CAREER PLANNING Workbook Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Who is this Workbook for? 2 3. Who is this Workbook not for? 3 4. Chapter 2- Structure of the Workbook 4 5. How to use this Workbook 4 6. Glossary of Terms (Definition) 5 7. Chapter 3- Why should I 7 bother to plan my Career? 8. Chapter 4- First things first; Your Vision 9 9. Chapter 5- SWOT it out 15 10. Chapter 6- Now what? 25 11. Circle-of-Concern-Circle-of-Influence 25 12. Chapter 7- Decision-making - Your Options Option 1- More/Less/Start/Stop 28 Option 2- Working with your SWOT 13. Chapter 8- Bringing it All Together 41 14. Chapter 9- How Career Masterclass can help 44 15. References 45 2 Introduction 01 At the start of every year, lots of people make new decisions about their careers. People also make new choices and changes through the course of the year. There is never a perfect time to reflect, reset and revisit your career progress. What is important is that you take control of your career. We believe that regardless of what level you are within your unique industry, profession or company, there is always room for further progress. Who Is This Workbook For? This workbook is for the discerning even used them in years past. However, professional. You will benefit from we have designed this workbook to the concepts espoused within the help bring these concepts alive in a workbook whether you: fresh way. • Are just finishing college or This workbook will act as a guide to university focus your mind on identifying your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities • Just got your first paid or unpaid and unique threats. This will help you role create a unique and tailored career plan that accurately reflects your goals • Are at the middle management and aspirations as well as helping you level or identify the strategies you can utilise in achieving them. • Hold a senior level position within your organisation. We recommend that you periodically revisit this workbook to ensure that Within this workbook are tried and you are still on track in achieving your tested models. You may be aware of career goals, and to adapt your career some of these models and may have plan based on new information gleaned from performing this exercise. 3 Who Is This Workbook Not For? Although written in a way that is highly adaptable especially considering the tools that have been used, it may not be suitable for self-employed individuals and contractors, as the workbook has a strong long term career nexus. What Do I Need To Complete This Workbook? All you need to complete this workbook is a pen, some scrap sheets to jot down your ideas, and an open, discerning and eager mind! A template career plan is included at the back of the workbook. We recommend that you take a stab at completing the career plan so that you have something to guide your actions. 4 02 Structure Of The Workbook This workbook has been designed with three key, yet adaptable models – Stephen Covey’s Circle of Concern and Circle of Influence; SWOT Model and Action Planning. These serve as guides to help you structure your thinking as you carry out your career review and planning. How To Use The Workbook As with every other self-help tool, the This is a self-audit tool – meaning, you onus is on you to ensure you follow are in charge of defining your personal the recommended steps but more SWOT, making the decisions based importantly, we recommend that you on your results or findings and taking use the workbook in a way that suits action. These will then give you the you and your style. We advise that you information you need to develop a go through every chapter of this book career plan. to fully grasp the structure as each chapter builds on the preceding ones. There is no workbook without work - throughout this workbook; you will be required to do one or all of these active things: Think – this will require you to either reflect or ponder on your current and past situation. Depending on your preference, you may choose a quiet place. You will also need to write down your thoughts. One of the most important habits an individual can develop is writing down thoughts – more so as they come, as you tend to retain a huge amount of information and ideas that way. 5 Plan – Following on from thinking is planning – a plan is a series of actions or action points aimed at a particular issue, or area of focus. Again, as with the first step, it is important to write these down. Writing your plans down not only gives clarity, but can be used as a reference point, and serves as an accountability tool. Chapter 3 provides more insight into the importance of planning. Do – This is the core of what the workbook is about – having done all the thinking and planning; then comes the DO-ing. This is where you actively follow your action plans, and essentially do something about them. Glossary of Terms Attributes An attribute is an inherent characteristic or quality, and it is often expressed through what you think, do and feel An occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s Career life, and with opportunities for progress A combination of Skills, Knowledge, Time/Number of years, In- Experience dustry or Sector for which you have worked Knowledge This is the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject This worksheet is based on the assumption that you have no more than two professions or careers that you intend to pursue or SKEA - develop Skills, Knowledge, In each element of SWOT, you will be required to think about Experience and your SKEA, and do three things: 1- Reflect; 2-Write; and 3-Plan Attributes Action. You could look at it as a cycle of activities, which will help you dig deep into what you need to know, to be able to come up with action plans 6 These are the proficiencies developed through training or Skills experience Acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and SWOT Threats 7 03 Why Bother With A Career Plan? We have all heard it before: “If you fail The Chartered Institute of Personnel to plan, you are certainly planning to development (CIPD) defines an fail”. In life generally, the importance of employer brand as ‘a set of attributes planning cannot be overemphasised, and qualities, often intangible, that yet this seems to happen mostly in makes an organisation distinctive, formal settings like organisations and promises a particular kind of businesses. As individuals and employment experience, and appeals professionals, we need to plan too. to those people who will thrive and perform best in its culture’. Let’s do a When a budding entrepreneur bit of playing around here and turn approaches a bank for a business loan, this definition to suit an individual: the first thing they are asked is: where is your business plan’? An example of An employee brand is ‘a set of where this happens is the Dragon’ Den– attributes and qualities, the TV series in which budding often intangible, that makes an entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas individual distinctive, promises a to a panel of 5 Multi- millionaires for no particular kind of professional more than 3 minutes, in order to secure experience, and appeals to those investments for their business. organisations that want to thrive and perform best amongst other As professionals in various career fields, organisations or competitors’. Do we are all business people. We may not you see any similarities between own an organisation, but everything an employer (organisations) and organisation is expected to have and employee (personal) brands? deliver, is applicable to us. Take a business brand for example – we hear about Secondly, organisations have a how organisations brand themselves, core unique selling point, popularly that is exactly how we are expected to known as USP. You may not have have a unique brand. noticed it yet, but all the times that you prepared your CV and interviewed for a role, you were essentially selling your USP , that is, the reason you should be employed. Planning looks good on you, and below, we have identified some key benefits of planning: 8 Increases Efficiency – Planning helps you allocate valuable resources to the right things at the right time. It reduces the risks of wastage. Take something as mundane as grocery shopping – it can be very inefficient to try to do this without a list, as you might probably double up on some groceries, and forget to get some others. Bringing this back to career management, lack of planning might lead to wasted efforts, especially when looking for new roles without a clear plan of action. Besides, planning and organisation skills are possibly two of the most valuable skills employers look for in potential employees. Helps Allocation of Appropriate Resources – Planning or having a clear plan helps you allocate resources to the right things at the right time. Resources could be your time, money or even energy. 9 04 First things First – Your Vision Before embarking on any change, you need to have an idea of what the change in the present or future looks like – this is what we call Vision. Simply put, it is the answer to the questions: What? Who? Why? Where? What do you see? Who do you want to be? Why do you want what you want? Think Close your eyes, and think about where you see yourself in the next 2, 5, or even 10 years from now. Think about the last 5 years, or even earlier – are there any particular highlights? Was there anything that particularly made you feel happy, or sad? There are no restrictions – you can think as HIGH or LOW as you want. This is your opportunity to dream! A vision is a picture or idea you have in your mind of yourself in relation to your career or business. Vision precedes goals and objectives – that is the order in which they are placed. Your vision, if clear, becomes your driving force; it is the propeller that pushes you to develop yourself, learn and grow. 10 Why Having A Clear Vision Is Important If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. This popular quote by Lewis Carroll sums it up really. Why embark on a journey when you are not sure of its destination? A vision does three key things: It gives you inspiration, motivation and prediction. Vision as an Inspiration – basically all that we see in the world today came as a result of someone’s inspiration. This is especially true of artists and architects. How in the world do they come up with these great masterpieces we all pay so much to, either look at, or own; well, inspiration it is. They are inspired by something and they translate that inspiration to a vision, and voila! – you have your masterpiece. Vision as a Motivation – Most of us need a reason to get up in the morning, commute long hours, sacrifice our time and invest our money. This is motivation. The MOTIVE (or the reason) for doing something. Vision, a clear vision serves as a powerful motivation. Vision as a Predictor – If well-articulated, a vision can be a great way to predict how your future will be. A vision that is well defined, helps you to focus and create a purpose that becomes your measurement for your success. If you do not have a vision of who you want to be, how you want to succeed, or what you want out of life, you begin to lack drive and your life becomes just an order of events. A strong vision connects with your passions and greatest potentials. Visionary leaders are people who have a clear vision of where they want to be, and they use that to garner people and resources around them, to make that vision a reality. To sum it all up, Julian Burke, in an article on Visions, puts it this way: “A vision is the capability to see beyond your current reality, creating and inventing what does not now exist, and becoming what you are not right now”. To create a personal vision for your career, first think about what you want to become, or be known for in the future. Going back to the Think box at the beginning of this chapter, think about where you want to be in the next few or more years. What are your interests? What drives you? Perhaps you have worked in 2 to 3 different organisations and roles, think about which of these gave you the most satisfaction. 11 Important Things To Remember When Creating A Vision: • Know Yourself • Make Decisions Reflect on your career journey so far, Now that you have an idea of the what are the particular highlights that things that you like to do. or be, and gave you that energy which you have hopefully explored these, it is want to recreate again and again? time to make a decision. How do Most times, you already have a vision, these choices align with your skills, albeit not well-articulated or written personal circumstances and interests? down. • Explore • Take Action Take time out to explore opportunities This is where you need to take action. available to you. Volunteer, try and test You do this by putting things in place out roles, professions, or even subjects to bring your vision to life. that may interest you. Remember that your vision can change over time, don’t get bogged down with making it sound or look perfect. You could focus on the next 5 years and create a vision of yourself for that period. As you go along, you may realise that your interests, or circumstances are directing you differently, that’s good – just make sure you write it down again, and work towards it. 12 Write your vision down 13 Before we look at SWOT, think about the following, and write them down S - What is your biggest strength? W - What is your most limiting weakness? 14 O - What is your biggest opportunity? T - What is your worst threat? 15 05 SWOT It Out! As with every other aspect of life, we are constantly changing and as popularly quoted, change is a constant thing in life. Organisations use the SWOT model to check how their business is doing to get insight into how they can improve. By adapting the same model, SWOT will provide you with the necessary information and insight into where you are now in your career ideals, and where you would like to be. SWOT in itself is not an end, but a means through which you achieve an end. 6 Things That A SWOT Will Help You Do/Realise: Before listing out the top six benefits of carrying out a personal SWOT, we must first put out a disclaimer. Throughout this workbook, you will see case studies of people who have changed their lives, or the cause of their careers, using different strategies. These individual strategies are in no way solutions for you to apply, for the simple fact that we are all unique individuals and what works for one person may not necessarily work for you. However, they serve as a guide for you to decide on what action to take. • Helps you understand YOU • Helps you Maximise Your strengths • Helps you Capitalise on opportunities • Helps you Focus Less on your weaknesses • Helps you Avoid or Stop doing things that expose you to unwanted threats • Helps you develop personal goals and strategies for achieving them 16 Before we delve deeper into SWOT, let us quickly examine the SKEA and its relationship with SWOT SKEA: This is an acronym for Skills, Knowledge, Experience and Attributes. Skills These are the proficiencies developed through training or experience. Having the right skills can go a long way to helping you get the job you want. To assess your skills, start off by creating a list on a piece of paper of what you believe you are good at. Do this by reviewing your current and previous jobs and listing particular career skills you have gained, put them under different topics headings. Knowledge This is the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It is the information that you know, including theories, facts and procedures, and the ability to apply this information in different situations. For example, you could have knowledge about different communication styles. You may know the key steps to plan a program or project and be well versed in strategies for evaluating success. Putting these together takes knowledge. Experience A combination of Skills, Knowledge, Time /Number of years, Industry or Sector for which you have worked . Attributes An attribute is an inherent characteristic or quality and is often expressed through what you think, do and feel. For example, you could be known for staying positive and calm in challenging situations. You may also bring a ‘can-do’ attitude to your work - able to try new things, ask for new assignments and demonstrate initiative. Together, these elements make up your SKEA. They can also be described as competencies. For example, you could develop competency regarding communication by practicing your writing and listening skills, acquiring knowledge about different communication styles and learning techniques that help you keep calm under pressure. You might also develop competency around workplace safety by taking a natural attribute like attention to detail, and using it to practice safe work techniques (skill development) and then researching new and different methods (gaining knowledge) that can be implemented to increase safety. Competencies are described in ways that are: • Observable • Measurable • Linked to the workplace, academic environment and other life experiences • Transferable • Based on performance Identification of your SKEA will make the SWOT exercise easier to complete as an understanding of your skills, knowledge, experience and attributes will aid the analysis of your strengths and weaknesses. 17 Exercise- List your SKEA 18 SWOT In Detail Let’s explore the SWOT model in detail. 5.1 S – Strengths “ Strengths are qualities that enable us perform in our roles within organisations and in our chosen careers. These could be tangible or intangible. These are usually things “ that you may consider as an advantage to you, especially in comparison with your peers. “The path to great leadership starts with a deep understanding of what strengths you bring to the table. A leader needs to know his/her strengths as a carpenter knows his/her tools. What great leaders have in common is that each truly knows his/her strengths and can call on the right ones at the right time. This explains why there is no definitive list of characteristics that describes all leaders.” Don Clifton It is important to understand your strengths as this will help you hone them further, or take advantage of opportunities that will further enhance these strengths. When organisations do a SWOT analysis and especially when articulating their strengths, they look at it from the view of what element of the business is likely to produce the greatest ROI (Return on Investment). In same light, think about your strengths form the perspective of what is likely to produce the greatest ROI. In an individual’s case, it will be the area of your SKEA that enables you negotiate a salary increase, secure that position of your dreams, and even earn you some extra pay or reward. Tip: In analysing your strengths, think about areas you distinctively thrive or excel in, and not just a list of everything you do well. For example, if you are a project manager and you are very good at preparing Gantt charts, and every other project manager in your team has same skill, then this may not be a strength but rather a necessity of the role. 19 Exercise: Write Your Strengths Here. ¯ Working with your SKEA, think about the advantages that you have which others don’t. ¯ What do you do better than your peers, either at work or in projects you have worked on? ¯ Reflecting on feedbacks you received in the past year, what positive themes were highlighted that you feel is as a result of your strengths? ¯ Think about the achievements you are most proud of. 20 5.2 W – Weaknesses Weaknesses are those areas of your SKEA that you, or other people, have identified as do them, or a sheer lack of interest. “ a gap, or as things you don’t do very well. They could be tasks or projects that you feel less confident to perform, either due to lack of the skills and competence to Tip: It is important to look at weaknesses as identified gaps or deficiences on your SKEA, and not focusing on areas where you lack interest. For example, if you are not interested in finance, and for that reason you have not developed or improved your “ skill in it, then this may not necessarily be a weakness. However, if finance is a part of your work and you lack the skills to carry out related tasks, then this could be a weakness. “One should waste as little effort as possible on improving areas of low competence. It takes far more energy to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first- rate performance to excellence.” Peter Drucker In analysing you weaknesses, it is important to apply the same level of honesty you did with your strengths. Once you know your strengths, it is easier to be honest with what your weaknesses are. Exercise: Write your Weaknesses here. ¯ Are there any gaps in your SKEA? Think about areas in which you or other people have identified as your weakness. ¯ Think about tasks you usually avoid because you don’t feel confident doing them. ¯ Are there any negative habits or attitudes that you have formed at work? ¯ What areas of your SKEA can you improve or develop further? 21 5.3 O – Opportunities Many professionals pay little attention to the market in which they operate and have little knowledge of the same. As with strength and weakness, this is equally important, if not even more. If you don’t know your competition, how do you compete? Opportunities within the SWOT matrix helps you think about things that are available to you which you may not have accessed yet. They could exist within the organisation that you currently work in, or externally. 22 Exercise: Write your Opportunities here. ¯ What opportunities are available to you that you haven’t taken advantage of? – work around your SKEA. ¯ What new skills are needed within your profession, company or industry? What new technology is required from professionals in your field? ¯ Are there any new organisations that require your SKEA? ¯ What are the trends in your profession, organisation or business sector that could be a benefit to you now, or in the near future? ¯ Are there any opportunities for promotion/secondment within your team/ organisation? 23 5.4 T – Threats Like opportunities, threats are external; these are factors or conditions that mostly occur within the market that you work in, or in your profession, that affects you negatively if not mitigated against. Threats will be elements that pose a risk if nothing is done about them. Although most of this will be external factors, however, identifying them will provide clarity and offer you ideas on what you can do to reduce such impact on your career. Tip: Think about elements of your career, organisation or business environment that pose a threat to you. For example, a change in structure which could lead to redundancies, or a financial downturn in the business sector. Exercise: Write Your Threats Here ¯ Remember, this focuses on external factors that may affect your career (use the SKEA as a guide). ¯ What obstacles do you currently face at work? ¯ Are there things about your company, role or team changing that could impact negatively on you? Think about restructures, mergers, etc. ¯ Are any of your identified weaknesses leading to threats? 24 Here is a snapshot of the SWOT analysis Example could be your skills, knowledge, experiences and attributes (SKEA). These could These areas include other areas like Factors tend Strengths and focus on you your position in a company to be in the Weaknesses – the internal (entry level, mid or senior present. environment. manager), your softer elements, your values, brand, USP, and any factor that is unique to you. For example, factors These elements relating to job market, focuses on sectors, systems, society, Factors tend Opportunities the external trends, competition, to be in the and Threats environment - the politics, society, culture, future. situation outside technology, environment, of you. media, law, etc. 25 06 Now What? – Identifying your Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence Circle of Concern | Circle of Influence Now that you have identified your i.e. time, money and energy. Studies SWOT – it is time to take an even deeper show that the vast majority of people focus too much of their resources look at what aspects of the matrix you outside of their Circle of Influence, can truly control, change, or not have Circle of influence and control. but the ability to do anything about. This rather in their Circle of Concern. is where we introduce you to Stephen Covey's Circles of Concern and Circle of Typically, people in that category Influence. spend valuable time, energy and even money on things that they clearly have As you think about your SWOT no power over. For example worrying if it quadrant, look at each area (strengths, is going to rain on your way to an weaknesses etc.), and identify areas interview or important meeting. Clearly where you have nil/minimal. It is while you cannot do anything about important to identify both circles as it the weather, you can mitigate its effects will help you focus your energy on the right things. In writing these on you. down, think of your investment or resources – Time, Energy and Money. In 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, These are valuable resources and you Stephen Covey suggests that highly want to ensure you are using them effective people identify their circles of right. influence and control and then invest resources in those circles rather than in The circles represent the areas where their circle of concern. It is only by doing you can choose to focus your resources things that you can expand on your circle of influence and control. Where Do You Spend Most Of Your Time And Energy? If you spend a lot of time worrying about things such as crime reports on the local news, political landscape, global oil prices etc., you are way out in your Circle of Concern. 26 If you were working within your Circle of Influence, you’d be busy attending community action meetings, or volunteering to coach youth sports, providing leadership and guidance to build a better future for your community. Think Think carefully about your SWOT: Under what elements do you think you have the most influence or control? Your Circle of Concern This circle or sphere encompasses a wide range of issues that we are ‘concerned’ about. Things like, your health, the weather, changes in inflation rates, problems at work, children and even threat of war fall within this circle – and they are all valid concerns or reasons for concern. Trying to change situations in this circle takes a lot of energy from you and yields little or no results. Your Circle of Influence The circle below represents the areas within your SWOT matrix that you have significant control over. Your task now is to write these down. Whenever you are getting worked up over something, ask yourself, “What can I do to change this situation for the better?” Figure out some good ideas and act on them. If you really can’t think of anything, realise that you are wasting valuable time and energy worrying about the issue. Let it go, and redirect your resources to an area where you can actually make a difference. In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey suggests that there are 2 types of people in the world – 1) Proactive and 2) Reactive people. Proactive people are those who focus their energy on their circle of influence while the reactive ones will stay in their areas of concern. Linking SWOT and Circle of Concern, Circle of Influence You will find that your strengths and weaknesses being the ‘internal elements’ will naturally fall within your circle of Influence or Control. 27 For the Opportunities and threats, since they are more external factors, they are essentially outside of your circle of influence; this means that you cannot do anything about the external environment. For example, if one of your identified threats is more graduates with relevant skills doing the same job, then you cannot change that. What you can do is to prepare to minimise the impact that these threat will have on you/your career. Remember that the focus of your career SWOT is YOU – Your own skills, knowledge, experiences and attributes – all of which come under your circle of control. 28 07 Decision Making – Your Options What Can You Do With SWOT? The power of the SWOT model lies in your ability to make strategic decisions and plans that will change the course of you career for good. Now that you have completed your SWOT, here are a few suggestions to help you make a decision on what you can do with it. You can start looking at the dependencies between strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Making Decisions From Your SWOT? Let’s meet the Founder and Ex- CEO of Evernote. On November 3rd, 2015 LinkedIn published an interview on Phil Libin by Caroline Fairchild. Below is an excerpt from that publication. ‘The co-founder and recently ex-CEO of Evernote, Libin made his name by creating a program that helps people organize their lives. Yet he professes to be one of the most disorganized people he knows, and is quite bad at responding to emails. He stayed at Evernote in the CEO role for nearly nine years -- growing the company from 20 employees to 400 with nearly $300 million in funding - but claims to have no real appetite for scaling businesses’ The first thing you notice here is arguably a weakness in the real sense of the word. In today’s business world, being disorganised is not attractive; however we find a man who has converted his supposed ‘weaknesses’ into a massive strength by creating a tool used by millions of people today. But it doesn’t just stop there. 29 ‘After leaving his startup’s C-suite to assume the role of executive chairman, Libin is taking his first full-time gig in venture capital. The contradiction there? He doesn’t really find traditional venture capital work interesting – he says “I am not motivated by investing. I don’t pick my own stocks, for example. I don’t really know what stocks I own. I used to, but I found that pretty stressful and I wasn’t very good at it,” he said. “I thought I would let other people deal with it. I wasn’t that interested in the strictly financial aspects of investing.” Here is a man who clearly identifies with his innermost drives – if we did a SWOT analysis on Libin, it would look something like this: Strengths Weaknesses • Creative • Disorganised • Not afraid to take risks. • Not interested in finance • Enjoys starting things (business financials i.e. financial (companies). aspects of investing). Opportunities Threats • Lots of disorganised people in • Business may fail. the business world who need • If not addressed, weakness a tool to help them become may become a threat. more organised. • Technological advancements • People with brilliant ideas requiring start-up capital. The power in knowing your SWOT is that you are able to then make decisions on what actions you can take in your life and career – this was nicely summarised in Libin’s interview by Caroline Fairchild – ‘To realise that it is his deep understanding of these contradictions that give him his power. It was his disorganisation that led him to build Evernote into the popular platform that it is today. It was his acceptance of his particular interest in launching companies, not growing them that led him to step down as the startup’s CEO to bring in what he calls a “professional” leader to scale it further and potentially take it public. And it was his disinterest in finances that led him to General Catalyst Partners, a venture capital firm where he is not so much focused on investing. At GCP, he wants to build companies’. 30 Let’s Meet Michael Hyatt Hyatt believes that you can’t be good at everything – he argues that knowing your weaknesses is just as important as knowing your strengths. Here are his reasons: • It keeps you from engaging in activities where you can’t make much impact. • It provides an opportunity for others—people with the very strengths you are missing— to contribute. This strengthens your team. • It keeps you from frustrating yourself and others He says ‘In fact, you can only be great at a few things. The sooner I realized this, the more quickly I could focus on my strengths and steer clear of my weaknesses’ Keep in mind, that strength is not simply something you are good at. It is also something that makes you feel strong. To quote Eric Liddell, from the movie Chariots of Fire: “I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel His pleasure.” But the definition of a weakness is similar. You may well be good at an activity—or good enough—but it doesn’t make you feel strong, in fact, you feel weak. Below are some weaknesses a professional named J has identified in herself: » Routine, maintenance-type work. I’m a starter, not a maintainer. Once the project is launched, I’m ready to move on to the next thing. » Detailed, logistical planning. Things always seem easier to me than they really are. This is especially true when it comes to my calendar. Left to myself, I will double-book appointments and wear myself out by trying to do too much. » Long meetings of any kind. I can focus intently for about two hours. Max. Then my attention begins to wander. I have to move on to something else or I actually become a distraction. » Multi-tasking. I work fast and move from task-to-task. From the outside, it may look like multi-tasking, but it’s not. I do my best work when I can focus intently on one task at a time. If I try too many things at once, I get frustrated and lose focus. You won’t always be able to avoid acting in your areas of weakness. This is especially true early in your career when you don’t have much of a team. But to the extent you can build your team and increasingly focus on what you do best—and avoid what you do worst—the greater your impact and satisfaction at work and in life. 31 OPTION 1 The purpose of this workbook is not to put you in a box, but rather open you up to endless ideas and possibilities which you could apply to achieve your career aspirations. This is why we have adapted what we call the More/Less/Start/Stop model. As the words suggest, they are simple to use and give you the flexibility to apply them to any element of your SWOT, where you feel they are needed. • More • More • Less • Less • Start • Start • Stop • Stop • More • More • Less • Less • Start • Start • Stop • Stop 32 YOUR TURN Looking at your SWOT matrix, using the table below, write down 3 things under each category: what you might want to do More or Less of or Start and Stop. Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats More More More More Less Less Less Less Start Start Start Start Stop Stop Stop Stop 1. 1. 1. 1. 2. 2. 2. 2. 3. 3. 3. 3. There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding where to place each of these actions in your matrix. More Depending on the outcome of your SWOT and your career goals and aspirations, you may decide to do more of some things. The first natural thing to do is more of what you are comfortable with, i.e. your strengths. You will find it natural to continue to improve on your strengths as long as you have the opportunity and resources to do so. Less Michael Hyatt believes that it’s important to focus your energy, resources and investment on your area of strength rather than trying to improve an area of weakness; except of course where an area of weakness has a great potential to convert to an opportunity, like the case of Libin – the Founder of Evernote. You will have to decide if this is a route you want to take. 33 Start Ideally by now you should have identified things that you need to start doing to boost your career. Start taking advantage of these things. Stop There are elements within your SWOT matrix that you need to stop doing; these could be things that expose you to external threats. if so, make a plan of action to reduce your exposure to these threats. EXAMPLE Remember we did a SWOT on Libin, founder of Evernote? Here is how he changed his career using the More/Less/Start/Stop model. Strengths Weaknesses (Do More) (Do Less) • Disorganised • Not interested in finance (business • Creative financials i.e. financial aspects of • Not afraid to take risks. investing). • Enjoys starting things (companies). He used his area of weakness as an op- Libin harnessed his creative power portunity to improve the weaknesses in and used it to his advantage hence other people. He knew he didn’t enjoy converting his supposed weakness to doing financials, hence he outsourced building a multi-million dollar or delegated element of his role to profitable business. someone else that had the strength and passion to do it will. Opportunities Threats (Start or Take Advantage) (Stop or Avoid) • Business may fail. • If not address, weakness may • Lots of disorganised people in the become a threat. business world who need a tool to • Changes in Technology. help them be more organised. • Creating and founding startups Clearly, if he didn’t do anything about his weakness in organisational skills, he He was able to quickly identify that would have ended up losing valuable people had similar weaknesses as he roles. Also, as with any new business had and that was his breakthrough venture, he must have thought about moment. Harnessing his creative skill, the risk of his product not being accept- he was able to design a business tool – ed in the market. However, he didn’t Evernote, which enabled people work let this stop him but maximised more efficiently. his creative energy and his appetite for taking risks which paid off greatly. 34 OPTION 2 SWOTing it Out - There are four options within the SWOT analysis matrix that you can adapt when making decisions. Again this should be used flexibly around your needs. Strengths (Internal) Weaknesses (Internal) Weaknesses/Opportunities Strengths/Opportunities Potentially attractive options Obvious natural priorities Likely to produce good returns if Likely to produce greatest ROI capability and implementation (Return On Investment) are viable. Likely to be quickest and easiest Potentially more exciting and to implement especially in the stimulating and rewarding than Opportunities immediate term. Strengths/Opportunities due to (External) Probably justifying immediate change, challenge, surprise action-planning or feasibility tactics, and benefits from study. addressing and achieving improvements. Question to self: “Why am I not taking advantage of this opportu- Question to Self: “What’s actually nity now? stopping me doing these things? (provided they truly fit my strate- gic goals)” Weaknesses/Threats Strengths/Threats Potentially high risk Easy to defend and counter Assessment of risk crucial. Where Only basic awareness, planning, risk is low then you may decide to and implementation required to ignore these issues and not be meet these challenges. distracted by them. Where risk is Investment in these issues is high you should seriously consider Threats generally safe and necessary. assessing capability gaps and plan (External) to defend/avert in very specific Question to self: “Am I properly controlled ways. informed and organised to deal with these issues, and - “Since I Question to Self: “Have I accurately am strong here, can any of these assessed the risks of these issues, threats be turned into opportuni- and where the risks are high do ties?” I have specific controlled reliable plans to avoid/avert/defend?” Adapted from Business Balls 35 1. Strengths & Opportunities This is about how you can use your areas of strengths to take advantage of opportu- nities in the external environment – this is often called the ‘offensive strategy’ and it is basically about proactively taking the initiative and making good things happen. Meet Charis Charis is a dynamic professional and heads up the media and communications team in her firm. She is very ambitious, driven and has already been recognised in her industry as a rising star. Charis is a very articulate and confident communicator and giving press briefings and presenting to senior executives comes very easily to her. Charis has also been told several times by her manager and colleagues that she is an effective decision maker and is able to make critical business decisions under pressure. As a result, Charis has been placed on the internal fast track programme and is on track to getting promoted to head the global media and communications team in the next 3-5 years. To prepare for her next move, Charis sought out a well respected media and communications expert who has held the global head of communications role in his organisation for many years. She invited him to an informal coffee meeting to gain valuable insights on industry trends. He promptly advised her to start networking more and to build an enviable contact list of senior media individuals. Charis took this advice and started networking intentionally with these contacts. This proved useful as one of those media contacts recommended her for a global head of communications role with an external organisation which she was successful in securing. 36 2. Strengths & Threats How you can use your internal strengths to make sure that external threats don’t cause severe impacts in your career. Like much of SWOT thinking, this is relative to competitors and “forewarned is forearmed” is an effective way to think about these issues. This is all about adopting a proactive approach towards managing your career. Meet Carlos Carlos is a trained geologist. He studied chemical engineering as his 1st degree and then went on to obtain an MSc in Geology. Upon completion of his Masters degree, he worked at a top blue chip oil company for 5 years as an exploration geologist. He worked hard and was well liked as he was very engaged, and asked lots of questions from internal and external mentors he had proactively acquired. At one of his mentoring sessions, he was advised to go back to school to study for an MBA in order to combine finance skills with his technical skills, thereby making him more marketable and well positioned to take advantage of opportunities. He studied for his MBA and upon graduation, secured a lucrative job with an investment bank, advising oil and gas clients on acquisitions and disposal utilising his unique blend of finance and technical oil and gas skills. Furthermore, shortly after his move, global oil prices crashed which triggered a severe cull of technical jobs in the oil and gas sector but which didn’t affect him. Armed with the knowledge of what might happen within the industry, Carlos prepared himself ahead such that when the crisis hit the oil industry, he was not affected by it. He had repositioned himself to remain relevant in an uncertain environment. 37 3. Weaknesses & Opportunities What you can do to stop existing internal weaknesses affecting your ability to take advantage of opportunities. Meet Tom Having worked in IT for over 10 years and climbing the IT career ladder from en- try to mid management, Tom felt it was time to move to the next level. Tom applied for a role as the head of IT in a new organisation and he was successful. As part of his new role, Tom was responsible for leading 75 people dispersed across three regions. However, Tom soon realised that his new role with the attendant responsibilities took him out of his comfort zone which was mainly dealing with technical IT issues. His day to day duties were filled with dealing with people issues and ensuring that his team was performing to required standards. He quickly realised that to be successful in this role, he needed to develop and hone his people management and leadership skills which he had not done previously. Tom quickly started researching leadership and people management courses and he discovered that his new organisation offered training courses for new managers which he took advantage of. In addition, he asked to shadow another manager within another team who he had observed to be an effective people leader which proved to be a successful strategy. 38 4. Weaknesses & Threats What you can do to stop internal weaknesses compounding with external threats – for example what aspects of your areas of weakness can you either improve or even avoid to minimise your exposure to threats? Meet Kim Kim is not an overly detailed person – in fact she just can’t see details in most tasks like the missing ‘dots’ and the uncrossed ‘T’s. They bore her silly and as much as she has tried, she does not enjoy it and is not good at it. However, her current role requires that she gets the details right, as the role involves critical detailed oriented tasks such as producing reports for the board. Kim used the art of delegation to manage this weakness. One of her team members is skilled at paying great attention to detail. It comes naturally to her and she thrives on it. Kim gets her to check the draft board reports for the missing details, she is also in charge of preparing management information data that requires a high level of details. This arrangement works like magic! 39 Strengths and Opportunities Reflecting on your Strengths – think about how you might use these strengths to maximise opportunities around you. Looking at the opportunities available to you, how would you use one of your key strengths to take advantage of the opportunity? Strengths and Threats Think about how you can use your strengths to minimise the impact of threats that you are exposed to. How can you use your strengths to avoid threats?
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