Organizational Internal Analysis for Strengths & Weaknesses

The internal analysis assesses your ability to perform well in response to business challenges. This points to your strengths and weaknesses as an organization.

We were recently engaged at a Non Profit organization where we facilitated a strategic planning exercise. As part of the exercise, we conducted an analysis of their internal strengths and weaknesses primarily through a workshop bringing together representatives from across all stakeholder groups.

Strengths are resources or capabilities that help the organization to fulfill its mission.
Weaknesses on the other hand are deficiencies in resources or capabilities that hinder the organizations’ ability. An important question to also ask when taking on strategic initiatives is:

• Is the level of risk acceptable for the anticipated returns?
• Do your strengths line u and outweigh the weaknesses for this initiative?

As an example – in the case of our non-profit client, highly skilled and motivated volunteer workforce emerged as a key strength. Poor communication both internally among staff and with external parties was identified as the weakness.

To get at the strategic context of your CRM initiatives, ask yourself:
• What weakness is it addressing?
• What strength is it lining up for exploiting opportunities?