{"id":2103,"date":"2022-04-20T06:23:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T06:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/felicia.premierjones.com\/?post_type=portfolio&p=2103"},"modified":"2023-07-31T07:22:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T07:22:25","slug":"aoswot_preface","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/premierjones.com\/felicia\/portfolio\/using-an-action-oriented-swot-analysis-2\/aoswot_preface\/","title":{"rendered":"Foundations in Strategy for Commercial Business Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Introduction\u00a0\u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Preface<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In this podcast, accomplished author and business consultant, Dr. Felicia Littlejohn, is sharing the reason why she authored this content and outlining what professionals are expected to gain from this learning journey.<\/p>

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Script Download Link<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Duration<\/strong>:  10:00<\/p>\n

Host<\/strong>: Valencia Littlejohn<\/p>\n

Guest<\/strong>:  Felicia Littlejohn<\/p>\n

Series<\/strong>: Podcast Radio<\/p>\n

Podcast Topic: <\/strong> Foundations in Strategy for Commercial Business Leaders<\/p>\n

[00:00:03] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi. And welcome to the weekend edition of Podcast Radio. My name is Valencia, and I am your host for this evening.  And today we have Felicia Littlejohn. So Felicia, could you tell me a little bit about yourself?<\/p>\n

[00:00:18] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes. Okay. So I am a consultant focused on driving business growth, and I do that through focusing on strategy management, leadership development and best practices.<\/p>\n

[00:00:31] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wonderful. So I understand that you\u2019re working on a series on foundations in strategy. Can you tell me more about it? And what was your motivation for creating content on this subject?<\/p>\n

[00:00:46] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Valencia, thank you for the question. As a business consultant focused on driving sustainable, profitable growth, over the years, I\u2019ve had the opportunity to work with a number of companies, and the one common theme that I see amongst all of them is that they struggle with strategy management, resulting in a lot of issues from churn, turnover, and stagnation. And I\u2019m dedicated to helping those businesses not only survive but to thrive.<\/p>\n

[00:01:15] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s wonderful. And who is this content developed for?<\/p>\n

[00:01:21] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This content is developed for those functional leaders, those members of the organization that have subject matter expertise in a specific area, particularly the commercial leaders, that are focused on driving revenue, profitability and growth in the company.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m looking for the leaders who are implementation focused for this training. So those that are involved in the day to day support and also the growth of the business. They\u2019re responsible for reporting on key metrics and strategic planning. Some examples of who this content is for is product managers, strategic marketing, sales and business development.<\/p>\n

And also, let me add, this includes management of all levels \u2013 whether they are manager, director and above.<\/p>\n

[00:02:07] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay. And why this audience.<\/p>\n

[00:02:11] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

This audience really targets the main focus for strategy, and that is the biggest gap is the need for developing strategic thinking skills for functional leaders. That is the biggest complaint that I\u2019ve heard. And it really makes sense that if these leaders are engaged in that way. This would really well position both these leaders in the business to provide high impact opportunities that these business are looking for. These leaders have the insights that business needs \u2013 and by insights I mean, they know the company, the customers, the competitors, the markets. This is their subject matter expertise.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also action oriented.  The last thing that the business needs is to develop a strategy that just sits on the shelf. So this team of resources, that is the commercial business leaders, are focused on activating the strategies and implementing those both from their own leadership perspective, but also to activate the cross functional teams to deliver against these goals.<\/p>\n

In other words, when the functionalities are involved, they apply their insights, plus, strategic thinking and what you end up with is an effective strategy that activates the organization to achieve a high impact goal.<\/p>\n

[00:03:22] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

So you said, foundations in strategy. What topic within strategy?<\/p>\n

[00:03:29] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Specifically, I\u2019m focused on for this particular series, Action Oriented SWOT analysis<\/p>\n

[00:03:36] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

And what is SWOT?<\/p>\n

[00:03:39] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

SWOT stands for S<\/u><\/strong>trengths, W<\/u><\/strong>eaknesses, O<\/u><\/strong>pportunities, and T<\/u><\/strong>hreats. And this tool is used to help identify a business\u2019s core competencies as well as opportunities for growth.<\/p>\n

[00:03:51] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay. As a business professional, what would I use a SWOT analysis for?<\/p>\n

[00:03:59] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

You would use that tool to help identify opportunities that need more attention. So, for example, if you\u2019ve identified your business as being weak in customer loyalty, then as a business professional, you may opt to develop programs around this.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you\u2019re looking at understanding customer satisfaction issues. Maybe you\u2019re looking at your competitors and how to make your product more competitive in the marketplace so that customers will come back to you again and again. It really just gives businesses a way to focus their efforts and a reason to focus their efforts in those areas.<\/p>\n

[00:04:33]  Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay. And you said Action Oriented SWOT.  I\u2019ve never heard of this.  Is this like a SWOT? Why is it different?<\/p>\n

[00:04:43] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, a traditional SWOT really focuses primarily on recognizing those different areas, S<\/u><\/strong>trengths, W<\/u><\/strong>eaknesses, O<\/u><\/strong>pportunities, and T<\/u><\/strong>hreats and capturing those as part of the analysis. And a lot of times, it reflects what an organization already knows about itself.<\/p>\n

An Action Oriented SWOT, on the other hand, allows you to go one step further. Instead of just identifying what you already know, you can translate those elements of the SWOT into actionable strategies so you\u2019re able to extrapolate beyond what you know today to where you want to do in the future.<\/p>\n

And those strategies are actionable.<\/p>\n

Hence the name action oriented SWOT.<\/p>\n

[00:05:20] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Okay, perfect. So why did you gravitate towards this?<\/p>\n

[00:05:27] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I gravitated towards Action Oriented SWOTs, because they are so effective in helping to deliver the results that businesses are looking for.<\/p>\n

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  1. They provide fact based strategies. So they\u2019re actually based on the situation that the company currently finds itself in. For example, it weighs in on how the company is doing in the marketplace, what\u2019s trending, and puts all those factors together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. It tends to focus on high impact opportunities. A lot of companies want to get away from incremental changes and really do something that makes a difference. This tool helps identify that.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      1. I would say the third is speed. There\u2019s two ways that this analysis helps to deliver speed. First, it puts you in the position of working with your competencies, which delivers speed. Then, there the analysis itself. A lot of companies spend months to develop their strategy, and by the time they develop it, it\u2019s out of date. So speed is a very important in the aspect of this tool. It\u2019s something that can be developed fairly quickly to help identify those opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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        1. And the fourth reason why I gravitate towards this type of SWOT is with the way the analysis is done. It helps develop a unifying strategy amongst those who are responsible for implementation. So they\u2019re able to independently make decisions based on a common vision, they\u2019re able to provide leadership at different levels of the organization, and most importantly, those resources can actually see themselves in the strategy and how they play a role.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          [00:07:02] Valencia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Okay. And this coverage is developed for a series on strategy. What all is covered on this particular topic?<\/p>\n

          [00:07:13] Felicia:<\/strong><\/p>\n

          On the topic of Action Oriented SWOTs, we actually are focused on three well defined lessons.<\/p>\n

          Lesson 1: <\/strong>The first lesson is looking at the tool itself and assessing, allowing them learn to self-assess whether it\u2019s the right tool for them, so they\u2019ll be able to at the end of this lesson,<\/p>\n