Success and achievement of the dreams and goals do not tend to come by accident, but rather as a result of great efforts and strong determination. The starting point to self-realization and personal fulfillment is by no means self-awareness, understanding of personal values, strength, and weaknesses, as well as identifying one's passions and interests in a certain professional field, on the basis of which certain goals are defined and set. Thereby considering one's life as a project and reflecting on some core issues in self-management is by far essential activity for anyone who strives to advance in one's life and career. Therefore this essay aims to analyze such core concepts as leadership, mission statement, and life cycle model, as well as to determine the cases when they serve either the catalysts or the barriers to effective strategic management, aligning them with the personal profile of SWOT analysis and the accordant professional and personal goals.
Mission statement is defined by Business Dictionary as “a written declaration of an organization's core purpose” which serves a function of giving a clear direction, setting priorities and defining the common principles or methods of one's activities. In the personal dimension, mission statement is the individual's claim or a promise outlining one's desirable role in society and the effect which the one aims to produce by his/her actions and life in general. What is notable to mention that the concepts of mission can be greatly related to the notions of leadership and strategic management, since mission statement presents a purpose while leadership and strategic management personify the method of fulfilling the established purpose. For instance, strategic management is defined as the process which includes the following: “setting objectives, analyzing the competitive environment, analyzing the internal organization, evaluating strategies and ensuring that management rolls out the strategies across the organization” (Investopedia Editors, n.d.). Such definition may be transferred from the organizational to the personal level, as well. Meanwhile, leadership theory is a highly complex notion, as well, since it incorporates a number of approaches to leadership, including leadership traits, behaviors, situational approach, the aspect of power and influence.
All the three notions, as well as the processes which they incorporate, need to be aligned with each other so that to complement one another, heading one way towards the desired goal and catalyzing personal effectiveness. The intersections ensuring such effectiveness may be mutually corresponding leadership situational style and management strategy, as well as mission statement and setting objectives as a part of strategic management, or certain leadership traits corresponding to the general strategy. Thereby effectively chosen strategy can help the inherent and most distinguishable traits strive, while inappropriate strategy selection will detain the process. What is also important to take into account is that the strategy not contradicting or deviating from the mission statement, or else it would definitely construct the barriers to the general personal effectiveness.
Alignment of these three crucial concepts in self-development may be empowered through the life-cycle model, defined as the one that “attempts to map out a projected life-story” (Cole, 1997) for a person. Basic life cycle timeline include the following stages: embryonic, growing, mature, aging (Cole, 1997). Many of traits and behaviors are formed during the embryonic stage, shaped by the early experiences and the environment. Leadership development is the most crucial on the growing stage, as well as forming the mission statement. Strategic management is the process which is the most common to the mature stage, together with a high level of self-awareness concerning leadership qualities, as well as personal goals and mission. SWOT analysis, the combined analysis of external and internal issues affecting the performance, is also crucial to reach the maturity.
My SWOT analysis includes the following constituents: humility, empathy, responsibility, determination, and accuracy as the strengths, and decision-making, adaptability, diplomacy, and concentration as my weaknesses. The opportunities which I envision include continuous learning and career advancement, a wide sphere for self-development, as well as understanding of enhancing work ethics and improvement of my teamwork and communication skills in the working environment. The threats which may hinder my development and advancement are my inner threat of making a mistake or of being judged, as well as a threat of underestimation of me by others or the narrow job market disabling professional growth. Based on the SWOT analysis, I can distinguish which action steps I need to take in order to eliminate the threats and access opportunities, as well as to work on my strengths and weaknesses so that eventually to correspond my mission statement, which is the following: a true expert in vascular sonography, I make a positive impact on people in the countries all over the world and advocate for the health quality globally.
References
Cole, G.A. (1997) Strategic Management: Theory and Practice, 2nd Edition. London, UK:
Thomson Learning.
Investopedia Editors (n.d.) Strategic Management. Investopedia. Retrieved January 24, 2017
“mission statement”. (n.d.). BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved January 24, 2017 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/mission-statement.html
