When you are looking to build a strategy for your organisation it’s always a good idea to take time to think about what’s happening that could affect your future, both inside and outside your organisation.
Undertaking a SWOT and PESTLE exercise allows you to do just that. It’s also a great framework for discussion, sharing ideas and viewpoints so it’s an effective way to involve the whole team in building a strategy that will work.
- PESTEL: Looks outside your organisation to identify threats and opportunities
- SWOT: Takes the threats and opportunities from the PESTEL, and looks at them alongside your organisation’s strengths
You can copy the layouts below on-screen, but it’s best if you are doing this as a team to use a large sheet of paper and some post-its so that everyone can contribute and items can be moved or removed easily as you discuss and refine your ideas.
PESTEL | |
Political | Major issues that impact everyone, such as the outcome of a General election, but also priorities and policies that are directly relevant to your work. |
Economic | Economic factors that may impact your charity and/or your beneficiaries, such as inflation driving cost increases. |
Sociological | Changes that affect society generally and your beneficiaries particularly, such as the rise of home working and the cost of rents in Bristol. |
Technological | Advances and changes like the growth in unregulated social media platforms and misinformation or specific technological issues relating to your mission such as using AI to provide basic information and streamline processes. |
Legal | Actual or proposed changes to law that will affect everyone and those that will affect your beneficiaries and organisation directly. This could include employment, safeguarding or environmental. |
Environmental | The impact of climate change on all of us and whether your charity is, or should be more environmentally aware. |
SWOT |
The great stuff
| The not-so-great stuff |
Strengths · What do you do well? · What unique resources can you draw on – people, time, money, skills, reputation? · What do others see as your strengths?
| Weaknesses · What could you improve? · Where do you have fewer resources than others – people, time, money, skills, reputation? · What are others likely to see as weakness? |
Opportunities · What opportunities are open to you? · What trends could you take advantage of? · How can you turn your strengths into opportunities? · Remember to add what you’ve learned from your PESTEL analysis
| Threats · What is your competition doing? · What threats do your weaknesses expose you to? · Remember to add what you’ve learned from your PESTEL analysis |
Disclaimer
We make every effort to ensure that our information is correct at the time of publication.
This is only intended as a brief summary of relevant issues and information. Legal advice should be sought where appropriate. The inclusion of other organisations in this information does not imply any endorsement of independent bodies, they are just for signposting purposes.
Voscur is unable to accept liability for any loss or damage or inconvenience arising as a consequence of the use of this information.
