Personally this is my favorite disability. Perhaps many of you will agree with me. Others know the frustration all too well and wont want to agree but will acknowledge frustration with a quiet nod!

As we have described management disabilities over the past in this mini series, the faults or problems that can easily befall us all are put to the test in the management team. This group has to battle the demons that surround the organization and still come out smelling like roses!

In larger organizations, managers feel a need to look good and protect their own credibility. They hire people similar to themselves or people not as smart so they can coach them. They look good and their subordinates keep it that way. Wittingly or otherwise. An appearance is created of a well oiled management team, the frog is being boiled. Decisions are compromises and as democratic as a third world government. Decisions are seldom thought through and dialogued, seldom is one voice heard above the others when something doesnt seem quite right. Disagreement is about laying blame, learnings are lost, differences hidden, opinions are diverse. Poor frog.

Management teams remind me of the prisoners dilemma the Economics of game theory. When you hold two accomplices and give them the option talk and walk, send your partner away or your partner shops you for the whole deal. If you both say nothing you are home free. Tough call. How well do you know your partners?

Management teams that are not learning teams will fall over themselves when issues get tough and they have to apply themselves. Teams split, make irrational decisions or support the wrong team mates. With Sarbanes Oxley in effect, this could mean a jail sentence. Pressure kills faster. mmm, is that poor frog in a pressure cooker?

Managements approach to surviving the top floor has often been to talk fast and talk often, never listening to others that may throw you off your stride or interject with facts.

We reward those that solve the problems not those that pose the problems

Posing solutions under the guise of being proactive or to be seen as a 'hero' manager makes business management even worse, but managers often use this approach to win favor and gain PR points.

Does this seem like a learning organization in the making?

Get out, learn, dialogue, evaluate, share understand the system

Hows your management team?

Graeme Nichol

What differentiates Graeme is the depth and breadth of his experience in management. He has either been in management or has been consulting to management for over 25 years. What he has seen and experienced is an unlimited resource that his clients can tap when resolving their business and team problems.

His experience includes consulting with large practices such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Coopers and Lybrand and Price Waterhouse; and boutique performance improvement implementation practices such as Knox D?Arcy Intl. and KrestaHague Intl. He has configured and managed complex ERP software implementations, worked in productivity and performance improvement, quality improvement, change management, strategy implementation, and managed both small and large projects. Graeme has worked in manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, communication, direct marketing, banking, beverages, consumer packaged goods, foodstuffs, and retail amongst others.

In his years of experience gained around the globe, he always found that business problems were usually either caused or solved by a team. If a team worked well together they could overcome amazing hurdles but if they were not aligned all types of hurdles appeared. He has gained extensive experience developing high performing teams. He knows what makes a team works and how to get them to function as one.

Besides management he is passionate about teaching and training. He has instructed many workshops and training sessions on various aspects of business such business planning, sales training, team building, introduction to business, conflict resolution, negotiations, general management, costing, management accounting, management reporting, developing management metrics and operations management.

When not working with his clients, Graeme?s passions are flying and sailing. His passion for teaching extends into his private life where he teaches flying and basic aerobatics. He has a small aerobatic plane which he loves to take up and throw around the sky. He has raced a 40ft yacht across the Atlantic Ocean, and competed in numerous sailing regattas, in the USA and abroad as well as cruised the East Coast of the USA with his family. Sailing is always a team event as each team member controls a small part of the boat. Team members need to be aligned and focused to achieve the results they desire.

Graeme has a BS degree in Agricultural Economics and an MBA from the University of Cape Town, RSA