It is important once a project is completed to analyze it. I used a SWOT analysis to analyze my Better Me, Better World project. A SWOT analysis focuses on your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. A SWOT analysis is a very important analysis tool for students and professionals to use. A SWOT analysis is strategic. It is used as a strategic planning and management technique to help organizations or people identify Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to project planning or business competition

When it came to my project's strengths, I thought about what went well and what was the greatest success of my project. For my Better Me, Better World project planning, the trail run and creating a timeline were beneficial and definitely a strength. It is important to plan out before you start a project. This helps you create the direction and end goal of your project. It is a road map where you see how to get from point a to point z with everything between. The trial run was very helpful because it allowed me to work out any issues that arose before officially launching the project. Sometimes we do not think of all scenarios that could go wrong. Lastly, having a timeline helped me stay organized and on track to meet important deadlines. Without a timeline, I would have been easily distracted and could have gone off my plan.

The next area of a SWOT is the project's weaknesses. When it came to my project's weaknesses I thought of what areas of my project could use some improvement. I felt that my goals could have been more specific and not as general. I feel I could have gone a little further with my project goals. Overall, I think I had great goals but I could have dug deeper to make them more specific and not as general.

Next in the SWOT analysis is opportunities. When it came to my project opportunities I thought about what I would have done differently and how I could have used my leadership skills. I felt a big opportunity for me was connecting with more people who are grieving online. I felt that I could have helped more people than focusing on mentoring one person. I also felt that another opportunity was connecting with the person I mentored sooner in the project. I did not account for how long it could take someone to build trust with me allowing me to help them on their own healing journey.

The last part of a SWOT analysis is threats. When it came to threats in my project I thought about what issues were out of my direct control that impacted my project. For my project, I felt the only threat I had was time. While I understand that time management is an important skill to master and time management is mostly in my direct control I still chose my threat to be finding time to complete all activities. Life gets in the way and throws curve balls that will throw you off course. Time management is a balancing act but sometimes you have a lot on your plate that you were not expecting to show up that day or week.

Next, I want to talk about what I would have done differently and offer recommendations for future EXEC 301 students. Give yourself a longer timeline to complete your project. Giving yourself wiggle room allows you to account for any time management issues or project issues that arise. For example, you could face technical issues that will set your project back. I would also offer students to conduct thorough research before starting their project. It is important that what we chose to do for our project fits our end goal of the project. Sometimes we might want to complete something but the opportunity to do this might not fit our end goal or be out of our current reach. While in the project planning stage, talk to your friends, family, peers, coworkers, etc about your project idea. By bouncing your idea off others you might receive additional ideas and resources to use. Overall, I feel my project went great and if I complete this project again in the future, I know where to make changes.

This project is about bettering who I am from the inside out. The most important person is yourself and as humans we often overlook ourselves. I want to start my healing journey to become the best possible version of myself. Personal growth will also reflect in my career thus helping me go further.

For intellectual pursuits I chose to learn French. The company I work for is a global management consulting firm whose HQ is in France. Since I was recently promoted, I will work with the global team more closely. By learning French, I feel it will help build a closer relationship with the global team. By starting duolingo and watching YouTube videos I was able to learned most of the basic words.

For emotional care I read one self-help book and attended counseling/therapy for grief. I feel that attending counseling/therapy helped me open and start my healing journey for the people I lost last year. The only way to heal is to face the grief head on which I have not allowed myself to do until this project. I read a self-help book that taught me how to break out of my shell and become more outgoing. Becoming more outgoing will allow me to build relationships with my co-workers and give me the self-confidence to pitch my ideas in meetings.

I read a great book called self-love – workbook for women. I learned so much by reading and using this workbook. I bought the kindle version and it was great always having the workbook at my fingertips. Also, I attended counseling that my university provides. The school provides five free sessions. These sessions allowed me to open up and start to deal with how I am feeling in my grief journey.

For ethics I read two articles on ethics in the human resources industry. Since I just was put into the HR department, learning all about ethics will help me get a better understanding of HR and become a better leader.

By reading both articles and was able to connect them to my current role in HR.

For physical development I decided to get back into hot yoga. Instead of doing hot yoga at a studio I will do it at home. I found it hard to make class times, I will use a space heater in a room with the door shut. I will follow a Yoga video from YouTube.

I created a space for hot yoga in my house. Found a YouTube channel with 26 classes to follow. I also decided that since my schedule slowed down to go back to a studio. I do hot yoga in my house days but also will start going back to a studio to help push me and stay motivated.

For community service I wanted to make a positive impact on someone who is also grieving. Grief is not easy, and people need a safe space to express their feelings. I wanted to help one person who is also struggling with grief. I did this online, since there are many websites that have forums for people to talk and post about how they are feeling.

researched online forums. I picked ‘heal grief’ to help mentor someone. I was able to connect with more than one person to help offer kind words, wisdom and help them in the grieving process.

The impact of my better world project was bigger than I expected. I was finally able to really work on myself. I am not able to better serve my community and grow my leadership skills. When I work on myself, I am able to show up in the community as a better person. I can show up to work as a better leader and I show up for myself as a better version of myself. When I become a better person, it will help positively affect the people around me and my career.

Leadership Skills used for my Better Me, Better World Project

Leadership skills are very important for everyone to learn as they will help us in our personal and professional life. Being a leader means different things to everyone. Being a leader to me is taking a people-first approach while being able to communicate properly. It is about having a vision for the future and focusing on the development of impacting my team.

Communication to me is the most important skill a leader must-have. In order to be one of the best leaders, you must understand how communication works and how to speak honestly and authentically. Another skill that ties into communication is active listening and I feel these go hand in hand. An effective leader communicates but also actively listens to their employee's needs, and perspectives and helps collaborate towards the same goals while ensuring their employees are growing and developing. It is important to keep in mind that how to communicate verbally and non-verbally is important. What your body language says while communicating might not align with your words. When communicating you want to make sure you are getting your message across while speaking in a tone that is not offensive to listeners. Leaders need to ensure they are communicating effectively and things are not getting lost in translation. Leaders communicate a wide range of things to their team members, upper management, clients, etc.

Strategic thinking is important because it helps with three factors 1) where we are now; 2) where we want to be, and 3) how we will get there. Using strategic thinking allowed me to ensure I was heading in the right direction when it came to my project. Strategic thinking is having the capacity to anticipate while also having the discipline to prepare now, and ensuring you have the ability to position yourself to not only compete but to also win in the future which is highly important when being a leader.

Flexibility is important because there are many things that can and will happen that are out of our control. A leader needs to demonstrate flexibility when it comes to their team and project. Flexibility allows leaders to modify their approach or style in leadership due to their response to unpredictable and uncertain circumstances. Being flexible allows leaders to adapt to changes as they happen. It also lets them revise their plans to overcome challenges while still achieving their goals. I had to be flexible in my project because it involved other people and not just me. For example, I needed to work around other people's schedules to accommodate meetings to help practice my french with co-workers.

Emotional intelligence is also an important leadership skill that I used in my Better Me, Better World project. I used emotional intelligence when I was interacting with the grief counselor and mentoring someone who is currently grieving. Emotional intelligence is having the ability to not only understand but to manage your own emotions. It also is about recognizing and influencing the emotions of others around you. This is important because sometimes we speak and do not realize how our words or actions are affecting the people around us. People come from all different backgrounds and we all have different emotional intelligence. The four core competencies that are associated with emotional intelligence. They are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Self-awareness is important because it is your ability to understand your strengths and weaknesses while also recognizing your emotions and how they affect you and your team's performance. To bring out the best in others, you must first bring out the best in yourself.

Self-management is important because it is your ability to manage your emotions while maintaining a positive attitude and outlook despite the setbacks you have encountered.

Social awareness is important because a leader needs to understand and manage their emotions. As a leader, you must know how to read a room. Social awareness allows you to recognize others' emotions.

Relationship management is important because it is a leader's ability to influence, mentor, coach, and resolve conflict effectively.

Motivating others is important because this is how you get your team as a leader to listen to you, follow directions, build trust, and share their ideas with you. It is important to first learn who motivates each team member as people can be motivated by different things. One person might like a free lunch while someone else on the team is motivated by a shout-out on the company call. Praising your team in front of others helps encourage them to work harder while performing better. While working as a mentor for someone currently grieving I got to know what motivates them. I developed a little plan on how to keep motivating them. They liked simple praises and seeing that I was truly there for them in their time of need.

I am part of the NSLS. For my Executive Leadership Certification, our assignment was to create a better world project. I chose to focus on Better Me, Better World. My project is about bettering who I am from the inside out. The most important person is yourself, and as humans we often overlook ourselves. I want to start my healing journey to become the best possible version of myself. Personal growth will also reflect in my career thus helping me go further.

I chose this project because in my personal life and career there are things I need to work on to become a better person. When I become a better person it will help positively affect the people around me and my career.

Below is the outline for my project

Intellectual Pursuits - Start learning French The company I work for is a global management consulting firm. Their headquarters is in France. Many emails come in French and many meetings are held in French. Since I was recently promoted, I will work with the global team more closely. By learning French I feel it will help build a closer relationship with the global team. Goal: Have basic words down in 12 weeks Resources Needed: YouTube has many great videos to help learn French Key stakeholders: I can have my colleagues who are from France help me practice my french. Emotional Care - Read one self help book and one book on grief. ( I change this to one self help book and attending counseling for grief) Last year I lost four people and three of them were back to back. I did not let myself grieve and sorta of just kept it moving. I feel that reading a book on grief will let me open up and start my healing journey. I also want to read a self help book that will help me break out of my shell and become more outgoing. At work a goal of mine is to build relationships with my colleagues but I find it hard to step out of my comfort zone. Goal: Both books completed in 8 weeks Resources Needed: Two books. Key stakeholders: N/A

Ethics - Reading 2 articles on ethics in the Human Resources industry I work in the HR department. I want to learn as much as I can about ethics in the HR industry. Since I just was put into the HR department, learning all about ethics will help me get a better understanding of HR and become a better leader. Goal: Both articles completed in 4 weeks Resources Needed: Two articles Key Stakeholders: My career development manager can help me pick which articles I should read. I can report back to her what I learned and how it applies to my position.

Physical Development - Do one hour of hot yoga 4 times a week For months now I have told myself that I need to get back into yoga. I went to hot yoga five times a week. I stopped because I felt I did not have the time between work, school and other commitments. It is time to put my health as a priority and do hot yoga four times a week. Since I find it hard to make class times, I will use a space heater in a room with the door shut. I will follow a Yoga video from YouTube. Goal: 4 times a week for 12 weeks. Resources Needed: Space heater, Yoga mat. Key Stakeholders: I can ask one of my friends who is a yoga teacher to help me.

Community Service - Mentor one other person who is struggling with grief As mentioned above I lost four people last year. I want to help one person who is also struggling with grief. I plan to do this online. There are many websites that have forums for people to talk and post about how they are feeling. I feel that I will positively impact not only the person I help but also myself by doing this. Goal: 8 weeks of mentoring -  it might take time for someone to warm up before I am able to mentor and help them. Resources Needed: Online platform Key Stakeholders: Other people who are grieving