A SOAR analysis can be a key component to your strategic planning methodology.

The four key areas of a SOAR analysis are as follows:

S = Strengths: What an organization is doing really well, including its assets, capabilities, and greatest accomplishments

O = Opportunities: External circumstances that could improve profits, unmet customer needs, threats, or weakness reframed into possibilities

A = Aspirations: What the organization can be; what the organization desires to be known for

R = Results: The tangible, measurable items that will indicate when the goals and aspirations have been achieved

Source: The American Society for Quality

A SOAR analysis focuses on what your association currently does well and helps you expand upon that. It can help you develop your association’s vision of the future, which can in turn help you develop your association’s strategic goals.

As you conduct a SOAR analysis, you will explore these questions:

  • What are our greatest strengths?
  • What are our best opportunities?
  • What is our preferred future?
  • What are the measurable results that will tell us we’ve achieved that vision of the future?

A SOAR analysis engages representatives from every level of the organization, which helps with buy-in during the later stages of the process. It also allows for flexibility, so decisions can be adjusted as necessary. And since it builds on the association’s strengths, it produces greater results than trying to correct an association's weaknesses.

View a sample of the Oklahoma Association of REALTORS® SOAR analysis.

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