SOAR Analysis
Everybody – Flipchart & Markers – 15 Minutes
How to Run SOAR Analysis
- Summarize the plan that your group has decided to the group and explain that the SOAR Analysis will be used to further specify and strengthen the plan and identify the group’s named (and yet-to-be-named) hopes for the future
- Write the word “Strengths” at the top of a flip chart
- Ask the group to identify strengths of the plan as it currently exists
- Before recording what they’ve said on the flip chart, repeat what you’re going to write back to the person to ensure accuracy
- Repeat with “Strengths” until the group has run out of ideas
- Write “Opportunities” on a new flip chart page, running steps 3-4 again
- Write “Aspirations” on a new flip chart page, running steps 3-4 again
- Write “Results” on a new flip chart page, running steps 3-4 again
- Hang all four flip chart pages up where the entire group can see it, and ask for any additions anyone wants to make after the group can see all the pages
Example & Prompt
You are facilitating a non-profit board retreat. They have just selected one of their keystone focuses for the next year. While the board is in agreement about the focus, you know that there are many ways to execute that plan and that it will be shaped by the outcomes the group wants, what they’re hopeful about, and what strengths and opportunities they see coming from this specific plan.
For example, one person sees the plan as a marketing opportunity, while another board member expresses that this feels like the bedrock of a culture shift they’ve been eager to implement.
You run a SOAR Analysis to make the varying perspectives about the agreed-upon plan explicit to everyone.
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