There are some things that will stop your business idea, no matter how wonderful it is. These are the costly rough spots that you would rather conceal from the business analyst or banker. Hiding the information will only bring you and everyone you deal with frustration. Your best strategy is to get any deal breakers onto the table and mitigate them early – the sooner the better. In case any of these apply to you, here they are:

1. 100% Financing.
Sure, you and I have heard about those folks who manage to get it. It doesn’t happen that often; more often it’s a deal breaker. Would you invest your savings in someone who apparently doesn’t have the guts or the capacity to invest in themselves?

2. Bad Attitude.
There are entire books written on this topic. The real difficultly with this deal breaker is that most polite folks will not tell you that you suck – instead they will go quietly about taking their business elsewhere. It’s not the responsibility of bankers, employees or customers to create our approach to others. We are each responsible to manage our own attitude.

3. Cards & Toys.
Nasty credit card balances and a yard full of unnecessary toys. Owning toys is not the sin; it’s the high interest loans with outstanding balances and endless minimum payments that break the deal.

4. Fantasy Forecasts, Unrealistic Cashflow.
Would you invest your hard-earned savings in a person who can’t take the time and effort to build realistic sales forecasts? The cashflow is your opportunity to impress the lender that your know your business. It’s got to make sense. Missing or inaccurate expenses will destroy the reader’s confidence in your projections.

5. Getting into a Business You Know Nothing About.
If you are asking a lender to finance you to get into a business you know nothing about, be prepared for the jaundiced eye. Certainly, many folks have changed careers or leapt into a business they didn’t know anything about. I’ve done it, but I did it at my own risk. Would you have financed me to get into a business I knew nothing about?

6. Inconsistencies or Dishonesty.
Would you invest your money in someone who either doesn’t know or doesn’t make the effort to tell the truth?

7. Looming Liabilities.
There’s nothing quite like a pending legal action or a recent bitter marital break-up to scare off your potential lender.

8. Not Fitting the Lenders Priorities.
Lending agencies have different and ever-changing priorities. Know what those priorities are and target the right agency for your type of business.

9. Outstanding Taxes or Aging Accounts Payable.
If your business hasn’t been able to pay its bills, you had better have a good explanation why and a bullet-proof plan for recovery and success. Specifically, you need to show that you can and will pay back the loan.

10. Overpaying to Purchase a Business.
Your inability to negotiate a reasonable price to buy the business raises questions about your ability to survive once in business. With your credibility in question, the deal is broken.

11. Security Doesn’t Match Level of Risk.
Are you asking a bank to lend you money with no security? Sorry, banks are not in the business of taking major risks.

12. Ten-Bell Credit Rating.
The kind that gives your banker heartburn!

Highly effective teams can achieve extraordinary results for the organisations that they serve. Achieving success for the organisation leads to greater personal success, and achievement. Yet in truth, team success is not guaranteed. So what are 5 common barriers to team success and what can you do to avoid them?

Barrier 1: Fuzzy outcomes

If a team is to prosper and deliver results, it needs to be crystal clear about the results or outcomes that are expected to be delivered by the team. Too often teams are set outcomes that are fuzzy and vague which unsurprisingly leads to little in terms of results. Make the outcomes specific and measurable. For example, reduce waste from product X by 10% by 31 December 2008 is both specific and measurable.

Barrier 2: Unproductive conflict

All successful teams need to have challenge and conflict otherwise it all becomes too cosy. On the other hand, it is important to ensure that conflict is productive rather than destructive or unproductive. Lively and heated debate that actually results in a better outcome or solution is an example of productive conflict. Challenge that focuses on all of the negatives without offering any alternatives is unproductive.

Barrier 3: Playing it safe

Making a step change in performance or turning things round requires teams and team members to take some risk and step out of their comfort zone. This will only happen if the culture within the organisation supports and rewards this type of innovative and balanced risk taking approach. For example, if the culture is to look for scapegoats when things go wrong, people will keep within the safety boundaries rather than taking a chance.

Barrier 4: Individual agendas

If a team is to prosper, all members need to sign up to and be committed to the team goals first foremost. For many this is particularly challenging as in business, we are used to being concerned about our own individual situation. Creating a reward system that relies on the group can be a useful stepping stone to encouraging teams to focus on the team agenda.

Barrier 5: Leadership

In teams someone has to take on the role of the leader. A team without a leader is like a ship without a captain. The team might select a leader or as the team develops someone may emerge who is the natural leader. However, any successful team needs a leader.

Bottom Line – Teams can achieve great results but it is essential that the barriers to team success are identified and addressed. So what barriers are getting in the way of your teams success?

Too many times, people put too much time and effort into a negotiation that’s going nowhere. There are inheriting problems in putting too much time into a negotiation that’s not moving in the right direction. The more time and effort you put into a negotiation, the more psychologically committed you become in seeking a successful outcome. In the process, at some point, you’ll run the risk of making decisions with a clouded perception.

How then might you know when to exit a negotiation that appears not to be progressing in a meaningful direction? The following are insights …

Negotiation Situation: You’re accommodating when it comes to making concessions, but find the more concessions you’re asked to make, the more concessions you’re asked to make.

·       Be aware of the negotiator that attempts to continuously squeeze you. In a negotiation situation of this nature, be aware of the negotiation road upon which you’re traveling. When making a concession, get a concession. Concessions don’t have to be on a one for one basis, but don’t get too far out of sync. If the other negotiator consistently asks for concessions and you don’t get concessions in return, you could be setting yourself up for a lot of wasted effort. The other negotiator could simply be ‘pushing you’ in order to make you exit the negotiation so he can ‘save face’, or for some other unforeseen reason. He may be in a position whereby he can’t deliver on what you’re seeking from the negotiation, or tying to maximize his return at your slanted disadvantage.

Negotiation Situation: You attempt to highlight the benefits of your position, as it relates to the negotiation, only to find the other negotiator constantly interrupts you and goes off onto tangents.

·       This type of negotiator may be pompous, self centered, egocentric, or more interested in imposing his will on you. He may also be trying to impress you with his position, compared to taking into account the value your negotiation proposition holds. Whatever the situation, find a way to alter his demeanor. Then, inform him of the fact that you feel he’s not being considerate of your thoughts or position. If he becomes upset, so be it. It’s better to bring the situation to a head than allow the other negotiator to pontificate and take you down a road to nowhere. When it’s all said and done, it will be better for you to get out of the negotiation sooner than later.

Negotiation Situation: You observe the progression of the negotiation is moving slightly in a positive direction, but something doesn’t ‘feel right’.

·       Many of us have senses that we don’t tap into when we negotiate. If you perceive something is out of sorts in the negotiation, you may be ‘picking up’ subliminal signals from the other negotiator, indicating something is not right with the negotiation. Don’t dismiss these feelings before examining their source.  When you’re negotiating, if words and actions (body language) are not synchronized, observe the actions more than the words. If the lack of synchronization between words and actions persist, seek an exit to the negotiation. Always remember, during negotiations or any aspect of life, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.

When negotiating, words confuse as often as they explain. When there’s doubt as to the reality of what you perceive, trust your instincts. Do so to the point that your instincts are replaced by a feeling of foreboding. Then you’ll truly know in which direction your body is telling you to move.

If you observe the body language of the other negotiator and you detect a separation from his words and his body language, follow the language of his body. In most cases you’ll find, the language of the body needs no speech. Once you become instinctively accurate at determining the meaning of someone’s body language, you’ll have better insight into what their true intent is for the outcome of the negotiation.

When negotiating, some people are as open as sunlight, while others are as closed as darkness. Seek to deal with those that will negotiate in the sunlight and let those that would negotiate in darkness stumble in the dark by themselves … and everything will be right with the world.

Wastage could be loss of time, loss of interest, loss of materials required and so on. A good solution to this can be achieved from the practical approach that 5S provides.

Lean Six Sigma practitioners have faith in it as a culture that aims at continuous improvement of the working environment and the work conditions. The philosophy is applicable to any aspect of life. 5S refers to the five structured principles of seire, seiton, seison, seiketsu and shitsuke.

Translated, they mean sort, systematize, sweep (shine), standardize and self-discipline. All these terms are self-explanatory. Even if you take them in a daily simple scenario of tidying up your home, you will find that you are doing the same thing.

The first thing that is done is a sorting out of all items. They should be arranged systematically or categorized. Then the entire area needs to be cleaned.

The last step is to apply self discipline to maintain it.

Sort

The first S stands for Seiri, or Sort, where you sort out the contents of the work area. You look around and differentiate from needed, not needed and not frequently needed items. You need to find who is responsible for the item, and classify them by frequency of use.

In this phase, the red tagging of items is important. Unnecessary items should be either sent for disposal if no further use is found. If they are items that are required only sporadically, they can be put into a place marked for storage.

All items with no value ought to be discarded.

Systematize

This is the most important phase, where items are arranged systematically. With due consideration to workflow, decide which item is to be placed at which location. They should be placed in such a manner that they can be retrieved in 30 seconds.

A clear list of items and their locations should be in a visible area, such as a cabinet, and each cabinet labeled that indicates what is stored.

Sweep

In this stage, the cleaning activity is made a habit. When the workplace is cleaned daily, all items are inspected, and those that may be contaminated or need preventive action are determined.

A log should be maintained to describe the problem area. In addition to this, there should be a weekly review of the levels of implementation.

Standardize

In this stage, the standardization of the processes is done. Visual controls and guidelines are maintained to achieve a high standard of housekeeping.

Standardization of cleaning procedures and schedules from a check sheet prepared in the previous stage is done.

An evaluation of the progress and the level of implementation is also necessary.

Self-Discipline, or Sustain

Training and discipline are important. Periodical checks by management and the involvement and dedication of all employees will ensure that the 5S culture is sustained. Owners should be responsible for the maintenance of their work areas.

The application of 5S increases the morale of the employees and helps increase their efficiency. Waste is reduced and better quality is achieved. 5S is a culture which should be embraced by everyone in the organization.