How to do a SWOT to assess our staff

¿How to do a SWOT correctly? This is a question that many companies ask themselves. SWOT is a tool that is mainly used to detect and evaluate four main variables of our company and its environment:

Weaknesses (D)The following are the internal weaknesses of the company itself.
Threats (A)The following are aspects of the environment that can be detrimental to the company.
Strengths (F)The following are the internal strengths of the company itself.
Opportunities (O)The "business environment": refers to those aspects of the environment that can benefit the company.

However, SWOT can also be applied to people. Instead of looking for the company's Weaknesses, Threats, Strengths and Opportunities, we look for them in our human resources. In this way, it becomes a valuable tool for the HR department.

Let us now look at how to do a people-focused SWOT.

How to do a SWOT for people: preliminary keys

Before looking at each of the four variables, let's look at some important issues to keep in mind when targeting people:

SWOT focused on people can be applied both individually and in groups. That is to say, it can be carried out for each employee separately or for each employee in a group. group of work (e.g. for each department).
Although both companies and people evolve, they do so in different ways. When carrying out a SWOT focused on people, the human component, with its emotional and motivational implications, must be kept in mind at all times.
For example, if we decide to present each employee with the results of his or her SWOT, we must take special care that the Weaknesses and Threats detected do not create demotivation.
In contrast to the SWOT focused on the company, when focusing on individuals, it is possible to ask each employee to contribute to the creation of his or her own SWOT.
The SWOT focused on people can be carried out both during the personnel selection process and at any other subsequent time when we consider a global evaluation necessary.

Now that we have seen these preliminary considerations about how to do a SWOT, let's look at the specifications of each of the four variables.

Weaknesses, Threats, Strengths and Opportunities

To fully understand how to do a people-focused SWOT, it is important to keep in mind some examples of the four variables to serve as a reference when looking for and finding more:

Weaknesses. Aspects related to lack of knowledge of certain types of information (e.g. not knowing about marketing), lack of certain types of skills (e.g. having a low level of computer literacy), demotivation or emotional problems....
Threats. Job uncertainty, laws that make it possible for employees to lose rights, reduction of salary, increased demands due to the evolution of the company's sector...
Strengths. They are mainly the opposite of Weaknesses: extensive knowledge on a subject, high level in certain skills, motivation, emotional intelligence, creativity....
Opportunities. They are mainly the opposite of the Threats: legal guarantees for workers, training opportunities to broaden knowledge and skills, possibility of wage increases, incentives such as the flexible compensation...

How to make a SWOT by relating the four variables

Now that we have seen some examples to detect possible Weaknesses, Threats, Strengths and Opportunities, to finish understanding how to make a SWOT, we only need to relate these four variables to each other so that the SWOT fulfils its task.

The forms of relationship are established on the basis of the following questions: