How to Conduct a Personal SWOT Analysis
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As a manager, one of the most valuable yet challenging exercises you can undertake is a personal SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats - a framework for assessing your current standing and future potential. However, conducting an honest self-appraisal is far trickier than it may seem.
The biggest hurdle is overcoming our own biases and blind spots. It's human nature to want to see ourselves in the best light possible, downplaying weaknesses and threats while perhaps overemphasizing strengths. There's also the opposite problem - being overly self-critical and failing to give ourselves enough credit. Emotions can cloud our judgment, and it's difficult to step back and look at ourselves truly objectively.
Even identifying potential opportunities and threats requires being plugged into broader industry and market forces in an unbiased way. And once we've completed the analysis, turning those insights into an actionable personal development plan is another major challenge. Clearly, conducting a personal SWOT is rife with potential pitfalls.
Introducing the Johari Window Model
This is where the Johari Window model can be a game-changer. Created by psychologists in the 1950s, the Johari Window provides a framework for building self-awareness by exploring the open, blind, hidden, and unknown areas that make up our overall persona.
The Open Area represents traits that are known to both ourselves and others. The Blind Area contains traits others perceive but we remain blind to. The Hidden Area is made up of things we know about ourselves that we don't reveal to others. And the Unknown Area represents the traits and behaviors that remain a mystery to ourselves and those around us.
By systematically exploring each of these "panes," we expand our open area and shed light on our blind spots. This allows for a much more honest and comprehensive personal assessment.
How to use the Johari Window
Here's how to leverage the Johari Window for your personal SWOT:
Start with yourself - Make an honest list of what you perceive as your biggest strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in your personal and professional life.
Seek outside feedback - Ask trusted colleagues, mentors, friends and family to describe how they perceive your strengths, weaknesses, and areas for potential growth. Their perspectives will reveal your blind spots.
Analyze the whole picture - With this combined insider and outsider view, you can more accurately map out your open and hidden areas. Identify any unknown areas that require further exploration.
Develop your SWOT - Using all this insight, put together a draft personal SWOT analysis. Be brutally honest about strengths and weaknesses. Look for emerging opportunities you may be uniquely positioned to capitalize on. And have a clear-eyed view of legitimate threats on the horizon.
Get buy-in and refine - Run your draft SWOT by those who provided feedback. Make any additional refinements based on their input.
Develop an action plan - Outline the specific steps you'll take to double down on strengths, improve key weaknesses, pursue high-potential opportunities, and mitigate potential threats.
Sample Dialogue
MANAGER: Thanks for meeting with me today, Jamie. As you know, I'm a big believer in continuous self-improvement, both for the company and myself as a leader. To that end, I'm working on a personal SWOT analysis, and I'd really value your honest input.
JAMIE: Of course, I'm happy to help in any way I can.
MANAGER: Great. I'm using a framework called the Johari Window for this exercise. It focuses on building self-awareness by exploring the open areas that are known to myself and others, as well as the blind spots that others see but I may miss.
To start, I've identified what I believe are some of my key strengths - strategic thinking, ability to motivate teams, and strong decision-making skills under pressure. Would you say those align with your perception?
JAMIE: Yes, I'd agree with those strengths. I especially appreciate your ability to rally the troops and maintain a level head when things get hectic.
MANAGER: Thank you, that's reassuring to hear. Now, what about potential weaknesses or areas for improvement from your perspective? I'm probably too close to see some of my blind spots clearly.
JAMIE: Hmm, if I had to identify one area, it might be a tendency to get so focused on the big picture strategy that you can occasionally miss some of the finer implementation details.
MANAGER: You know, you're absolutely right. I do need to be more mindful of zooming back in after zooming out to that 30,000 foot view. Thank you for that honest feedback - it's invaluable.
JAMIE: Of course, I just want to contribute to your growth as a leader however I can.
MANAGER: Definitely. This open dialogue is exactly what the Johari Window process is all about. Now, in terms of potential opportunities, I've identified a few areas I think I could capitalize on more...
[They continue discussing opportunities, threats, refining the SWOT, and creating an action plan]
As this dialogue illustrates, the manager takes the initiative to solicit honest feedback from a trusted employee. By incorporating this outside perspective per the Johari Window, the manager gains awareness of strengths and blind spots.
The employee feels invested in the process and comfortable providing candid input. This open give-and-take allows the manager to develop a more comprehensive and realistic personal SWOT analysis to build an effective growth strategy.
Conclusion
The Johari Window process turns the typically tricky personal SWOT analysis into a much more robust and insightful exercise. By expanding your self-awareness, you'll gain a more honest and objective view of your current reality. This, in turn, will allow you to develop a strategic personal growth plan and reach new heights as a leader.
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