Reflecting on the simple art of an honest self-appraisal

Reflecting on the simple art of an honest self-appraisal

By Roy Faulkner M.A, M.Sc, B.Sc

It’s all about the spelling. Just so we’re clear, when talking about SWOT, I’m not referring to SWAT. The former is a business tool that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, while the latter is a specialised police unit. Even though I watched every TV episode of the SWAT series as a kid, I do not have the knowledge or experience to write with even a modicum of confidence about special weapons and tactics; although it would be kind of cool if I could. Sadly, I'll have to stick with SWOT.

Ignorance isn’t bliss; it’s just ignorance. As a young creative, the mere mention of anything reeking as much of account service lingo, as a SWOT analysis, would have sent me into a paroxysm of indignation – primarily, if I’m honest, to cover my ignorance of what the acronym meant. But with the greying of my hair and the widening of my waist, I have able to appreciate its usefulness for my client’s business. It allows one to ascertain what their client is doing well, what they can improve upon, and of course, which competitor’s actions pose the most significant threat to their business; all of which, as brand custodians, should be of interest to the entire account team, including the creatives. Heresy? Nah, common sense.

Tea and crumpets with the Devil. Then one day, Boom! My hair was too grey, and my waist had widened too much to look good in skinny jeans. The truth was that whenever anyone used the phrase, “let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room”, everyone turned to me and said, “Hi”. I mean, seriously!

A recruiter, now long retired, used send out a regular email to CDs outlining the creatives that were looking for jobs. Great, right? One CD told me that he’d got me along for an interview not because he wanted to hire me, but because he wanted to see if I matched my description. That comment perplexed me for ages, but it all became crystal when I got my hands on the recruiter’s email. And what a surprise it was to discover I was described as, “very fat, but very funny”. No mention of my skills, education or experience, just my weight and my sense of humour. Gave the term ‘belly laugh’ a whole new meaning. But hey, my description was mild compared to some of the other creatives on the list, one of whom it stated was, “the most boring and miserable writer I’ve ever met”.

My confidence went south quicker than a bowling ball through the bottom of a wet paper bag, and by the time I was euphemistically 'let go', my self-esteem was so low it was down in the pits of Hell having a cuppa and toasting crumpets with the Devil. As a person, I was fading into irrelevance.

Loads of us have been there, and I suspect that a vast majority of my peers will have at some point grabbed a sheet of paper and feverishly scribbled down a list of ‘pros’ and ‘cons’, revised it several times, then screwed it into a ball and tossed it into the bin. Waste of time, yeah?

Whale semen it isn’t. The truth is, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to say about myself, especially in a covering letter. Ironically, I could easily sell a jar of oven bake sauce that resembled whale semen, but couldn’t sell myself – I’d always relied on my portfolio and trusted that people would say positive things about me. Well, we know how that turned out as a strategy. No, I was going to have to reinvent myself. But how? Then I got to thinking about that arcane Cthulhu-like practice mentioned earlier, and beloved of Suits worldwide - the SWOT analysis.

So, there I am slumming it in my local Gloria Jeans with only a large skinny flat white and a fruit scone for company. Suddenly, mid sip, I remember how account service were always yarning on about how they had done a SWOT analysis for this or that client and how much it had helped them improve their business. there was no reason it shouldn’t work for a creative such as myself, or indeed, for you or anyone else looking for a new job, a career change or promotion. So here are the four steps to a better understanding of who you are and what you have to offer your present or future employer.

Step one, define what it is you’re good at - pedestal your strengths. Sounds simple enough, but don’t get bogged down with the obvious and mundane. Dig deeper. Be honest. You might be a dab hand at branding, excel as a pitch presenter, or write a killer headline under pressure. All great. But the best strengths are the ones that give you a competitive edge. They equate to your unique selling proposition.

Step two, ascertain what your weaknesses are. Personally, I don’t like the word ‘weaknesses’, I’m more in favour of ‘underdeveloped strengths’, but this would mean you’d be doing an SUSOT analysis, which sounds medical. During this step it is once again, important to be honest. There’s no point saying that your kind of okay with strategy when what you mean is that you suck at it. Just like the failure to disclose an errant mandarin in your backpack at Customs drops you in it, so does lying to yourself about your ‘underdeveloped strengths’.

Step three, work out what opportunities are available.  Opportunities are chances. You either seize on them or sit crying into your soy latte lamenting on the opportunity that got away. Build on your strengths and give those weaknesses a workout Arnie would be proud of, either through serious self-improvement or by surrounding yourself with team members with skill sets that complement your own and from whom you can learn – sort of like Charles Xavier and the X-men, but hopefully, you’ll have more hair. But, and there’s always a but, you have to be upfront and honest with yourself. By recognising and then acknowledging those under developed strengths, you’ll be in a much better position to make the best of any opportunity that comes your way. If you don’t, you’re lying to yourself, and that doesn’t do anyone any favours. Yep, honesty is the best policy when it comes to a personal SWOT analysis. Like it or not, you have to own the good as well as, the not so good.

Step four, identify what poses a possible threat:  Threats can come at you from any and every direction. Working out exactly what they can mean the difference between getting through unscathed and forging a beautiful new beginning or ending your days suffering a slow agonising death – career wise that is. So, ask yourself, and remember, to be honest, questions like, are your skills current? Are your skills relevant? If not, then you know what it is you have to work on and improve. There’s no point hiding behind your bleed-proof pad hoping that UX and SEO will miraculously start making sense. Remember, the onus is on you to accentuate the positives, in this instance your strengths, and eliminate the negatives, which involves developing those areas where you’re not as mustard as you thought. The success or failure of your threat identification depends entirely on whether or not you have the moral fortitude (and common sense) to be completely open and honest with yourself. Lying will leave you ill prepared at best and irrelevant at worst.

Not for the faint hearted. Admitting that you’re crap at something doesn’t come naturally to most folk – it certainly doesn’t to me. It took me an age, and numerous disasters, before I could openly say with hand on heart, that I was utterly useless at DIY. No SWOT analysis needed. But with the technological change taking place at a rapidity formerly only enjoyed by communicative diseases, becoming left behind is a genuine possibility to many older creatives. Don’t get me wrong, I‘m not saying that a personal SWOT analysis is a panacea or proverbial silver bullet, but it will help you identify any gaps in your skill-set, and once they’re defined, you can set about filling them.

Good luck and all the best.