My Strengths

The experience I want to share with you guys helped me a lot to identify my strengths and weaknesses, and to realize what skills I have to acquire in order to be a good manager.  My store manager informed us that we are having a big meeting next week, and that all important people from the company are going to visit us. The problem was that we weren’t ready, everybody started stressing out and things got totally out of the hand. I realized that if I don’t take things under my control, that visit is going to be something that may cost us our jobs. I knew that in moments like that the first important thing is to stay calm, not to panic, and then to realize what are the available solutions. I needed people to calm down, because panic was not something that was going to help us solve our problems.  I had a meeting with every person in the company, and explained what do I expect from them, and I told them that we all need to work as a team.  Ability to organize was the key. At the end, everything went well. Top level management was satisfied. 

My first strength is an ability to organize. We need this skill in order to know where to start, what to do, how much time will it take, and how many people do we need.  By knowing how to organize, you will become efficient.  By being well organized, you are also setting an example to all of your associates.

Second strength that I want to mention is focus. The first problem that we had was that people were panicking around and not being productive. That caused a lot of problems. Good manager needs to know how to handle stress and fear, and how to help his associates overcome it. I had an idea to assign a task to every associate so that they don’t have time to think about problems. That way, they were being productive and helpful. We need to set our priorities carefully in order to achieve our goals. Good manager doesn’t let anything distract him.

These strengths do not help only at work; school is something that you also need these skills for. My goal is to have high grades in all of my classes. We need to set our objectives, strategies and goals.

Other example is from period when I lived in Europe. I used to help my dad, and spend hours and hours working at his company. He owns two coffee shops.  He gave me all the freedom to promote our brand, and make changes that will help us attract and retain customers. It wasn’t easy because this was my first time doing it. I was dedicated, organized and I took the initiative. I did a research. Within 10 days I came up with a lot of ideas which my dad really liked. The point is that it’s not important if you are doing something for the first time, the key of success in business world is to be organized and dedicated. 

Knowing my strengths will help me a lot in the future. Also, knowing my weaknesses will too. We need to know what to improve and what to change.  When we use our strengths we are motivated, competent and satisfied. Now that I know what I’m good at, I will help people learn and identify their strengths, and what works for them.  Our strengths make us unique!