 26:33 there suffer out there called CRM 26:36 software customer relationship 26:38 management and it’s meant to happen 26:41 handle this type of data okay so that’s 26:44 an option to if you want to make that 26:46 investment again I’m thinking along the 26:51 same lines from a church you know 26:57 attendance tracking and census would be 27:01 a a survey okay 27:14 and you know of course what a survey is 27:18 and it’s just basically getting feedback 27:22 from your customers do you members and 27:26 this can help to maybe confirm or 27:32 debunked information that you 27:35 brainstormed initially in the SWOT 27:39 analysis okay you know the things it 27:45 kind of serves as a reality check you 27:47 know particularly if the survey is 27:51 allowed to be filled anonymously you 27:56 know and I was can be done online can be 27:57 done in person it’s kind of up to you 27:59 with the best manner to collect that 28:01 information is but anyhow you know 28:06 really think through if you do that what 28:08 the the questions in your survey should 28:11 be make sure they’re pertinent you know 28:13 don’t don’t make it too terribly long 28:16 don’t make the questions trivial keep it 28:19 to 10 or 15 tops I would say you know 28:22 you don’t want people to get tired of 28:24 doing it and then just you know yeah 28:28 yeah yeah their way through it okay so 28:31 there’s uh there’s no shortage out there 28:35 of ideas for survey questions again a 28:44 simple search on the handy-dandy 28:48 internet will give you plenty ideas as a 28:55 starting point and you know also refer 28:58 to those the things that I said that 29:00 shut it down with your brainstorming at 29:03 the beginning of the SWOT analysis okay 29:10 here it was quick search first years old 29:14 you know plenty of resources out there 29:17 and you know there’s there’s no no shame 29:20 in 29:22 building off of someone else’s work you 29:25 know they a lot of a lot of great 29:29 information there so you know whether to 29:33 do the surveys and the census as a paper 29:44 or online kind of up to you it’s kind of 29:48 up to your congregation 29:51 you know what suits them what makes 29:54 sense for them and you know that’s 30:00 really kind of an individual subjective 30:02 sort of thing so gathering information 30:07 digitally is tends to be more efficient 30:10 you know otherwise you’re probably going 30:13 to be inputting it in to a digital means 30:17 but if you gather it like paper copies 30:21 but you know again that kind of depends 30:25 size of the church nature of the 30:28 membership those sorts of things so the 30:33 other way to get an idea of to do a 30:38 little scuttlebutt as it’s called in the 30:43 investing community is to do good 30:45 old-fashioned talking okay talk to you 30:50 family talk to the leaders in a church 30:52 talk to the people aren’t lead isn’t 30:54 working in the church talk to the 30:56 membership talk to if you’re part of a 31:00 network of you know church management 31:04 talk to them okay 31:06 you know up the ladder down the ladder 31:08 sideways everything just you know get 31:11 get these topics out on the table and 31:15 you know people God uh you know 31:21 obviously different perspectives and 31:23 they you know it could help you come up 31:25 with ideas you might thought about maybe 31:30 put a you know a strength weakness 31:32 opportunity or threaded 31:34 active those sorts of things so it’ll be 31:39 afraid to do that so we’ll talk a little 31:42 bit now about ways to get you thinking 31:49 okay these are these are ideas and they 31:51 kind of play not ways to get you 31:54 thinking like ideas if this is kind of 31:57 your first time doing a SWOT analysis to 32:01 and you don’t know where to begin these 32:04 are some ideas that I gathered from 32:06 doing a little research on potential 32:08 strengths weaknesses opportunities and 32:10 threats okay this is not an exhaustive 32:12 list okay you know you don’t have to go 32:15 through these bullet points and say 32:18 answer these questions and then you’re 32:20 done yeah you did you SWAT it on us no 32:22 this is just things to think about okay 32:26 so let’s see let’s actually copy this up 32:37 here so here’s an idea for possible 32:47 strengths okay you talked a little bit 32:52 earlier about the traffic you churches 32:54 on a high traffic road okay 32:57 membership is stable or growing would be 33:02 a strength and most of the members have 33:04 been with the church a long time you 33:07 have a pool of retired members with time 33:11 on their hands and hopefully a 33:14 willingness to help with skills that 33:16 could help the church your church is 33:21 welcoming the newcomers okay it’s 33:28 probably hard to grow membership if you 33:32 Church is considered like closed off or 33:35 cliquish sure or that but that you know 33:40 fairness might be what you’re going for 33:42 you know maybe you want to screen people 33:46 out you only want a certain type into 33:47 your church you decide these things a 33:50 lot of this you know this is why we do 33:52 the mission statement before the SWOT 33:53 analysis because you what you consider a 33:58 strength is going to depend in large 34:00 part on what your mission statement is 34:02 you know strengths are going to serve 34:03 your mission statement weaknesses are 34:07 going to help are going to contribute to 34:11 you preventing you from achieving your 34:14 mission okay but I guess these are just 34:19 ideas as far as possible strengths Kate 34:21 Church has a good reputation in the 34:23 community strong sense source of 34:26 donations for better or worse money’s 34:30 got to keep coming in the door okay you 34:33 know in order to keep the lights on and 34:35 doors open you know great leadership 34:38 that’s always a strength because the 34:42 opposite is certainly a weakness so you 34:46 know a self-sufficient attitude rich and 34:50 lanky history could be considered as 34:53 strength you know there’s a lot of 34:54 social proof there in terms of your 34:58 church that you know you’ve longevity 35:04 and this doesn’t mean that you know well 35:07 if your new church there’s no hope 35:09 obviously because new churches spring up 35:10 all the time they also disappear a lot 35:13 over time but a you know history kind of 35:18 gives you like I said that social proof 35:20 it kind of for you know like it or not 35:25 proves you’re worthwhile this because 35:28 you’ve been around that long okay for a 35:30 long time in a sense of family church 35:36 members who speak the same language as 35:37 locals in the community you know Church 35:40 revolves a great deal around 35:42 communication right I mean that’s 35:45 communications almost the product really 35:48 you know you’re you’re communicating 35:54 thoughts on you know higher power and 35:59 everything 35:59 you know I’m trying to I’m usually not 36:03 the type to like walk on eggshells but 36:05 there are a lot of different churches of 36:07 a lot of different nature something you 36:09 know I don’t want to say well churches 36:12 just revolve around the Bible churches 36:14 just revolve around you know this 36:17 religious text that religious checks 36:18 whatever but any on well I’m getting at 36:21 is a you know speaking the same language 36:23 so you know what whatever it is whatever 36:26 your church is about it you know viana 36:32 it’s about communication because the you 36:34 know the greatest written text or you 36:39 know spoken word in the history of 36:43 religion doesn’t mean anything if it 36:45 can’t be conveyed to anybody 36:47 okay so whether you’re you know English 36:53 speaking Spanish speaking whatever you 36:57 know it’s that strength to be able to 37:00 reach the community to reach the people 37:02 you do want to join a church okay 37:04 next one’s quality mission statement and 37:07 like I said I have a mission statement 37:10 video that I made earlier that covers a 37:15 lot of things to think about when 37:17 drafting mission statement and like I 37:19 said I would recommend doing so before 37:21 you do SWOT analysis and frankly if you 37:24 want new members and higher donations 37:29 and a better reach and you know you need 37:35 the capacity just to accept new members 37:37 okay if you’re filled to the brand got 37:40 people hanging from the rafters at every 37:42 service you know that’s that’s gonna be 37:46 tough to to build membership in there so 37:50 that’s some idea about some ideas about 37:53 some possible strengths move on next to 38:00 potential weaknesses 38:06 okay if church membership is declining 38:14 okay that’s weakness this membership 38:18 equals less reach equals less donations 38:22 you know it’s a general rule of thumb 38:25 unless again unless you have a very 38:29 specific member type of member in mind 38:34 be believing not coming back it’s 38:37 generally gonna be bad low attendance 38:41 along the same lines low attendance from 38:42 children and young people okay I mean 38:46 over time obviously the children become 38:49 you know adults the young adults become 38:52 middle-aged adults become old adults you 38:55 know 38:55 it’s a lot of people attend church where 38:57 their parents did their family does and 39:02 if if you’re losing the kids and the 39:06 young people you know it might not 39:09 impact you so much this year next year 39:14 excuse me from a long-term standpoint 39:18 you know it’s something that you can 39:20 have to plan around them you know maybe 39:23 the welcoming process that your church 39:25 is is lacking you know there’s there’s 39:29 not a kind of a I don’t want to call it 39:31 an orientation to make it say no to 39:33 formal or that and maybe you do have 39:35 some a formal like that but you know 39:39 something that kind of makes the new new 39:42 members feel like part of the church 39:44 community okay if you got a congregation 39:48 that’s inflexible and stubborn that’s 39:51 rarely a strength usually a weakness 39:54 whether we’re talking about churches or 39:56 anything else in life you know a low 40:00 turnout when you’re doing community 40:02 outreach you similar to the one earlier 40:06 and you’re not doing a great job of 40:08 inviting people okay you’re not getting 40:10 the word out you’re not letting people 40:11 know that they’re welcome 40:14 and right growing membership that sort 40:17 of thing is going to be tough 40:19 members that aren’t getting value okay 40:22 if they’re just coming out of obligation 40:25 fillings you know feeling like it’s a we 40:32 wouldn’t call it a burden almost you 40:34 know an obligation and that’s gonna give 40:38 you trouble you know probably sooner 40:43 than later you know a reluctance to 40:46 challenge the status quo could be a 40:51 weakness volunteers that are work too 40:53 hard you know because you have low 40:56 turnout for volunteer efforts so the 40:59 people that do volunteer their time and 41:02 and do their best to do something to 41:06 help the church are getting burnout morn 41:09 down kinda you’re you’re asking too much 41:12 of them and a couple other things 41:14 antiquated technology shortage of 41:17 handicapped facilities lack of a 41:19 strategic plan okay so you know I’ll 41:23 obviously be covering that like I said 41:25 and the posts are up the videos are 41:29 coming and you know strategic planning 41:35 and there are also a bunch of other 41:38 great resources out there not just 41:40 spreadsheets for business okay so you 41:44 know your if you’re like me you’re gonna 41:48 try a couple of different things try to 41:50 take the best of what you find and 41:52 that’s great that’s what you should do 41:54 so take the best of what you find for me 41:56 take the best of what you find from some 41:58 of the other big names out there in 42:01 terms of Church management Church 42:04 strategic planning and you know yeah 42:06 give yourself the best odds for success 42:08 another one that kind of relates to 42:10 something that I do do well do do is an 42:15 inability to budget effectively would be 42:17 a weakness okay you know churches have 42:21 greater callings than just profit but 42:24 like I said it’s you know 42:28 there are still bills to be paid and 42:31 that is just the reality of the world we 42:34 live in and you know you got to plan 42:36 accordingly so I can definitely help you 42:39 out with that one now here’s a look at a 42:42 couple of opportunities that you might 42:44 consider now opportunities again or 42:49 external not internal these things 42:51 outside of your control but they could 42:54 still help you okay 43:00 population of your geographic area is 43:04 growing okay more people in the area 43:07 equals more opportunity for growing 43:10 membership local use that are need of 43:13 church services for whatever reason 43:16 maybe you know because they they’re at 43:21 risk or you know people that they’re you 43:28 know they could use your help you know 43:31 whether it’s something to do after 43:32 school something on the weekends that’s 43:36 another opportunity you’re near a 43:38 college you’ve got people for instance 43:40 young people that are probably away from 43:44 home so away from the church they might 43:46 have grown up going to and are in need 43:48 of you know what your church can offer 43:53 okay 43:55 another opportunity is members with 43:57 influence in organizations throughout 43:59 the community okay you know c-level 44:02 executives people in management 44:05 positions people on boards of directors 44:08 it’s you know basically people that are 44:11 people in government that are powerful 44:13 and you know that can only serve as an 44:17 opportunity doesn’t mean you need need 44:19 to exploit the power you know but you 44:25 know can’t hurt right so another 44:31 opportunity would be offering services 44:33 this one might be considered as strength 44:35 it since it is kind of near control but 44:37 offering services at different times in 44:39 Sunday morning 44:40 okay more flexibility on your part means 44:45 probably more opportunity to give people 44:49 in the doors and in the pews the 44:53 internet and social media of course 44:54 represent an opportunity and in hosting 44:57 community events and otherwise unused 44:59 facilities a lot of churches have a 45:01 bunch of square footage okay 45:05 you know community that’s kind of a 45:07 vague term but you know like for 45:11 instance one church something always 45:14 took my kids to whenever little was like 45:16 a trick-or-treat Street kind of thing 45:19 that they did at my watch church and it 45:25 was great God 45:26 you know again it’s not all that 45:29 different from a for-profit business to 45:34 give people in a dorm you know 45:35 opportunity to market to them again 45:37 don’t have to be pushy marketing but 45:39 just give opportunity from the seat what 45:40 you’re about increase the likelihood of 45:43 them wanting to join the ranks of the 45:44 membership okay look here then at 45:52 possible threats 45:55 okay you know I’m about 45 minutes 46:00 a little over so keep grindin alone you 46:09 know if you’re in a smaller town older 46:11 population you know the kind of United 46:15 States anyways as increased urbanization 46:17 people move into bigger towns smaller 46:20 towns older population means you 46:23 unfortunately everybody passes away 46:25 eventually more of a longer-term 46:28 consideration but as a threat laws and 46:32 regulations that inhibit actions can I 46:34 mean if you know as time goes on the 46:41 United States in my opinion gets more 46:45 there’s more as bigger differences in 46:50 the cultures of particular parts of the 46:53 United States 46:54 it’s okay and laws are enacted that to 47:02 reflect those different beliefs you know 47:06 people different beliefs select 47:09 different elected officials and have 47:11 different laws these laws might inhibit 47:16 actions that you want to take that you 47:19 feel contribute to achieving your 47:22 mission so if you’re in an area where 47:26 laws and regulations will do that that’s 47:29 a threat that’s a problem because you 47:32 know if I run a kickboxing gym you know 47:40 where I’m at and you know some buffoon 47:45 of a governor gets elected and outlaws 47:48 kick boxing gyms well I can take my 47:50 expertise move across state lines open 47:54 kickboxing gym not quite as easy with 47:56 Church you know it’s a you know you you 48:00 get customers and you get them long term 48:02 certainly that’s one benefit of churches 48:04 flipside is you know it can’t just pick 48:07 up shop typically and then can move I 48:12 can tell move a state away so other 48:17 threats are competition for new members 48:18 okay every church wants new members I 48:21 would assume and you know so there’s 48:25 competition you’re you’re competing 48:27 against the church down the block across 48:28 town you know that’s a that’s a threat 48:34 is kind of touches on what I said 48:38 earlier an anti religious culture and 48:41 environment it would obviously be a 48:43 threat and you cannot hardship in the 48:46 community okay when times are tough and 48:51 people are having trouble making ends 48:53 meet you know contributing the church 48:57 will probably fall by the wayside you 49:01 know behind rent bills car payments 49:03 those sorts of things but not just the 49:05 dollars just the 49:07 you know some people might cling to 49:10 church and no circumstances other people 49:11 might pull away from it so again the 49:15 economic hardship it is typically going 49:18 to be a threat it’s just not good for 49:21 business whether it’s a for-profit 49:22 business whether it’s a not-for-profit 49:23 business so let’s talk a little bit here 49:28 once once you’ve got you know so we’ve 49:32 talked about let me back up for a second 49:34 sorry 49:36 brainstorming okay information to gather 49:42 you know to come up with your strengths 49:44 weaknesses opportunities and threats 49:47 ideas for you for strengths weaknesses 49:50 opportunities and threats okay so with 49:52 those three things hopefully you have a 49:54 pretty good list now you’ve got all four 49:57 quadrants well-thought-out and you know 50:02 a comprehensive list for each one of 50:06 those four factors now you want to think 50:12 about how those factors interact and how 50:14 you can exploit those interactions so 50:17 exploit sounds bad you know but in this 50:24 case you just you’re you’re positioning 50:26 yourself as best you can your church as 50:28 best you can in light of your strengths 50:31 weaknesses opportunities and threats 50:34 okay so just think about what it means 50:41 where these interact you’ve got 50:43 strengths and opportunities okay and 50:48 this is where the stars align okay 50:51 you’ve got an opportunity and it 50:54 interacts with something you’re good at 50:55 that this is this is the low-hanging 50:58 fruit so to speak you want to take 51:00 advantage of these opportunities for 51:04 example might be do churches on a 51:05 high-traffic Road and the population of 51:09 your area is growing okay so you’re in a 51:12 good location you’re gonna have more and 51:15 more people driving by your church every 51:19 day every week every year excuse me you 51:24 want to make sure that your signage and 51:26 your marketing is effective okay you’re 51:28 appealing with the people passing by 51:31 another one might be your church is 51:33 welcoming the newcomers and your 51:38 opportunities the host community events 51:40 and otherwise I need four sell unused 51:41 facilities you could offer those 51:44 facilities at a reduced price to members 51:48 okay 51:48 that’s a benefit of being a member of 51:51 your church okay so you’re welcoming in 51:54 that respect by having those facilities 51:59 available and at a reduced price of 52:01 people are members and you’re in revenue 52:05 from otherwise unused facilities okay so 52:10 the next interaction we’ll talk about is 52:13 strengths and threats okay threats are 52:17 bad but if you know the strengths to 52:20 offset them you can temper neutralize 52:25 the threat to a certain extent so let’s 52:26 say you’ve got a pool of retired members 52:29 with skills that could help the church 52:31 and there’s economic hardship in the 52:33 community those retired members could 52:36 put on workshops for the community 52:39 members okay and these workshops could 52:42 be anything 52:42 well there is budgeting whether it’s 52:46 somebody you know retired member from 52:48 the financial services injury how to 52:50 deal with late payments how to deal with 52:53 creditors those sorts of things you’re 52:57 leveraging the knowledge of the retired 52:59 members to help those who are suffering 53:01 from the economic hardship another one 53:04 is the capacity to accept a lot of new 53:06 members competition for new members okay 53:09 the threat is the competition its chance 53:12 for you to set your church apart from 53:14 the others okay you don’t want to you 53:20 know having way too much capacity could 53:22 be a problem obviously a weakness but 53:27 it’s any it could be it 53:30 you know a selling point for people who 53:33 are in an otherwise overcrowded church 53:36 to come to yours and not feel over 53:40 credit and maybe you have it a place 53:41 where it’ll feel more more personal okay 53:44 next interaction is weaknesses and 53:47 opportunities okay well you know in this 53:56 case the weaknesses can be preventing 53:57 you from capitalizing on opportunities 53:59 and that stinks because opportunities 54:03 are you know sometimes a rare thing and 54:06 you want to be able to capitalize on 54:08 them but you know so what do you do if 54:11 the opportunity isn’t something that 54:14 plays to his strengths of yours rather a 54:16 weakness okay so let’s say the church 54:18 has low attendance from children and 54:20 young people and you have local use or 54:23 need of church services what’s going to 54:25 happen local users are gonna attend 54:28 church somewhere else probably so in 54:36 this case you know you’re you’re looking 54:43 at how the two things in turn the 54:45 weakness and the opportunity and 54:48 unfortunately not able to exploit it so 54:55 you want to since you you were honest 55:00 with yourself and recognize this 55:01 weakness okay you’re you have an 55:06 opportunity to fix it so you want to 55:09 think about then what can you do to make 55:13 your church more appealing to children 55:15 and young people okay because you’ve got 55:19 demand and local youth that are in need 55:22 of church services but you know for 55:25 whatever reason you know since you’re 55:27 honest with yourself and admitted your 55:28 your weakness that you’re in essence 55:31 driving children in people way so it’s a 55:33 chance to reflect on what’s causing that 55:35 and maybe the survey can help with that 55:37 maybe they’re talking with other members 55:38 too 55:38 with that and address the issue so you 55:41 can turn your church from a place that 55:44 has low attendance from children and 55:45 young people innocent driving away to a 55:48 strength where you know it is a 55:55 appealing place or you have programs 55:57 that are appealing to young people and 55:59 you can take advantage of that 56:00 opportunity where local youths are in 56:03 need of church services okay 56:07 another interaction of weaknesses and 56:10 opportunities sorry I’m going to wet my 56:15 whistle there our members aren’t getting 56:17 value from the church and the 56:20 opportunities internet and social media 56:22 so you have the ability there to provide 56:25 extra value to members and non-members 56:27 okay the social media is a you know with 56:37 with the internet and the you know 56:41 advent of internet and social media you 56:43 have that opportunity to you know if 56:46 you’re followed on you know Twitter 56:47 Facebook whatever social media to reach 56:50 your members not just Sunday morning 56:54 okay they repeatedly throughout the week 56:57 daily multiple times daily okay so yes 57:04 that’s that’s no good that you you know 57:06 you’ve acknowledged to yourself 57:08 potentially that members aren’t getting 57:10 value from the church but this 57:13 opportunity of the internet social media 57:15 gives you a chance to you know to change 57:17 that to come up with a strategy via the 57:19 you know via the internet social media 57:22 to start adding value okay to think 57:25 about how you can add value outside of 57:27 church you know the other six days of 57:30 the week theme you know whether it’s 57:33 through inspirational messages whether 57:35 it’s through showing how other people 57:38 are getting value from church okay so 57:42 you know I think the the big key there 57:45 would be to be authentic you’ve heard me 57:47 talk about authenticity earlier I was 57:49 talking about myself and talking about 57:50 my circumstance 57:51 and you know what what kind of led me to 57:54 make this video to make these posts and 57:58 yeah just definitely don’t don’t go 58:01 boilerplate here you know I would 58:05 definitely you know think about what you 58:09 would want to see in terms of social 58:11 media if you find yourself in this 58:13 situation and you know try to put 58:16 yourself in the other you know the the 58:19 person who might not be getting value 58:20 from churches shoes and I think you’ll 58:23 attract a lot more people than just you 58:26 know kind of recycling wore-out talking 58:28 points okay so the last intersection 58:31 we’ll go over is weaknesses and threats 58:33 okay this is you know this is a bad be 58:38 threat on the horizon you’ve got no 58:40 answer for it and never see now that I’m 58:44 not gonna make my hour unless one I 58:47 promise so you know but hey everybody 58:54 has weaknesses the the key is to 58:57 neutralize threats try to shore up those 58:59 weaknesses so let’s say you’ve got a 59:01 reluctance to challenge the status quo 59:03 in your church and you’re in an anti 59:05 religious culture or environment it’s 59:08 time to come to terms with reality in 59:10 that case you know there’s this might be 59:24 kind of a touchy one you know cuz 59:28 because maybe there are people in your 59:30 church that are like well this is what 59:32 it means to be our religion or our 59:35 churches or culture this is what we vote 59:37 this is what we’ve always done sort of 59:39 thing but you know you’re in an 59:40 environment that is a hostile in a lot 59:45 of respects so it might be a situation 59:48 where it makes sense to tweak you don’t 59:53 have to tweak your overall message you 59:54 don’t have to obviously go against your 59:56 mission or that but perhaps work in one 60:04 way 60:04 a little bit of a flexibility to try to 60:07 find some common ground okay with the 60:09 the people in your community okay dish 60:12 you know because if it’s if it’s an anti 60:15 religious culture environment I mean 60:16 they then they obviously are hostile 60:20 towards you so it’s an opportunity to 60:24 find some common ground in a case like 60:27 this and it gets tough situation did but 60:31 you know meet people where they are I 60:34 mean you know a good example of that to 60:36 me is volunteerism I mean nobody is 60:39 going to think poorly of a church I’m a 60:44 having a right mind anyway so some 60:46 people will not everybody’s in the right 60:47 mind but I can I think poorly of a 60:49 church that volunteers you know that 60:54 gives may get presents for kids at 60:57 Christmas that you know feeds the 61:00 homeless gives the homeless clothes and 61:03 coats those sorts of things so it’s just 61:06 a matter of you know but maybe these 61:11 things have never been done in your 61:12 church and you know this is new and this 61:15 is gonna cost money and time and effort 61:17 where you know what I mean that’s the 61:18 old status quo that this isn’t who we 61:20 are this isn’t what we do and most 61:23 churches do volunteer work obviously but 61:25 like I said it’s just kind of an example 61:27 that you know you’ve got a you know if 61:31 you’re dealing with with stubborn people 61:32 in your organization like that you know 61:34 claim this is not who we are but you 61:35 need to you know you need to change who 61:39 you are who you appear to be a little 61:43 bit to function in a hostile environment 61:47 and you know you’ve got a you know 61:54 you’ve got a deal then with the Stuber 61:57 people that are holding you back from 62:00 doing that another one is the inability 62:04 to budget effectively economic hardship 62:07 in the community you need to practice 62:10 what you preach 62:11 you know if the community’s suffering 62:14 for me 62:15 my hardship due to their own creation or 62:20 from the economy in general but you’re 62:24 over here to run in your church and and 62:26 it’s struggling so you’re you know 62:28 you’re conveying to your members that 62:32 you know we need donations cuz you know 62:36 that donations probably gonna go down 62:40 during economically tough times but you 62:43 know but if you haven’t planned around 62:47 that you know by budgeting you know and 62:52 spreadsheets for business can help you 62:54 with that 62:54 all three fascist facets of budgeting 62:56 capital budgeting operational budgeting 62:58 financial budgeting you know you’re 63:01 gonna come off is it’s gonna be a tough 63:03 sell when the times are tough for people 63:05 and because you’ve managed your finances 63:10 and effectively you’re there asking them 63:14 for money the individuals so this one is 63:19 preventable that weakness the inability 63:21 to budget effectively so you know the 63:28 the beauty of numbers and in finance you 63:32 know in particular is that their reality 63:36 numbers don’t lie Megan you know there 63:38 are tricks and games when you play with 63:40 them but you know one’s always one fives 63:43 always five tens always ten you know so 63:47 finding out that kind of wraps up like I 63:51 said how the factors might interact and 63:53 it’s time for me to wrap this video up 63:56 because I’ve been going for an hour and 63:59 five minutes or so here it’s a like I 64:03 said it’s a lot of information to cover 64:04 I did get through it as quick as I could 64:07 it probably sounds like a but a lot of 64:10 trouble but it’s one of those things 64:11 connecting the mission’s thing once 64:13 you’ve done it the first time the first 64:15 time is the toughest okay if you’re 64:17 starting from scratch 64:18 give it once you’ve done it you can kind 64:20 of build off opportunities and threats 64:21 gonna carry from your to your strengths 64:23 a weakness is gonna carry it from year 64:24 to year and 64:26 it’ll get easier but you know I think 64:29 it’s a worthwhile exercise because just 64:34 what you’re gonna learn about yourself 64:35 which can learn about your environment 64:37 okay you can have a better grasp on 64:40 reality this is gonna help when it comes 64:42 to getting grasp on reality in terms of 64:44 doing your budgeting in terms of your 64:46 your strategic planning the goals you’re 64:48 gonna make there it there’s really no 64:51 downside to doing it even if you can’t 64:54 get anybody else in your church on board 64:55 and it’s just you sitting down one 64:57 afternoon and and brainstorming and 64:59 thinking about a couple of things I 65:01 addressed here and a couple of things 65:02 that some of the other gurus and the 65:05 church management arena might have come 65:08 up with it there’s no downside now the 65:12 only potential downside is you had to 65:13 drag on and become a big convoluted mess 65:16 you know and argue over well this is a 65:20 strength this isn’t a strength weakness 65:22 not a you know that it can’t in that 65:24 respect but as long as you you know I’m 65:26 a big fan of time limits and deadlines 65:29 and just have it done by this day 65:30 because again you’ll be able to revisit 65:32 it again next year it’s not set in stone 65:36 it’s a dynamic thing life’s dynamic 65:39 teaching planning is dynamic you know 65:42 there’s really no good reason not to do 65:46 it okay so that being said if you’ve 65:52 stuck with me this long an hour-plus man 65:55 you’re a trooper and I appreciate it of 66:00 course and you know if I had the ability 66:09 to get likes and subscriptions to the 66:12 people who watch my videos from start to 66:14 finish I would do that but that’s not 66:17 the way YouTube set up so you know look 66:21 if you if you like some of what you 66:23 heard if you think that there’s some 66:28 good some good ideas in here some things 66:32 that other people might be able to use 66:35 you’ve got a you know the game is if I 66:41 don’t get likes and subscriptions 66:42 YouTube’s gonna think I’m worthless and 66:45 they’re gonna bury me okay so if you 66:48 found something that you liked heard 66:50 something you liked 66:51 and was it a lot visually and again I 66:53 apologize for that just kind of the 66:57 nature of the the video most of my 66:58 videos I’m gonna be in the spreadsheet 67:00 clicking back and forth showing how my 67:01 equations work that sort of thing but if 67:03 you like like what you saw I like in a 67:06 subscription is a great way to give a 67:09 free tip to me to let me know that let 67:15 YouTube know that so if you did do that 67:18 or do that at some point in the future 67:21 again thank you very much and as far as 67:25 comments go I like comments you know a 67:29 couple of things that I’d love to hear 67:30 from with you guys is what other 67:32 information you think is worthwhile to 67:34 gather okay when you’re in the midst of 67:37 doing your SWOT analysis 67:38 you know I touched on a bunch of them in 67:41 terms of you know the traffic count 67:44 census survey those sorts of things what 67:49 else what what’s gonna help you you know 67:52 besides just thinking of it what what 67:55 information is out there that would help 67:57 you get a better grasp on your church’s 67:59 strengths weaknesses opportunities and 68:00 threats and the other thing that I’d 68:03 love to hear from you guys on is the 68:09 ideas you know I gave bullet point lists 68:13 possible strengths when uses up to these 68:15 threats you know what are some other 68:17 ones that I left off you know you you 68:21 guys probably know more than I do miss 68:25 respect you know again I did a lot of 68:27 research one to come up with a pretty 68:28 good comprehensive list as a serve as a 68:30 jumping-off point that maybe you’ve done 68:32 a SWOT analysis before with your church 68:34 in the past and there are things that I 68:36 left off that you think that every 68:39 church should consider in terms of 68:41 strengths weaknesses opportunities or 68:42 threats so leave all that in the 68:44 comments below 68:45 again thank very much for your time 68:48 take care and I will talk to you later
(to balance weaknesses, capitalize on opportunities, and neutralize threats)
(shore up to “good enough”)
1) Long-term membership
1) Shortage of handicap facilities
2) A good reputation
2) Volunteers worked too hard
3) Rich & lengthy history
3) Uninviting
Possible opportunities
Possible threats
(exploit as much as possible)
(limit downside as much as possible)
1) Located near a university
1) Small town & aging population
2) Influence in other organizations
2) Competition for new members
3) Internet & social media
3) Economic hardship in community
A SWOT analysis should paint a picture of the environment your church operates in.
The members of your church are a great resource for ideas about what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Examining where your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats intersect will help your church understand what goals should be set as strategic planning progresses.
If you’re not familiar, SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A church SWOT analysis is an examination of the environment the church operates in. The internal environment is represented by strengths and weaknesses. The external environment by the opportunities and threats.
Strengths and weaknesses are things within your church’s control
In order to control them, though, you’ll have to be brutally honest with yourselves when listing them. Don’t include things you wish you did well or should be doing well. Don’t gloss over weaknesses because you’re embarrassed by them or because they are something you should be better at. We all have things that we are among the best at, and we all have things that hold us back. Creating a sound strategy for your church requires that you capitalize on your strengths and don’t ignore the “elephant in the room” when it comes to your weaknesses.
Opportunities and threats are outside of your control
They’re the hand you’ve been dealt and are forced to play. There is probably less of a temptation to fib with these external factors than with the internal ones. However, keep yourself and the other decision-makers honest when listing opportunities and threats. Don’t let political correctness, stubbornness, or any other sort of artificial block keep you from being completely objective in this process. Also, be thorough in your analysis. Sometimes opportunities and threats lurk below the surface. They aren’t easily seen with a passing glance. You’ve got to focus a bit harder to see what’s really there. It’s really quite simple: an opportunity is anything external that could help your church and a threat is anything external that might harm it.
If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll have a very accurate picture of the reality you operate in. It might make you a bit uncomfortable but you’ll be equipped to actually make improvements and protect what you already have.
You started brainstorming when you came up with a church mission statement, time to do some more. Gather the other leaders in your church and start jotting down ideas.
What if you find yourself in an awkward position where another one of the leaders in the church is a weakness? Mentioning this might rustle jimmies and bring the whole strategic planning process to a halt. How to proceed then?
Use your best judgment. That’s a vague answer, I know, and I’m sorry. If the buck stops with you, then you’re, fortunately, in a position to address this weakness. If not, then you’re just going to have to use whatever means you have at your disposal. That may mean that you can actually correct this weakness. Or, it may not. If not, you’ll have to consider if you can work around it. If you can’t work around it, then you may have to consider separating yourself from it.
That’s not written to be melodramatic. It’s written to remind you that you always have options.
Start consuming information
Understand your opportunities and threats as best you can. Get on the internet. Communicate with your peers. Do your scuttlebutt. Don’t rely on assumptions if you can help it. Get the whole picture.
Time to start narrowing things down
At this point, you should have a big ol’ mess on your hands. Consolidate similar ideas.
Disregard the lesser strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. We want to focus on the major factors here.
If you’re not familiar with the Pareto Principle read about it here. The “law of the vital few,” as it’s called, states that (typically) 80% of the effects are caused by 20% of the causes. What’s that mean for your church in general and your SWOT analysis specifically? It means that we want to simplify things and narrow our focus to the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that will have a big impact. A big long list of SWOT factors is overwhelming. You won’t even know what to do with it.
So, how many of each should you list? Here comes another vague answer (apologies again). There is no hard and fast rule. If it seems like too much, then narrow it down. If you feel like something critical is missing, then add something back. The strategic planning process should be reviewed every year. So, if something is on the fence, leave it off the list. Simplify. Address the more pressing factors and consider adding it next year.
The last step of the church SWOT analysis
Try to understand how these factors can interact with each other. For instance, how will your strengths and weaknesses interact with your opportunities and threats?
If your church has strengths that are on the same wavelength as your opportunities then you have what is referred to as “low hanging fruit.” If you’re not already taking advantage of these situations, then you need to right now. Strengths are usually long-term, but opportunities can be fleeting.
Where strengths match up with threats, you know that you have a margin of safety. As long as the strengths aren’t stifled, you should maintain your protection.
What about opportunities you can’t take advantage of due to weaknesses? This is a problem. You’ll have to think about how you can shore up these weaknesses. Can you hire someone? Is there someone from the congregation that is willing able to contribute their strengths? Can you partner with someone? As I said, opportunities are fleeting. Don’t let them slip through your hands if you can help it.
Finally, where weaknesses and threats meet up – you need to assess how much risk you’re taking. Again, can you shore up these weaknesses? If not, can the threat be neutralized by some other means? This can be a scary exercise. Ignoring this reality won’t help anyone, however.
As you probably gathered, the point of this exercise is to understand your environment so that you can limit your downside and take advantage of the upside as much as possible. If your downside is limited, then there is only upside left.
Information to gather before preparing your church SWOT analysis
It might help to gather some information before starting the steps necessary to prepare a SWOT analysis for your church. This list is not by any means all-inclusive. Hopefully, though, it will give you an idea of where to start.
Traffic count
I’ve found that several major metropolitan areas keep traffic count data. What’s traffic count? It’s exactly what it sounds like. The Department of Transportation (or some similar entity) counts the number of vehicles, on average, that use a particular stretch of road over a predetermined period of time. I’ve found that usually, the counts are displayed in the number of vehicles per day.
What to do with this data? Determine your visibility – your exposure to passers-by. If you get heavy traffic in front of your church, then make sure you’re marketing to all those eyeballs. Put up a billboard, get a marquee, or otherwise ensure that those people know who you are and what you have to offer.
Church attendance tracking
Even though churches aren’t for-profit businesses, they’ve got to know their data. You’re making uneducated decisions otherwise. If you don’t know what your attendance numbers are, then I really think you should rectify that.
How to track church attendance? Software exists to help you with this. To be completely forthcoming – I’ve never used any of this software and I can’t speak to its value. Every piece of software has its shortcomings, but it probably beats tracking it by hand.
This might seem a little intrusive – and it is. There’s no way around it. So, I would suggest limiting the frequency of this step to once every couple of years. A church census is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the gathering of demographic data about the members of your church.
What should you include on a church census?
Obviously, you don’t want to get too personal. For one, it’s not necessary. For two, it’s intrusive to the people you’re trying to help. So stick to the essentials.
You’ll probably want to know the age of your members. Knowing their professions would also be beneficial. Since families will likely fill out a census form together, you’ll be able to piece together who’s married to who and who is somebody’s child. This is a good chance to gather contact information too. You don’t want to abuse that, but it’s very valuable information to have. Think about what you’d really like to know about your members and limit the questions to that information. Maybe slip in an option for those who want to volunteer and would like to be contacted.
What’s an example church census look like? Here’s an example I found online. Use it as inspiration, but make it your own. The more authentic and less pushy your form is, the better your response rate will be.
How do I get members to fill out a church census?
You’ll have to decide what works best for your church. My opinion is that you want to be just the right amount of pushy. Keep gently reminding members that you’d like their participation. But don’t be obnoxious by any means. Use your good judgment here. Let them know you’d appreciate their participation, but it is not required. A 6 week or so campaign should do it. You don’t want to drag this out.
Keep in mind too that you won’t get 100% participation. 80% would be remarkable, so keep your expectations in check.
What do I do with this information?
If you have dedicated CRM (customer relationship management) database software to handle this information, then great – put it in there. If you don’t that’s fine. Assuming the data isn’t overwhelming, you can use Microsoft Excel or Access. It’s important to get this information in digital form, however. You want the ability to search for this information and be able to filter it so that you can use it to paint a demographic picture of your congregation.
A church survey
Your congregation is your customers. If their needs aren’t being met, they will eventually go somewhere else to get their needs met. Don’t just assume that you know what your members think. Conduct a state-of-the-church survey on a regular basis (annual, semi-annual).
A survey is a great way to confirm the items you brainstormed in your SWOT analysis. Do you think you have great leadership? Okay, what’s the congregation think? Do you think that too few members are volunteering? Ask questions that can help you uncover why. You get the point.
If the results of your survey run contradictory to what you thought you knew about your church, then you had better reconcile why there’s a difference. Making decisions that run contrary to your members’ perceptions is risky. So, don’t be so sure you’re right. Just ask.
Make sure the questions in your survey are pertinent. Don’t ask trivial questions. You want to keep the number of questions reasonable; say 10-15. We’ve all taken surveys that seemed to go on forever. They’re annoying. Keep it short and keep it limited to the things you have to know.
Like I said, your SWOT analysis is a great place to start for survey question ideas. Google “church survey” and you’ll find plenty of other examples if you’re stuck. Here are some great ideas to get you started.
How to distribute the census and surveys
If you want paper copies – before and after service is a great time to ask for feedback. People are already in a church mindset, so the timing is perfect. Just make sure it’s not pushy and that nobody will feel singled out if they opt not to participate.
If you have members’ addresses, you can mail out the survey. Keep in mind that doing so will incur additional costs.
Gathering digital responses will be more efficient. It’s up to you to decide what’s appropriate for your congregation. Do whatever gets you the highest response. Here’s a good post on choosing the right digital survey platform. Just remember – if you collect your members’ information digitally, you have a duty to protect that information. Make sure the platform you use is secure, and make sure you have policies in place to ensure that their valuable personal information isn’t compromised.
Good, old-fashioned, talking
Another good way to get your finger on the pulse of your environment is to simply ask the opinion of people you respect.
Ask your family what your strengths and weaknesses are. Ask your professional network what opportunities and threats exist. Let them know that you are genuinely interested in improving and you appreciate their candor. Listen to what they have to say.
Whether it’s flattering or hard to hear, it’s valuable. So let them say their piece and don’t take anything they say personally.
Ideas to get you thinking
If this is your first time taking part in a church SWOT analysis, then you might not know where to begin. Here are some ideas on potential strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your church. This list is by no means exhaustive, it’s merely meant to help get your mind on track.
Possible strengths
Your church is on a high-traffic road
Your church’s membership is stable or growing
Most of your members have been with the church for a long time
A pool of retired members with skills that could help the church
Your church is welcoming to newcomers
Your church has a good reputation in the community
A strong source of donations
Great leadership
A self-sufficient attitude
A rich and lengthy history
A sense of family
Church members who speak the same language as locals in the community
A quality mission statement
The capacity to accept a lot of new members
Possible weaknesses
Church membership is declining
The church has low attendance from children and young people
A “welcoming process” for new members that is lacking
A congregation that is inflexible and stubborn to change
Low turnout at community outreach events
Your church doesn’t do a good enough job of “inviting” people in
Members that aren’t getting value from church
A reluctance to challenge the status quo
Volunteers that are worked too hard
Antiquated technology
A shortage of handicap facilities
Lack of a strategic plan
The inability to budget effectively
Possible opportunities
The population of your geographic area is growing
Local youths who are in need of church services
Your church is near a college
Members with influence in other organizations throughout the community
Offering services at different times than Sunday morning
The internet and social media
Hosting community events in otherwise unused facilities
Possible threats
Your church is in a smaller town that has an older population
Laws and regulations that inhibit actions
Competition for new members
An anti-religious culture/environment
Economic hardship in the community
How the factors might interact in your church SWOT analysis
Keep these in mind as strategic planning progresses. Especially when it comes time to formulate a strategy in general and set goals in particular.
Obviously, your church’s SWOT factors are going to be different, and therefore the interactions between factors are going to be different. The examples below simply serve to help illustrate how the separate factors can interact and generate ideas about steps that can be taken to help your church reach its goals. To get the gears turning in your head, so to speak…
Strengths & Opportunities
This is where the stars align. We’re matching what your church does well with external factors that can help it achieve its goals. We don’t let these sorts of opportunities slip through our fingers.
Your church is on a high-traffic road + The population of your geographic area is growing = Ensure your signage is effective
Your building and your signage is the bridge between your church and everybody who passes by on foot or in a vehicle.
Just because your organization is a church, it doesn’t mean that you get a pass on marketing. Marketing is just as important for churches as it is for businesses and for individuals. We all have to be mindful of the image we are projecting out into the world. If we want attention, we’re probably going to have to grab it.
Here are some tips on how to make your signage effective. Beyond that, make sure your building and your grounds are well kept. Real estate that is run-down conveys a very negative image. Also, consider taking advantage of a marquee to attract attention and pass along messages that you think will resonate with the general public
Your church is welcoming to newcomers + Hosting community events in otherwise unused facilities = Offer church facilities at a reduced price to members
Many churches offer the use of their facilities to members for very reasonable prices. What I am suggesting is that your church uses these facilities as a marketing (there’s that word again) tool.
Don’t just take the stance that “the facilities are there for people if they want to use them.” Look at your facilities as an opportunity to get non-members in your church and to show them why you’re so great.
What you don’t want is for people to say “My nephew had his graduation party at some church on the East side of town.” Rather “My nephew had his graduation party at the East Side Church of Christ and man, what a great venue. I can see why my sister and brother-in-law like going there so much.”
Make sure that non-members can find out what your church is about when attending functions in your facilities. Have information available for anyone that might want to learn more. Let all who attend know about upcoming events and opportunities, e.g. singles events, volunteering, kids’ activities.
Make sure that your reputation as a welcoming church is obvious to all who attend. The more people you win over in informal circumstances like these, the more you’re probably going to win over during services.
So look at the calendar for your available facilities. Is it full? If so, great. Make sure you’re putting your church’s best foot forward during these events so that you can attract the types of members you want. If your calendar isn’t full, ask yourself why. Is your Building Use Policy too restrictive? Are the cost and the hassle too high? Do members even know that these spaces are available to rent?
Nobody likes to be faced with threats. But, they are part of life. By utilizing the things you do well to neutralize threats you can lessen their impact.
A pool of retired members with skills that could help the church + Economic hardship in the community = Classes, and workshops to help community members earn more and spend less
Match members of your congregation with those in the community who might be able to benefit from their expertise. For instance, retired members who have years of experience in financial matters such as budgeting, self-employment, taxes, and investing could be a lifesaver for those who are experiencing economic hardship.
Offering classes like these reinforce your good reputation in the community. It gives you the opportunity to really help people and it helps them to become self-sufficient. It gets people into your church and gives you the opportunity to show them the benefits of being a member.
Someday these people will likely bounce back from tough times. Many will remember who was there for them in those tough times. Using volunteer time and expertise to help others is a big part of church life. Not every contribution needs to be in the form of money or food. The gift of knowledge might be the most valuable thing your church has to offer.
The capacity to accept a lot of new members + Competition for new members = The chance for your church to set itself apart
Everybody in the world might want to come to your church, but if you don’t have room for them – they won’t. As will be addressed in a later post, you have to have the capacity to handle your peak demand, not just your average demand.
Obviously, overbuilding can create its own set of problems, but if you have more church than members now, you might have a competitive advantage. While other churches are clamoring for new members without anywhere to put them – your church will seem comfortable by comparison.
Think about it this way – would you rather try to pile into a compact car with five other people? Or, would you rather share a ride with one other person in a large SUV?
Weaknesses & Opportunities
Opportunities are typically fleeting. Not being able to take advantage of them is a tragedy. If your weaknesses are preventing you from taking advantage of opportunities, then shoring up those weaknesses is a must.
The church has low attendance from children and young people + Local youths who are in need of church services = Local youths attending church somewhere else
Youngsters are a different breed. You and I both were when we were young. If you want attendance from the youngsters then you’ve got to incentivize them to come. You’ve got to meet them where they are.
Admittedly, some of the things I was into as a kid had no place at church. But, don’t think that you can’t reach them at all. I’ve worked at after-prom parties for my daughters’ school that was relatively vice-free and the kids seemed to have a very good time.
The particulars of planning activities for young people are outside of my expertise. A church is an organization that is supposed to appeal to every demographic, including pre-teens, teens, and young adults.
I can’t envision any benefit to excluding these groups. So, if your church is losing the young crowd to other churches, then I believe you should consider steps to rectify the situation. Here’s a pretty good article I found on the subject.
Members that aren’t getting value from church + The internet and social media = The ability to provide extra value to members and nonmembers
If an individual’s experience with church consists strictly of going to service on Sunday and being subjected to the same thing they have one million Sundays before, the experience is going to get a bit stale.
Take advantage of technology and get the most you can out of social media. Share inspirational material that expands upon what you preached at church. If you add value to people’s lives, they’re going to become more engaged.
I’ll hazard to guess that a lot of your congregation is addicted to social media. Sorry to say it, but it’s probably true. From my experience, social media has its benefits, but it can also be a cesspool of negativity. Be a diamond in the social media dump.
Here’s the trick, though. Be authentic. Don’t just say what you think people want to (or should) hear. Have a real human being handle your social media. Authenticism will attract more people than tired old talking points.
When a threat is on the horizon and you have no answer for it, you’re in trouble. You’re not alone though. Every individual and every organization has weaknesses. Everybody is exposed, to a greater or lesser degree, to threats. The key is to protect your downside.
A reluctance to challenge the status quo + An anti-religious culture/environment = Time to come to terms with reality
It’s my opinion that many people in America and other first-world nations have opted to forego the worship of God in favor of the worship of government and scientists. In a lot of ways the Church has no one to blame but themselves.
It wasn’t that long ago that people would lament being preached at by the fanatically religious Christians. Now, ironically, the ones I see telling me what to think and say are those who are fanatically “progressive.” I’m getting out of my lane here – this is a site about solving business (profit and non-profit) problems. Not a soapbox.
Anyhow, it seems to me that the pendulum has swung in the other direction. I’m not saying to change your beliefs. But, if you want to win people over, you’ve got to meet them where they are. Highlight the good the church is doing. There’s a lot, I know. Don’t just read Bible verses to people – I don’t think it will resonate. Expand on what the Bible says. Apply to real, everyday life in 2018.
Those in your church that want to stick with the “way it’s always been done” might be holding you back. There’s a lot of value in religion, but you might have to employ a little more subtleness when conveying that value.
Here’s a trick I credit to Aubrey Malphurs, Church Consultant – if you find yourself faced with a stubborn (possibly older) member, ask them what they’d be willing to change to have their (grand) children seated next to them at church. When framed this way, you might find that they are a little more willing to be flexible.
The inability to budget effectively + Economic hardship in the community = You need to practice what you preach
Your church is going to thrive more in strong economic times than weak ones. That’s obvious. However, handling your church’s finances in a responsible manner is a necessity no matter the economy. Seeing a place of worship crumble in poor economic times is only going to make those who are losing hope become more despondent.
The beauty of numbers in general and finance, in particular, is their inescapable reality. Short of committing fraud, you can’t make things appear or disappear out of thin air. Embrace the reality you’ve been blessed with and make the most of it.
What are some of the hardest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and/or threats to come to terms with?
I have found that the hardest barriers to SWOT analyses have centered around honesty, focus and organizational commitment. A church or any organization doing a SWOT needs to provide an honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses. Often people don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings so everything becomes a strength. If worship isn’t inspiring or if sermons seem repetitive and lifeless, call it out as a weakness. If children’s ministries lag or member participation is lackluster, call it out. A SWOT has no meaning if the organization isn’t honest about its current state of affairs. Sometimes you might have to clarify why it’s a strength or weakness. Is it related to facilities, resource distribution, leadership or church demographics. Looking at strengths and weaknesses simply says what you do well and what you might not do as well as you’d like. It’s information that can help during the planning process.
A second barrier is focus. While it comes into play more with setting objectives, most churches find it difficult to focus. Individual churches do not have to be all things to all people. Yes, we want to be the spiritual home of all those who are around us, but that’s impractical. Individual churches have different strengths and weaknesses that may or may not play into the needs of those in the community. Churches also have limited resources, so focus allows us to play to our strengths, make changes where we need to, and use our resources more effectively.
Organizational commitment is essential if the church is going to make the plan work. Having a core of dedicated people is great, but unless the church as a whole gets behind the planning committee’s work, you may create a great plan that sits on the shelf. Be sure to build in opportunities for people to contribute to the plan in order to build internal support for the process.
One last thing, planning is a process; it doesn’t stop with a document. A plan should be dynamic and change as circumstances change. This shouldn’t be a once-a-decade “cookie-cutter” exercise. There isn’t one solution to the ills of a church; there are many, but, often, people limit the opportunities they are willing to consider. We get calls from people who ask how they can resurrect their youth programs and attract families with children. Sometimes the likelihood of revitalizing a church with no children is extremely limited making it impractical to expect in a short time frame. In cases like that, sometimes the best path is the one least traveled – being led to focus on something involving other underserved individuals that fit in your “wheelhouse”.
Do you have any other sources of information you would suggest being gathered before preparing a SWOT analysis?
Demographic information is available through your annual conference office. If they are unable to support you, contact the Local Church Services team at United Methodist Communications, localchurchservices@umcom.org. I would recommend working with your annual conference if possible because they may have other resources and support available beyond demographic data. If your church’s internal information is difficult to access, visit www.umdata.org. The site has information based on what your church has submitted to GCFA through 2017. United Methodist Communications also offers a local church assessment survey. Contact umcomresearch@umcom.org for information.
Wrapping up the church SWOT analysis
Holy cow, that’s a lot of info. I write a lot of info because there is a lot to think about (it is a “comprehensive” guide, after all). If your church is new to strategic planning or SWOT analyses, your head might be spinning.
Maybe you’re thinking “this is too much trouble.” Like I said in the church mission statement post – you don’t have to follow this guide “to a T.” There are lots of other great sources of information out there. If something suits you better, use it.
There’s really no downside to going through this thought exercise. Even if you can’t get anyone else in the church to buy in. It’s hard to imagine that you would be worse off afterward if you did follow these steps.
Don’t expect perfection. Especially the first time you draft a church SWOT analysis. You’ll make mistakes and you’ll learn from them. Next year – you’ll improve, as will you the year after that…
Whatever you do, just make sure that you feel good about the direction your church is heading.
What are some of the hardest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and/or threats to come to terms with?
How about some good resources (available to everyone) for understanding opportunities and threats?
Do you have any other sources of information you would suggest being gathered before preparing a SWOT analysis?
