The S W O T and S W A T analysis
■fi■a●●y, the development of the attitude of Tenacity that can help in dealing with ‘Obstr uctions or Hurdles’ in the growth ‘path’.
The advantage of the SWOT Clarity and Self-Confidence
In one of the interviews a candidate was asked “Tell me something about yourself ”.
Upon hearing this the candida te started explaining a bout himself in a very generalised manner explaining about his past w ork-experience and started talking about his hobbies.
It was while he was telling the interviewers about his love for travelling that one of the interviewers got a bit irritated and stopped him. “I would like to know specifically about your strengths and how your strengths can become an asset f or our organisation,” he firmly told the candidate.
“Well sir, I have many strengths” he said this and then went quiet. He was quiet, literally trying to remember his own strengths.
He then mumbled something and it was sounding ‘unclear’.
The same thing ha ppened when another intervie wer ask ed him about what would be his g rowth plan and future opportunities.
Even to this question the candidate was unable to answer appropriately! Obviously the chances of the candidate passing the interview and subsequently getting the job was negative.
Whether it is an intervie w f or a job or f or an emplo yee who is already in an org anisation and looking towards his or her futur e growth.
The process of identifying his or her strong qualities, weaknesses, opportunities and tenacity will always create extremely high levels of not just clarity bit also self- con
fidence!
There must ther efore be an a ttempt made not just by a candidate appearing for an intervie w or an employee who wants to grow in his or her career.
But even a student in a university to conduct his or her specificSWOT analysis as that provides deep and inspiring ‘clarity’ as well as confidence!
Work upon Weaknesses
SWOT has the alphabet ‘W’ and it stands for Weaknesses although a better word for ‘Weakness’ would be AOI or Areas of Improvement. Yes! Only knowing your strengths isn’t enough at all!
In fact more important is the understanding of those areas which need to be ‘Impr oved’ or Ga ps which need to be filled’.
We all need to look out f or weakness or AOIs to help us start working upon them and subsequentl y converting those same weaknesses into more strengths!
Remember we must that we may have a lot of good and strong qualities and onl y a fe w negative or weak areas.
But then these fe w weak areas could slow us down in our professional or personal growth.
It is therefore imperative that we invest time to explore not just our strengths but also our weaknesses and immedia tely star t working upon them.
Future ‘OPPORTUNITIES’
There are some people who say, I only believe in the ‘Present’ and am not bothered about the future!
I am of the firm belief that we must surely and clearly think about our future especially in the context of our ‘Future Opportunities’. While doing the SWOT analysis it is therefore extremely important to identify the oppor tunities that could be pleasantly lurking around which could help us to rise higher in our career.
The moment you are able to spot these oppor tunities the next best thing to do w ould be to ‘GRAB’ them and accelera te the personal and professional progress!
Tenacity
Although, the alpha bet ‘T’ of the SWOT stands typicall yf or THREAT, the ‘T’ that I am sharing with you stands for ‘tenacity’.
This word also means P erseverance, Not giving up attitude or the ability to ‘endure’ tough and difficult challenges.
In our pursuit for success, just like a mountaineer, we too will encounter hurdles and tough situa tions and it is in such situations that we must become extremely ‘tenacious’ and ‘persevering’ towards battling and overcoming the hur dles and finally reaching the summit of success!
I most ear nestly and sincer ely feel tha t e very aspira tional and ambitious person must introspect, analyse and then write down his or her Strengths, Weaknesses and Opportunities and then become more Tenacious and persevering.
I can tell you for sure that this process of SWOT will make your journey of growth faster and more successful! In my next column I will be sharing some interesting and positive insights into the SWAT!