Hello again. In previous presentations, we discussed the advantages of having a tool that would allow you to measure the effectiveness of skill building activities. Before we continue exploring skill building in more detail, let's think about this activity in the context of overall self strategy. This is important because business strategy tools, such as a SWOT analysis, are very popular and widely used for career advising. But the problem is, that those tools are often misunderstood and misused. So let's talk about what we can learn from business strategy. To begin, let's review how we dealt with strategic issues in Course 1. You may recall that we quoted Peter Drucker, the father of contemporary management, who wrote that each knowledge worker must think and behave as a Chief Executive Officer. What does that mean exactly? In the corporate environment, a CEO is the senior decision maker who is ultimately responsible for the company's performance and its strategic direction. So, it is the full responsibility that a career developer must embrace, the strategic function that he or she must perform, which makes his or her situation similar to one of being a CEO of a corporation. Following Drucker's advice, in Course 1, we implemented the concept of strategic planning to personal development and came up with the notion of self strategy. Then we identified and explored the elements of self strategy including self observation, self awareness, personal mission and values, self regulated behaviors, scanning the job market environment, long term and immediate goal setting, envisioning one's future work self and engaging in self-directed learning. All of that is helpful for self development as it provides a big picture view of one's career development and focuses on long term goals. But how can we get even more from business strategy? For example, can we use business strategy methods and techniques for guiding, organizing, and monitoring skill building activities? Take, for example, a SWOT analysis. It is rare to find a career development resource that doesn't mention the need for the learner to conduct a SWOT analysis. One may think that the tool is so simple and so powerful that anyone can easily master and create a sound career strategy. The truth is the tool was not developed for career advising or personal development. It belongs to field of corporate strategy and even in its native environment, it doesn't have any analytical capacity on its own. In other words, while using SWOT analysis may look cool and scientific, in reality it can be useless and even misleading. As they say in information technology, garbage in, garbage out. You may recall this chart from Course 1. It is showing differences in perceptions of work readiness by recent graduates and prospective employers. According to the American Association of Colleges and Universities research, 65% of graduates think that their communication skills are strong, but only 27% of employers agree. In other words, the very same competency that is seen by many graduates as their strength, is in the eyes of their employers a weakness. So, if someone attempted to conduct a SWOT analysis of his or her skills, based solely on a gut feeling, he or she would probably come up with a very inaccurate and misleading conclusion about their strengths and weaknesses, which in turn may disorient the person in his or her career decisions. As a result, a good job opportunity may be lost. Meanwhile, there are good jobs available. But employers cannot fill them because of the mismatch between job requirements and candidates skills. According to Tara Sinclair, Chief Economist to indeed.com, 38% of employers report difficulties filling jobs. One quarter of jobs in the U.S. are made open after 60 days and close to 5 million jobs are unfilled. The conclusion is that existing methods of work force development, career advising, and self-improvement may not be providing job seekers with adequate guidance and sufficient preparation. Using sophisticated techniques like a SWOT analysis is not going to help either unless those tools are properly use. To understand how a SWOT analysis actually works, it's good to become familiar with the relevant literature or to take a course on business strategy. You maybe surprise to learn that according to researchers Chermack and Kasshanna, and many others, there are many misconceptions about the use of a SWOT analysis even in the field of corporate strategy where it belongs. For valid results, business analysts need to undertake some preparation and a lot of preliminary work. Why do you think that using a SWOT analysis is easier in the field of career development? This question brings us to the point where we should ask ourselves whether an analytical tool rooted in business strategy can be applied for career development. Or, in general terms, can we draw on business strategy to derive conclusions and obtain tools that are applicable for individual career strategy? Metaphors and analogies can help us navigate new areas and grasp new concepts by comparing the unknown and what we already know. Here's an example of a popular business metaphor. Chess is a strategy game. So it is rare to find a book or course on strategy without an image of chess pieces on the cover. It does not mean that the business strategists, academics, and business students are supposed to play chess and learn strategy from that. Typically they do not. So chess playing methods and techniques like the Sicilian defense are useless in the context of business strategy. The strategist still seem to like using chess pieces for decorating their books. Probably because using chess pieces images remind them of the need to be thoughtful, wise, competitive and of course strategic. To answer this question, we need to focus on similarities between a firm's behavior, competitive markets of goods and services, and individual behavior in competitive job markets. Fortunately, there are many good courses on business strategy, including those on Corsera that can help. When studying business strategy, we recommend that you pay particular attention to a theory suggested by Barney in 1991. And called "The Resource-Based View of the Firm." According to this theory, the key for the sustainable competitive advantage, the firm is in its ability to possess unique resources and develop superior capabilities over the competitors. The theory provides a blueprint for strategic analysis, which includes the following steps. Analyzing the attractiveness of the industry, identifying key success factors for the industry, evaluating the firms resources and capabilities, conducting benchmarking against competitors and identifying the firms core competencies and generating strategies for gaining the competitive advantage. In a nut shell, the theory recommends that a company striving for a competitive edge must position itself in an industry where it has natural advantages, then identify key requirements for success in that industry. Compare the resources and capabilities with the competition. Analyze the results and develop and implement a winning strategy. There is a certain similarity between "The Resource-Based View of the Firm," and the skill based view of the individual. As "The Resource-Based View of the Firm" is a well established theory and methodology of analysis in the business world, it is safe to suggest that when dealing with the skill based view of the individual on a competitive job market, one can draw on the ideas and tools commonly used by business strategists. As a result of this exercise, we will have a blueprint for strategic planning in the field of individual career development. In Course 1, we already conducted some of the necessary steps. Including developing a skill based view of yourself and identifying critically important skills in the area of your interest. In Course 2, we will pay particular attention to benchmarking for assessment and self assessment. Benchmarking is a critically important step because it reveals true strengths and weaknesses or competency gaps. Only after that, you will have enough materials to conduct a meaningful SWOT analysis and craft a realistic personal career development plan. Let's summarize our findings. One of the most important takeaways from business strategy is that a meaningful SWOT analysis can only be done after benchmarking the company's resources and capabilities against their competitors and revealing the firm's true strengths and weaknesses. The same logic seems to hold true for career development. It does not make much sense to ask someone about his or her strengths before running benchmarking tests. As we demonstrated earlier, self assessments based on a gut feeling are proven to be inaccurate and misleading. It is critically important to learn how to make them realistic. A failure to conduct an accurate self assessment prevents individuals from detecting and addressing competency gaps. Gaps in turn prevent individuals from landing good jobs. And remember, there are millions of jobs available in the US. Do not allow your competency gaps to slow down your career. On a positive side, a properly conducted self assessment will help detect and eliminate competency gaps. That's all for today, see you in the career development lab.
