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SWOT: The #1 Secret to Serious Career Growth

Quintessential business tool, a must to forecast, and navigate, personal career calamities, -Coachfucious

The ongoing and cross-industry announcements about layoff s due to poor f inancial results have underscored that good job perf ormance, alone, does not ensure professional growth or success over the long -term.

These developments, when viewed in conjunction with the continuing trend of corporate outsourcing and off shoring, illustrate that Careerists are a commodity unto themselves. As such, just as with business owners and executives, those with serious aspirations need to analyze both their macro and micro environments with a Self - SW OT analysis to assure their advancement in todays volatile business climate.

For decades, SW OT analysis has been a basic, straightf orward model providing strategic direction to organizations worldwide. By assessing a business entitys Strengths, W weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, SW OT analysis serves to maximize a business chance f or success.

In the same manner, individuals should perf orm a Self -SW OT analysis to identif y intrinsic qualities (strengths and weaknesses) that may help or hinder them in the workplace, as well as external issues (opportunities and threats) that may work for or against them as they attempt to climb the corporate ladder. Conducting a Self -SW OT analysis with regularity is, in my opinion, the single most eff ective power tool one can use in optimizing their career. Once complete, the results will help the prof essional identify y, hone and leverage benef icial qualities in the workplace, and minimize obstacles that must be overcome to achieve desired results relative to ones career.

But use caution, W hile the Self -SW OT exercise, itself , is of f undamental importance, its not enough to simply identif y ones inner strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Rather, the strategic application of that key learning is what will positively affect o news success in the workplace.

This PowerTool is for the exclusive use of clients of Business Success Coach.net. It may be reproduced provided it is complete and this statement showing. The material may be been developed using several sources .

Website: www.BusinessSuccessCoach.net

A unit of Four Windows No Walls Consulting, LLC

BusinessSuccessCoach.net
We help our clients achieve unprecedented levels of success How to Do Your Own SWOT A nalysis

Los Angeles, CA 720.226.9072

1. Draw a two-by-two grid on a sheet of paper, or create one in a word-processing program. 2. In each quadrant, write out ideas in bullet-point form. Be as specif ic as possible. 3. Stretch to come up with true insights. Take a break if you have to, and revisit your analysis when you're f resh. You can even show your SW OT to a few close contacts to get their views. 4. Edit. Delete repetitive ideas, and sharpen less specif ic ones. 5. Analyze what it all means. Use the tool to:

Validate your current position. Understand the skills, attributes and experiences you should emphasize and the ones you should downplay. Brainstorm possible career directions. Highlight opportunities to take advantage of. Flag possible threats.

6. Determine possible actions. There are f our types of actions you could take:

Strengthening a specif ic skill or adding something to your strengths quadrant. Minimizing or eliminating a weakness. Pursuing or exploiting an opportunity. Protecting yourself f rom threats.

Revisit and update your SW OT chart periodically to add a level of sophistication and effectiveness to your career planning. Exercise and Noodling: Af ter you swot yourself ; noodle on how to parlay the results into tangible business success.

Bonus / Additional ideas: Here are some more concepts & questions Ive seen be used by careerists, business people and organizations. - John
Strengths: Core competencies, ex perience, educati on? Personal com petitiv e adv antages am ongst peers? Financial status (ri sk tolerance)?

This PowerTool is for the exclusive use of clients of Business Success Coach.net. It may be reproduced provided it is complete and this statement showing. The material may be been developed using several sources .

Website: www.BusinessSuccessCoach.net

A unit of Four Windows No Walls Consulting, LLC

BusinessSuccessCoach.net
We help our clients achieve unprecedented levels of success

Los Angeles, CA 720.226.9072

Networks: personal and prof essi onal affiliati ons through whi ch to m ake connections, contacts and garner support? Reputation, phil osophy and v alues?

Weaknesses: Gaps i n mi ssion critical skill s? Gaps i n competi tiv e strength? Reputation, presence and image? Vulnerabilities: cultural, attitudi nal, behav ioral ? Locati on and geographical ?

Opportunities: Timel y dev elopm ents and trends (personal, com pany, industry)? Peer/superior v ul nerabiliti es? Technol ogy dev elopm ent and i nnov ation? Support system (s): peers, f amily, personal other? Tacti cal dev elopments, i nf ormation, research and findings?

Threats:

Eff ect of corporate culture/politics? Personal limitations and obstacles (i.e., geography, etc.)? Sustaining/cultivating skills through ongoing practice/education ? Anticipated/possible/likely changes to business landscape ? Insurmountable competition (peers, etc.)?

Once your Self-SWOT analysis is complete:

Carpe Diem. Core strengths and opportuni ties shoul d be immedi ately capitalized upon and, optimall y, should be m atched, or pai red up, to optimize the potential for success. Turn Weakness into Strength. Rather than sim ply downplaying weaknesses, one shoul d attem pt to actually conv ert them i nto strengths. Turn Threat into Opportunity. Similarl y, ev ery attem pt shoul d be abl e to conv ert threats i nto opportunities.

I trust thi s PowerTool has been of use to you, but let m e know. Your responses gui de m e and ensure the effectiv eness of our work together.

-John

This PowerTool is for the exclusive use of clients of Business Success Coach.net. It may be reproduced provided it is complete and this statement showing. The material may be been developed using several sources .

Website: www.BusinessSuccessCoach.net

A unit of Four Windows No Walls Consulting, LLC