Understanding Your Strengths and Weaknesses
By David G. Jensen, Search Masters International
Good managers know that an outside consultant, brought in at the right time and trained to use the right tools, can have a major impact on the growth of a business. Sometimes it takes an outside resource to help a team understand what weak areas limit their growth. The consultant finds the weak link in the chain and recommends an action plan. Did you know that this same process can sometimes make a wonderful difference in the way you view your career?
Although as individuals we can't afford the same outside consultants to help us manage our job and career progress, we can still use some of their tools quite effectively. One of the best of these tools is the SWOT assessment -- the self-analysis that helps us effectively analyze our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This column will lead you through that process, which is something I recommend you do at least once a year.
Finding A Yardstick That Works For You
Recently I interviewed a well-recognized expert on the corporate SWOT analysis, Fred Brachman of Brachman Associates (Raleigh, NC). Brachman's work with the SWOT analysis, and his proprietary "Decision Architecture," have helped managers at companies like Burroughs Wellcome, Glaxo, and Bristol-Myers develop clearer views of their strengths and weaknesses.
Brachman suggests not only that we regularly conduct a SWOT assessment of ourselves, but that we find someone to use as a measure of the sort of success we are shooting for. He believes that it is impossible to crystallize our self-improvement steps unless we have a clear view of our ideals.
"Benchmarking is a popular technique being used today to provide a reference and a model for performance, generally for businesses," says Brachman. "But it is equally applicable to apply the technique to ourselves .... A periodic assessment of our current strengths and weaknesses, combined with a benchmarking against known and respected models in our profession, helps us to identify the gaps and move forward in a positive manner."
Brachman has noticed that truly successful managers and leaders have no problem identifying mentors from whom they have learned their superior technical or leadership skills. Of his students, he says that "in almost every case, the best managers identified one or more such mentors, while those who are deemed poor managers or leaders by their subordinates said they had none."
Brachman's conclusion: As we do a periodic SWOT analysis for ourselves, we need to compare the results with a real or composite model we can identify as a reference for our own development and inspiration. Regardless of whether it is a previous boss or a character from a Jack London story, as you go through this process you will be striving for self-improvement based on some well-understood qualities. (Personally, I like to use Maslow's fifteen traits of the self-actualized person as my ideal. If you'd like to see this list, email me and I'll shoot you a copy.)
The SWOT Assessment
The following questions have helped me in my own self-analysis. There is no special format for your SWOT assessment, but one rule always applies: Write your answers down!
Your strengths
Fred Brachman suggests that when doing this exercise, you should actually do four analyses: financial, health (both physical and mental), relationships (family, friends, and business), and career and professional skills. Because of the nature of this WWW site, we'll concentrate our questions on career and professional skills.
Why did you decide to become a (scientist, manager, quality assurance professional)? What were the motivating factors and influences? Do these factors still represent some of your inherent strengths?
What need do you fill within your organization? What have been your most notable achievements?
To what do you attribute your success? How do you measure your success?
What knowledge or expertise do you bring to the company that was not available to the organization before?
What knowledge and skills gained in past experiences do you use in your job? What is your greatest asset?
What personal characteristics do you consider to be strengths that you can build on (such as the ability to work under pressure, creativity, optimism, or a high level of energy)?
Your weaknesses
When building an action plan after doing a SWOT analysis, you'll need to key into your strengths. "Take as close a look as possible at your weaknesses," advises Brachman, "but remember to build on your strengths and opportunities. In the process of developing an action plan, your weaknesses should be considered as potential barriers to avoid or remediate."
What are your professional weaknesses ? How do they affect your job performance? These might include weakness in technical skill areas or in leadership or interpersonal skills.
What are your personal weaknesses? What is their impact on your job ? For example, do you have control of your emotions or do you let them occasionally run wild at work?
Think about your most unpleasant experiences on the job and determine whether some aspect of your personal or professional life could be considered a root cause.
Your opportunities
In order to succeed in the future, you must recognize how to adapt today. No one can read the future accurately 100 percent of the time. On the other hand, people who are well read and familiar with the changes that are occurring in their professions can usually estimate their future opportunities fairly accurately.
What is the "state of the art" in your particular area of expertise ? Are you doing what you can to enhance your exposure to this area?
Does your company have an alternative interest that may currently be a small program but that could potentially overshadow other areas of the company in the next few years?
What formal training and education can you add to your credentials that might position you appropriately for more opportunities? Would an MBA, a CQE, or another graduate degree add to your advantage?
What steps up the ladder will your boss and your boss's boss make in the future? How will that affect you? Is your position beneath these people an advantage or a disadvantage to your own future?
Threats
Your industry and your company are in constant change. Have you ever seen more turmoil than in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries today? How will these changes affect you? This is the reverse side of the "Opportunities" section of your SWOT analysis.
What is the current trend line for your personal area of expertise? Could your area of interest be fading in comparison with whatever is in vogue today (for example, protein therapeutics versus gene therapy)?
Is a political situation brewing in your company in which you could conceivably be on the wrong side of a worsening conflict? Is there any way to change that or to perhaps defuse your involvement in the dispute?
How will the stress on cash flow within the biotech sector affect your company and your work group ? Are you in the company's mainstream effort or a sideline interest that could conceivably be cut or sold off ?
Are suitors approaching your company for cooperative agreements that could be the first stage of a possible acquisition of the company or its technology? What would happen to your team if that were to occur?
Are you finding yourself pigeonholed in an area of work that, although beneficial to the company, doesn't allow you enough access to new challenges to keep yourself sharp -- and marketable -- in the event of sudden unemployment?
Using Your Analysis
As I conclude my own biannual SWOT assessment, I find myself wishing that I could share this material with someone. But it seems so personal! Fred Brachman suggests that we use the services of professional career counselors, or of earlier contacts or mentors--perhaps professors from our academic days--to review and evaluate our strengths and weaknesses.
I feel that one of the major flaws of any self-analysis tool is that there can be blind spots in the process. As much as we would like to have 360-degree vision, we are looking at the parameters through our own distorted vision. But whether or not we find outside help for our self-analysis, the amazing thing is that we unfailingly move forward in a positive direction after the process concludes. And remember, don't focus too much on the negatives and deficiencies. Brachman reminds us of his findings: "All truly successful businesses and people 'play to their strengths' and do not become consumed by their weaknesses. Start with the positives, build on them, and you won't fail to find your own unique opportunities for achievement and success."
Author:
Dave Jensen
500 Foothills South, Suite 2
Sedona, AZ 86336
To reach Search Masters International, contact
career@searchmastersinternational.com
(630) 663-9140
Contact the author for reprint permission:
david_g_jensen@yahoo.com