In Focus
SWOT Analysis
A Tool for Driving Sustained Change
J. Wade Atkins
National Institutes of Health, Clinical Center, Department of Transfusion Medicine, USA Read bio >
There are opportunities for blood establishments to review specific high impact events or to set short- and long-term goals to develop a plan for change.
The desired change may be to lower the probability of unexpected or undesired outcomes or to plan for growth and development. A quality unit tool is a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. While historically SWOT analysis has been used as a business management tool, it has been utilized as a method for evaluation of current or planned activities that may impact the quality of delivered products or services. To illustrate, a blood establishment may be required to collect a new starting material for cellular therapy products where a robust SWOT analysis may help in determining the feasibility of taking on such a new and different product type.
A SWOT analysis assesses the internal and external environment to identify the attributes that impact the establishment’s ability to achieve defined goals. The four- cornered perspective provides a systematic approach, for meaningful discussions on the internal strengths and weaknesses of an establishment, as well as the external threats and opportunities it faces. It can be a useful tool to identify opportunities for improvement which is often used for strategic planning.
Figure 1: SWOT Analysis
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SWOT_en.svgReferences
In a more traditional blood establishment setting, a SWOT analysis can be used when developing or evaluating corrective action plans post an unexpected event or non-conformance or it can be used to focus strategic planning for growth and development. Effective SWOT analysis projects leverage the current internal environment to identify strengths and weaknesses while also evaluating the external environment for opportunities and threats. Mitigating the risks associated with identified threats often leads to process improvements. Review of identified opportunities can also lead to sustained, positive change.
The success of using the SWOT approach is dependent on recognizing the limitations and planning around them. It is critical that key stakeholders from all levels of the establishment are included in the brainstorming exercises. There should be representatives from executive management, operational directors, medical personnel, administrators, quality and compliance and daily operations.
The discussions will be subjective and should include critical comments concerning the current state or proposed change. Offering criticism carries risk to individual standing within an organization but is needed for a complete SWOT analysis that delivers sustained change. The discussions may start as superficial and formulaic, but trust and honesty will provide the evaluation needed to drive the required actions. The participants must feel “Safe” to truly share thoughts, especially around identifying weaknesses and threats. It is important to identify a non-biased facilitator who is not a key stakeholder to maintain focus and keep the discussions safe, open, and honest.
Chart 1: Example SWOT Questions for Business Development Discussions
The moderator should be tasked to lead the group to think broadly about the positive and negative impacts on the establishment, and to steer discussions away from “group think” where all just agree about a point and do not offer a counter point. Using pre-planned questions such as those found in Chart 1 may help facilitate meaningful evaluation and reflection when evaluating the expansion of existing or additional products or service lines. Chart 2 offers ideas for questions that may help to facilitate meaningful evaluation and reflection when evaluating the potential impact or other considerations of a proposed corrective and preventive action plan.
Follow up after individual consideration of the objective questions or thinking points should include grouping individual contributions into categories or themes that can be discussed further for elaboration, leading to collaboration and finally implementation of consensus-derived changes.
Chart 2: Example SWOT Questions for Corrective Action Discussions
The output of the SWOT analysis should be used to ensure that strengths are maintained and championed for sustainability. The responses for weaknesses and threats can be coupled with identified opportunities and used to develop process improvement or strategic long-term action plans. If quality and safety are the guiding principles for decision-making in blood establishments, then the output from the SWOT may improve overall performance.
