The Importance Of Personal SWOT Analysis In Developing Leadership Skills

Understanding Strengths and Weaknesses Through Personal SWOT Analysis

Discuss about the Evaluating Personal Strengths And Weaknesses.

This topic has been chosen because it is one of the most appropriate and useful topic of the modern scenario. It is important for each and every individual to know about the strengths and weakness that are present in them. Unless the individuals are able to perform their own personal SWOT analysis, they will not be able to realize the areas in which they have to work more and the areas that are already developed for being used in the professional and personal aspects. There are many stages in life when each individual needs to find out the strengths are deeply seated in them and can be utilized for the good. A time comes when an individual has to take up some of the challenging steps for proving their worth at their workplaces. It is at this point of time that they must be well aware about their strengths. This is very useful in case of taking up leadership roles as well. Knowing the strengths that are deeply rooted within an individual he is able to understand why there are many clashes within an organization and how to exactly handle them. This will also help in creating cooperation among and a spirit of teamwork. Each individual will use their own strengths and will use the method of knowledge sharing with each other (Mortier et al. 2016). They will also try to get the idea about the areas of their weakness. They can work to find out ways in which they can get rid of their weakness as well (Soria and Stubblefield 2015). This will also help the individuals to take up different roles as per their level of strength. As leaders they will be able to assess the level of strength that is present within their followers or subordinates and then assign the roles accordingly. This is very important as this will help all the individuals to shine in their places in the best possible way (Drucker 2016). This is very helpful because when one gets to know of all his or her strengths they also get to know about the areas of strength and the areas of opportunity and their weaknesses as well. They are able to segregate between the weakness and the strength and work accordingly (Sims and Quatro 2015). There is a process of deep learning that each and every individual has to pass through when they are trying to find out the areas of their strength and their weaknesses. They have to start analyzing all their experiences that they have gone through in the course in their lives. It is from these experiences that they will be able to realize the ways in which they have reacted and what were the outcomes of the same. They will also be able to know what the results would have been if they acted in a bit different way. All these gathered experiences will have them in future for becoming ideal and able leaders. It is for this reason that all the individuals must be able to know all their strengths and their new opportunities that they can yes for developing themselves (Bakker and van Woerkom 2018).

Utilizing Strengths for Personal and Professional Development

I have been greatly helped by all the workshops that were carried as part of the workshop. This has helped me to know the areas of my strength and the ways I can use them in a better way. There were many experts and motivational speakers as well who had a good lecture session with all of us and it really helped us to know how these areas of our strength are really helping us and how can we use them in a better way in the future (Lottman et al. 2017).

The first round of the workshop needed all of us to recollect and reflect on some personal experiences that help us know some of our strengths.

I knew from my childhood that I am very empathetic in nature. I know how to feel the pain and the problems if people who are around me (Soria et al. 2017). This was also the view that was shared by people around me. I was trying to recollect some of the experiences that happened with me in the rd cent past. The time was during a project at my college and I was given the charge of leading a team as the head. I was looking after the team members and how they performed and if they need some extra help and support. I was seeing for many days that one of the team members was not being able to perform properly. He was often less attentive and he seemed very low (Villadangos Fernández et al. 2016). I made it a point to talk to him personally. I came to know that he was worried as he had some home loans and did not know how to pay them back (Shalev 2017). As a result of this, he was very worried. I immediately fell very sad for him and offered him money. I even asked him to take a leave and I did the work on his behalf. This was greatly appreciated by him and he was moved by this gesture of mine. He thanked me for knowing that he will now be able to get this assurance that he will not be thrown out from the college for not writing well (Davis 2018). This shows that I am not out an out professional leader who does not look after the needs and the welfare of his or her followers. I am capable of giving moral support to all my colleagues as well.

Leadership and Personal SWOT Analysis

The second round of the workshop was a question and answer round. The panel of the chief guests and other eminent college professors wanted to see what our take on different matters would be. So they gave us different scenarios and asked to explain what the step that we would like to take. My turn came and I was asked this question

You were given the charge of a manager of a firm. You are asked by the managing director to not allow any late arrivals in the office. On any kind of late arrivals, there must be strict fines charged on each of the employees. It must be a rule that all must be abiding by. Now you see that you are not really able to tell this in a very scornful manner to your employees. You know that you have a very good relationship with them and if you try to implement this rule over them they will go against you. On the other hand, you also have to obey the MD. What would your take on this matter be?

I said that though I am of a very kind and empathetic nature, at the same time I know the importance of discipline as well (Nishimura and Okamuro 2018). I have been born and brought up in a rich cultural family where discipline and punctuality were taught to me by my parents. I know that I have a good relationship with all the employees of the office and they have vested their trust and goodwill in me. It is for this reason that they might take an offense if I appear too strict on them suddenly. However, I will also look into this that they are trained to be good and able leaders for their future. As I am their manager, it is not only my duty to manage them professionally but also to see that they are having a good overall personal development. So, I have to look into this matter and explain to them there is a certain code of conducts that they have to abide by. They cannot break the discipline and the ethics of the office. I will call for a meeting and will explain the whole thing to them. On the other hand, I will also ask the MD to allow a grace time of 30 minutes for employees who come from a very long distance and a grace time of 15 minutes for the employees coming from a short distance. This will help me in maintaining a balance (Certo 2018). The MD will listen to it knowing that there is the need for a grace time as there can be some emergencies or even traffic and transportation problem for the employees. He will also know that I have been able to implement this rule properly among the employees. The employees will know that this rule is important them to follow and this is for their own good. At the same time, there are also some advantages being granted to them (Park 2017).

Learning Through Experience

This shows that one of my strength is a good discipline and good managerial abilities. This is really very important in the long run. I will require this for all my future endeavors. Being friendly with the followers is important for a leader. However, at the same time, I will also have to be strict at the same time so that I can abide by the rule and regulations of the office that I am working for. The ability to abide by the professional ethics is also one of the very important abilities that a leader must have.

The third was the feedback round where the chief guests and the hosts of the workshop gave many helpful recommendations. I was suggested that being empathetic is very good but at the same time, I must be alert as well. There can be many people around me who may take undue advantage of this aspect of mine.  There are people who will know that I am too kind and might get their work done by me somehow. When I agreed to do the work on behalf of my teammate knowing my problem, U must have been more careful about the office ethics. I could have taken this issue to the management. What I did was out of empathy and kindness and it was helpful for him but many of the colleagues could have escalated against me saying that I am biased towards him and I am doing something unethical and something illegal. It was not right on my part to take such an action on my own. I could have supported him in some other way. I must be neutral and impartial towards all.

As far as my disciplined nature is concerned I was really appreciated on that and I was suggested that If I ever face any problem in speaking out directly to my subordinates I can always use the mails to communicate the message. So, these recommendations have been very helpful for me. My goal has been accomplished at the end of the workshop. I wanted to evaluate my own strengths and know ways of how to utilize them in the best ways possible. So I feel that all the suggestions will really be very helpful for me in the upcoming years. I can thus be a successful leader.

References

Bakker, A.B. and van Woerkom, M., 2018. Strengths use in organizations: A positive approach of occupational health. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 59(1), p.38.

Certo, S.C., 2018. Supervision: Concepts and skill-building. McGraw-Hill Education.

Davis, M.H., 2018. Empathy: A social psychological approach. Routledge.

Drucker, P., 2016. The effective executive. Routledge.

Lottman, T.J., Zawaly, S. and Niemiec, R., 2017. Well-being and well-doing: bringing mindfulness and character strengths to the early childhood classroom and home. In Positive Psychology Interventions in Practice (pp. 83-105). Springer, Cham.

Mortier, A.V., Vlerick, P. and Clays, E., 2016. Authentic leadership and thriving among nurses: the mediating role of empathy. Journal of nursing management, 24(3), pp.357-365.

Nishimura, J. and Okamuro, H., 2018. Internal and external discipline: The effect of project leadership and government monitoring on the performance of publicly funded R&D consortia. Research Policy, 47(5), pp.840-853.

Park, J.G., 2017. Evaluating Personal Strengths and Weaknesses: A Competency-Based Approach. In Marketing Organization Development (pp. 31-50). Productivity Press.

Shalev, N., 2017. Empathy and Leadership From the Organizational Perspective. In Exploring the Influence of Personal Values and Cultures in the Workplace (pp. 348-363). IGI Global.

Sims, R.R. and Quatro, S.A., 2015. Leadership: Succeeding in the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. Routledge.

Soria, K.M. and Stubblefield, R., 2015. Knowing me, knowing you: Building strengths awareness, belonging, and persistence in higher education. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 17(3), pp.351-372.

Soria, K.M., Laumer, N.L., Morrow, D.J. and Marttinen, G., 2017. Strengths-Based Advising Approaches: Benefits for First-Year Undergraduates. NACADA Journal, 37(2), pp.55-65.

Villadangos Fernández, J.M., Errasti Pérez, J.M., Amigo Vázquez, I., Jolliffe, D. and García Cueto, E., 2016. Characteristics of Empathy in young people measured by the Spanish validation of the Basic Empathy Scale. Psicothema, 28 (3).

Živkovi?, Ž., Nikoli?, D., Djordjevi?, P., Mihajlovi?, I. and Savi?, M., 2015. Analytical network process in the framework of SWOT analysis for strategic decision making (Case study: Technical faculty in bor, University of Belgrade, Serbia). Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, 12(7), pp.199-216.