Further thoughts on my Management Experiences

The table below considers each of the four management situations identified in the post Managing Experiences dated 7 May, against the different levels of influence:

Management situation	Me	Team	Organisation	Business context	Wider environment
Being managed in a workplace environment	Given a large degree of autonomy. External stakeholder support to project	Failure to garner support of key decision makers despite broad interest in the project.	The Capability area for the Royal Marines is quite small within the Navy HQ and it is constantly torn between generating current capability and planning for future capability.	Paralysis in advance of a predicted SDSR	Affect of Afghanistan was underestimated.
Managing in a work-based situation	My previous experience in the Navy HQ is highly advantageous.	A need to sell the capabilities of the Maritime Reserves to the rest of the Navy.	Under significant financial pressure to make efficiencies whilst maintaining operational output in the midst of 2 conflicts.  A risk of sacrificing current and future capability to solve a current cash flow problem.	Defence has a huge financial black hole.  The Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) did not solve the financial issues.	The Government/country is under severe financial constraints.  The impact of uncontrollable events e.g. Libya
Being managed in a non-work situation	ENTJ personality Self aware & adaptable	My wife has a different personality type which means that both of us need to understand the different ways in which we operate to ensure we avoid conflict.	Broader family commitments		Effects of the austere financial climate.
Managing in a non-work situation	ENTJ personality Self aware & adaptable	Self awareness is crucial.  The direct approach is not always the best approach; however it can be highly effective in certain situations.		Different groups have different attitudes and dynamics.

In summary, I believe that it is essential to strive for self awareness at all times and that if you can be honest and dispassionate about issues it allows you to conduct an analysis of the situation in which you are either managing or being managed.  Moreover, it is important to attempt to see the situation from as many angles as possible - or what I would refer to as "Red Teaming" a problem.  This comes from the fact that in military tabletop exercises historically the enemy is always portrayed in red.  We now operate in a much more complex operational environment so other players are now considered and they are assigned other colours.