Winter is upon us and with the colder weather it is a great time to do a SWOT analysis of your riding program. Doug Emerson, who some of you met in Colorado at our International Conference and who will be speaking again at our event in Kentucky this year, has this to tell us about a SWOT process.

If you're not familiar with SWOT, don't confuse it with S.W.A.T., the police team with the special arsenal. The SWOT I'm referring to is a process for identifying:

• Strengths
• Opportunities
• Weaknesses
• Threats

For use with a group or individually, the SWOT exercise helps all team members recognize what's good and what is not so good about a business, organization or project. SWOT was introduced to the business world in the 1960's and 1970's in a project at Stanford University by Albert Humphrey. The process focuses on specifying the objective of a business, individual or project and listing the factors that are helping or hurting achievement of the objective. You'll like the fact that the SWOT process is fairly simple and is easy to begin.

1. Divide a sheet of paper, poster board or white board into quadrants.
2. Label the quadrants: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
3. Begin to add the items that make up SWOT in a brainstorming fashion. Evaluate and prioritize later.

You can do this as a group project with team members, or individually. According to business consultant Gordon Smith of Buffalo, NY, "The reason this process works is that it takes the thoughts floating around in the brain and gets them on paper for all to see. Most business owners never take the time to put it down in this format."

In your first SWOT session, fill the quadrants on your worksheet with the items offered by the team. Brainstorming rules apply; no need to be judgmental about the items offered in the first session. Then meet again later the next day or week to review, analyze and then prioritize. The purpose is not to make lists; the goal is to produce strategies and actions to help achieve the objective of your business. Consider these points:

• You can't usually fix weaknesses, don't be distracted. Instead,
• Build on your strengths
• A weak strength doesn't balance or offset a strong threat
• The desired outcome is strategy and action plans, not a simple list

An individual within a business, a riding instructor for example, can do his or her own personal SWOT session or the entire team can contribute for all departments of a business. You will get a good jump on your 2008 business planning with a SWOT session soon.

Thank you Doug for those great words!  Onto CHA business, a reminder that membership renewals were sent out the last week of October. Please call the office at 800-399-0138 to renew or go online click here The form will give you the option to renew, as well as sign up as a new member.

Reminder to all Clinic Host Sites - please get your Clinic Request Form and Clinic Material Order Form to the CHA office as soon as you can. The earlier we can get your clinic up on our website; the sooner people will see it. We get daily calls from people seeking certification. If you have a clinic scheduled at your site for 2008, go to the CHA website now at http://www.cha-ahse.org/bydate.php and make sure that it is listed. If it is not there, it means that the CHA office does not know that you are having a clinic.

Have a great New Year and if you have ideas about how CHA can do a better job supporting you in your riding business please let our office know or tell a Board Member. Each member of the Board of Directors is a member of CHA and are actively involved in the horse industry and would love to bounce ideas around with you. Click here to contact a CHA Board Member today!  Here’s to an amazing 2008!