Introduction
Managing an organization is a responsibility that entails a lot of duties and obligations. This, therefore, means that all individuals who plan on becoming good managers must possess a wide variety of managerial skills in order to guide their organization to succeed in their operations. However, it is almost impossible for a manager to possess all the necessary skills that are required for effective management. Since managers are human beings, they will most likely possess various managerial strengths as well as weaknesses. In order for an individual to become a good manager, he/she is required to improve on his managerial strengths as well as rectify his weaknesses.
My Strengths
I, for example, realize that I have three strengths that improve my ability to become a good manager. My managerial strengths include the fact that I have good communication, leadership and decision making skills. The above skills have always helped to become a good manager in several ways. For example, my good communication skills have enabled me to maintain good relations with all the important stakeholders of my organization. My good leadership skills have also been advantageous to my position as a manager since I have been able to convince all the stakeholders of my organization to trust my decisions and actions. To add to this, my ability of being a good decision maker has enabled me to make the best decisions on a number of occasions where I have been faced with difficult but crucial decisions.
My weaknesses
However, I also realize that I have a number of weaknesses that pose a challenge to my managerial abilities. For example, I have realized that I am not a good project manager. On many occasions, I have been unable to address the various details and aspects that I was supposed to address when various projects were taking place in my organization. Secondly, I have also realized that I am not good at managing my organization’s finances. This is because I have been faced with numerous instances in the past where I have allocated funds to be spent on areas that I should not have given priority when deciding on the expenditures that my organization should make. Thirdly, I also realize that I have a weakness in managing the pressure and stress that arises as a result of my responsibility as a manager of my organization.
My goals for improving my weaknesses
Having realized the various weaknesses I have as a manager in my organization, there is a great need for me to work towards improving the weaknesses; I have as a manager thus increasing my ability to become a good manager. In a bid to improve my managerial weaknesses, I have come up with three goals that will act as my guideline in my quest to become a good manager. The first goal I have established in my quest to become a better manager is to ensure that my organization carries out its projects with the highest level of efficiency possible. Secondly, I also aim to transform my organization into one that will become more organized and transparent when dealing with its finances. Thirdly, I also aim to posses the necessary skills that will enable me to manage work related stress and pressure effectively.
Strategies that I will use to achieve my desired goals
In an effort to ensure that I achieve the goal I have set of becoming a good project manager, I will use a number of strategies. These strategies include:
- Practicing better job delegation and allocation of duties: This will help to redistribute various responsibilities to junior staff thus reducing the work load imposed on me to manage all aspects of the project.
- Improving my supervisory skills: Once I implement the strategy of job delegation, I will work on improving my ability to supervise how each member of my junior staff carries out the duties bestowed upon them. I also will increase my frequency of following up the progress made by members of my junior staff.
- Increase my knowledge on project management: I plan to read a lot of books as well as carry out research on the internet to find out new and better ways of carrying out projects.
I intend to become a better financial manager by carrying out the following strategies:
- Coming up with an improved system of dealing with the organization’s finances: The new system should ensure accountability and reduce the possibility of embezzling the organization’s funds.
- Come up with a culture of prioritizing the organizations planned expenses and coming up with budgets that will help me to be able to anticipate the amount of expenditure the organization is likely to make over some period of time.
- I also plan to learn new and innovative ways of investing the organizations profits or excess funds in order to be able to raise additional funds to run the company.
In a bid to improve my ability to manage work related pressure and stress, I intend to:
- I also plan to allocate some time to myself which I will use to engage in activities that will help me to relax and relieve my mind from the stress and pressure of work. Examples of activities that I could undertake include going to the gym or attending yoga classes.
- I could also delegate some of my responsibilities to other junior managers or members of staff whom I trust to ensure that the organization will continue to run efficiently. This will help to reduce my work load thus contributing to the reduction of the pressure I experience at work.
In my efforts to improve on my managerial weaknesses, I am bound to face several challenges. For example, I will most likely face limitation in the amount of finances available for me to use when implementing some of my strategies e.g. it is likely that I will experience some pressure on my finances when planning to buy books or paying tuition fees to acquire knowledge more knowledge on project management.
I am also bound to face the challenge of aligning my free time with that of my mentor when I will be making an effort to gain some insight on how to manage the stress and pressure from work. The existence of constant fluctuations in price levels and organizational needs may also pose a challenge to my efforts of becoming a better financial manager. I may also lack the time to engage in leisure or other activities that will help me to reduce work related stress and pressure.
In my quest to become a better manager, I will require a number of resources. First, I will require to have adequate finances to enable me pay for books, gym and yoga sessions etc. I will also be required to find qualified and skilled human resource in order for me to be able to delegate some of my duties while maintaining the sustenance of my organization’s productivity.
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