Personal SWOT analysis

To be a successful leader in todays hospitality industry it is crucial for one to recognize their own strength and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats one may be facing. By being aware of these four characteristics, you can then use them to your own advantage in various ways. By understanding your strengths and opportunities you can be confident to use them more as a tool to get what you want. When you fully understand your weaknesses and threats you can focus on them to improve and develop them into strengths as well.

There are four personal strengths I believe that will help me greatly in my hospitality career. They are: my ability to multi-task, keep an open-mind, communicate effectively, and being able to stay organized. Being able to multi-task is an essential trait any person working in a hotel should have. At any moment you could have 5 tasks you need to complete which can be stressful. Through my experience from working at a busy hotel for about a year, I have been better able to develop that strength. Next is keeping an open mind, which is an extremely beneficial way to be adaptive to new situations. Adaption is an important ability in an industry that is constantly changing and forming which could help me meet guests needs more effectively.

Communication is another strength I believe I have, which is the cornerstone of any effective leader in the hospitality industry. To communicate effectively I genuinely listen to the other persons message and respond with a clear and concise reply. To quote one of my favorite authors, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” When I listen to people talk I don’t think of what I’m going to say next, I am paying attention to the words and emotions being conveyed. This allows me as a leader to be a more effective communicator. Last but not least is staying organized. This allows me to get things done faster than it normally would. Being organized is another characteristic that I learned by working in a hotel. People expect things to be neat and orderly, which I eventually got the hang of after doing it over and over.

Personal weaknesses are inevitable and we all have them. For me, I would say that procrastination, staying motivated, and having minimal leadership skills would be the biggest weaknesses that I face. For as long as I have known, I have always waited to the last minute to finish things. If there is not an urgent need to get something done I will brush it off until later to finish it. This is bad for me because once I get around to completing the task it seems like so much to do that I stress out and sometimes can’t complete it on time. To fix this problem I am learning how to change my habits by starting things as soon as I get them. This way, I don’t have to wait until the last minute. My next weakness is staying motivated. Some days I have less motivation to do things than other days.

This can cause me to be lazy and not want to do anything. To fix this problem I will create goals to get me to where I want to be. This will remind me everyday of what I need to do to get there. Another important weakness I have is not having proper leadership skills. Most of the jobs I have ever worked at, I was not in a leader/ management position. This has set me back because I have very little experience in delegating tasks and responsibilities to people. However, by reading books on leadership and slowly easing my way into a higher up position, I can accumulate knowledge on how to properly lead a team or company to success.

Opportunity comes in many different shapes and forms. I currently work in the hospitality industry which is continually growing and expanding as of right now. There are many areas in my company for advancing into senior positions if you are willing to stay around and prove you have what it takes. Some other opportunities include working for other hotel chains or even starting my own hotel with the right amount of capital and people in the right place. Other opportunities can be found in social situations to make connections, or generally any chance to gain benefit from working with people.

Threats can be seen as anything that may get in the way of accomplishing your goals, including things that negatively affect your ability to compete with others. The biggest two threats for me are probably competition with others that are in the same field, as well as finishing up my education and getting the right grades needed. However I feel that the longer I stay with my current employer the easier it will be for me to advance to the desired positions that I want, such as director of marketing or GM.