Personal Plan:SWOT Analysis

Personal Plan:SWOT Analysis

Strengths

One of my strengths is that I have excellent working relationships with my colleagues. Also, I scored highly in the interpersonal skills criterion. From the assessment, I realized that building relationships, developing others, and collaboration and teamwork are some of my strengths. As such, I do not expect to encounter any problems interacting and socializing with my colleagues, seniors, juniors, and clients. I can use my extroverted personality to inspire my team to work hard to make my vision for the company a reality. I am charismatic, which means that I do not expect to face obstacles conveying clear and timely messages to my team on what needs to be done. At the same time, I have a balanced work-life perspective. This means that I am unlikely to suffer from burnout as a result of the pressure associated with leading a large number of persons.

Weakness

One of my weaknesses entails character. My assessment revealed that I scored lowly in many aspects of the character criterion, such as when it comes to avoiding following through my promises and commitments, acting consistently with my words, and avoiding saying one thing and doing the other. Sometimes, I tend to be stubborn and inflexible when making decisions. Once I make up my mind about a certain issue, it would take a lot of convincing from other people to make me change the decision I have made. At the same time, I can be impatient. Sometimes, I do not tolerate individuals who do not understand my point of view. The feedback I received about my competencies seem to agree with my assessment of myself in the areas of focusing on results as well as when it comes to the character criterion.

Opportunity

I am currently enrolled in an education course that focuses on leadership. From this course, I will acquire immense skills and knowledge on how to become a better leader. Additionally, the course will prepare me to take the company that I will be working for to foreign markets by equipping with knowledge on which structure and leadership style to adopt depending on the kind of service and products our firm engages in and the geographical areas it operates in. The manufacturing sector is always expanding as more goods are being produced in large scale. At the same time, the manufacturing sector has the potential to go global since some firms are taking advantage of foreign markets with lower costs of production. As such, I have the opportunity to work in foreign markets. This means that there are opportunities for promotions and learning in my expected field of practice.

Threats

To begin with, time pressure is one of the challenges that pose a serious threat to my leadership aspirations. I have numerous skills that I intend to acquire to become the leader I have always wanted to be. However, I have a limited amount of time to accomplish all these tasks.  Over the recent past, the manufacturing sector is facing a major obstacle as goods produced in other counties are proliferating into the U.S markets in large numbers. This means that manufactured goods from the U.S are finding it hard to compete positively with their counterparts from relatively weaker economies, such as Mexico. Also, more companies are resorting to having manufacturing stations outside of the United States. This means that I am likely to find work in other countries, which I am unaware of in terms of their regulations and culture.

The Future    

In the future, I hope to be working in the manufacturing sector. My goal is to be a manager of a company’s division, leading hundreds of workers to achieve our firm’s goals. In the manufacturing sector, I will be required to engage several stakeholders such as business partners, government agencies, lawyers, and customers. The leadership competencies I need to focus on include conflict management, social intelligence, interpersonal skills, goal setting, systematic planning and monitoring, focusing on results, and setting standards. I expect to work in foreign markets, which means that I need to acquire the skills that will enable me to circumnavigate the complex situations associated with working outside one’s country.

Competency Assessment

In their book, Zenger and Folkman (2009) explored the 16 competencies that successful leaders must have. From taking the competency test, I realized that I scored lowly in the character criterion, especially when it comes to walking the talk and following through on commitments and promises. My other weakness entails setting standards of excellence for others, encouraging others to find innovative ways of accomplishing their goals, and exercising a high level of professional judgment. My performance in solving problems and analyzing issues was fair. My greatest strength is interpersonal skills, whereby I am a skillful communicator, which will enable me to offer a sense of direction to my colleagues and ensure that they understand their roles. Also, I found out that collaboration and teamwork, building relationships, and focusing on results are my other strengths.

Action Plan

To begin with, I will need to be extra attentive throughout this course, taking each assignment very seriously. Additionally, I intend to access the personal email of my instructor in order to ensure that I can easily access him as soon as possible with any question I may have now or in the future regarding the course materials. Also, I need to be proficient in other languages, such as Chinese and Spanish. Being multi-language will place me in a better position when it comes to steering my company to global markets. Also, I need to take cultural sensitivity classes, either online or offline. I need to ensure that I have knowledge on ways through which I can interact with people from other cultures effectively in order for me to tap into the opportunities available in foreign markets.

References

Zenger, J. H., & Folkman, J. R. (2009). Extraordinary Leader: Turning good managers into great leaders. (2^nd ed.). Tata McGraw-Hill Education.