Review your level of payday loan comfort
If you scored low in this attribute, you may want to review your level of comfort with disclosing information about yourself. In a partnership, you must be able to express your needs to your partner. An inability to articulate what you need from the partnership will ultimately cause resentment and anger when over time you see your partner getting everything he or she wants while your needs go unmet.
The outcome is often passive/aggressive behavior—a sure killer of partnerships. Once this pattern is introduced into the partnership, trust is eroded, win-lose conflict resolution and problem solving predominate, and independent behavior takes over as each partner struggles to salvage what’s left of a dysfunctional partnership.
In a partnership, you must be able to ask for what you need. This is why we spend so much time in the Assess stage of the Partnership Continuum model doing a needs assessment. Once you know what you need, you must feel confident asking for it. Your ability to selfdisclose also sends a coded message to partners about your willingness to share. If everyone is talking about his or her personal life but you never confide anything, what do you think the reaction is going to be? If you scored high in this attribute, you’re probably able to ask for what you need. This ability tends to build trust between people— at least they know where you stand. You’re probably comfortable with interdependence and use a win-win style of conflict resolution and problem solving, since you know your needs will not be left out of the equation.
Are you capable of repaying your credit
Now that you have completed the Attribute Analysis, you’ll want to know what it means. Each of the Six Partnering Attributes contributes to your overall Partnering Intelligence.Most of us are strong in some attributes and weak in others. Since Partnering Intelligence requires you to be capable in all six attributes, you’ll want to know which ones represent your strengths and which your weaknesses. The PQ Profile is designed to give you an overall profile of your current level of competence in all six attributes and help you see where you need to improve.
Starting with the first attribute, Self-Disclosure and Feedback, note your average score. If your average score is 3.25, for example, plot that point above the “Self-Disclosure and Feedback” heading at the base of the grid. Continue this procedure for each attribute until you’ve completed all six. Once all six attribute scores have been plotted, connect the six points with a line. This is the PQ Profile of your scoring on the Six Partnering Attributes. Note that the vertical axis is divided into three sections—low, medium, and high—representing the frequency with which you use each of the six attributes. By now you may be thinking: “Fine, this is great information. But what does it mean, and how does it contribute to improving my PQ?” Because a partnership is a cohesive, interrelated system, each attribute is an important skill you’ll need in order to succeed in partnering. If you’re lacking in just one skill, the system cannot work properly.
Now that you assessed your credit quotes
Now that you’ve assessed your partnering quotient (PQ), you’ll want to determine your strengths and weaknesses in terms of forming a partnership. This information can be used as a predictive tool to raise your awareness and prevent you from neglecting trouble spots of the partnership that will cause you problems later on. Or it can be used as a diagnostic tool to help you determine why your partnership isn’t working as well as you had hoped.
To help determine how you rank in the Six Partnering Attributes (high, medium, or low) as measured on the PQ Assessment (Assessment 1), use the Attribute Analysis (Assessment 2) to align the thirty statements with the specific attributes they support. By completing the Attribute Analysis and plotting your scores on the PQ Profile (see Figure 2), you will gain new insight into the strengths you bring to a partnership—and also areas of weakness where you may want to take some preventive action.
Credit skills are complex and intertwined
The PQ Assessment is not designed to be the last word on your ability to partner. Partnering skills are complex and intertwined within one’s personal experiences and psychological makeup and are situational in nature. However, we have discovered that the higher the trust level in a relationship, the higher the PQ score. Conversely, the lower the trust level, the lower the score. Based on the feedback provided by the thousands of participants who have taken the PQ Assessment, it accurately reflects people’s self-perception of their ability to partner.More important, it frames the context of the discussion and describes what attributes make partnerships successful. It provides valuable insights into individual, team, and organizational strengths and weaknesses based on behavioral descriptions of what makes partnerships thrive.
Partnering skills are indeed counterintuitive to most of us. “Looking out for #1” is today’s mantra for society in general. In a partnership, we must shift our mind-set from looking out for ourselves to looking out for our partner and ourselves together. This takes a different set of skills—skills that many of us are uncertain about and uncomfortable using. Therefore, when you read a statement that makes you feel uncomfortable, examine why you feel uncomfortable with the statement rather than dismissing it as invalid.
Bottom line, no matter how we interpret the statistics, most of us need to learn how to be better partners. If we are good, we can get better. If our partnering skills are weak, we can improve them. Our Partnering Intelligence is a learned intelligence, which means all of us can become smarter partners.
Steps in dealing with credit problems
Assessing options. Generate certain criteria (financial, time, organisational precedent and workability) against which different courses of action can be rated. This helps to determine which approach is best.
Making the decision and informing people. Once a solution has been determined, it should be communicated clearly to all those responsible for implementing it or to those affected by it in order to counter any confusion.
Implementing the solution. Set a time frame for delivery and deadlines for each stage. After this, it is a matter of seeing that everything is done on time and that the inevitable glitches in the implementation process are overcome.
Verifying the decision. When the plan has been implemented, its effects can be monitored to see if they are what was desired, or whether they have resulted in other problems that will need solving.
Reflect on your credit situation
Once a dispute is settled, taking time to reflect when the heat is off will help provide an understanding of what happened, and why, and how it can be avoided in the future. It is worth making a written evaluation to help inform future decisions.
A hidden trap within problem solving is the danger of overanalysis, when often what is really required is nothing more than a pen, paper and a period of quiet thought and discussion. The following points are important in all problem-solving styles.
Identifying the problem. What is the nature of the problem? What is its importance to your operations? Asking or answering these questions sets the tone for how the problem is tackled (for example, whether it is handled urgently or patiently, individually or collectively).
Collecting and processing information. What information is needed to solve the problem, what data are available, and what extra information may be required? Too little information may make it difficult to come up with a solution. Too much information may make it difficult to see what the solution is.
Generating possible solutions. Set an exploratory tone to the problem-solving process. This will allow a range of potential solutions to be generated.
Seek legal advice for credit and early resolution
Taking legal advice early on may save a great deal of time and expense later. It can also help to avoid undermining your case, either through illadvised action or ignorance of the legal implications. Negotiating “without prejudice” allows all concerned to explore different options to resolve the situation, as any offers cannot subsequently be revealed In court. At this stage, gather the relevant documentation, in case the case does go to court.
If legal action ensues, review your options and consider any implications. The legal team should possess decision-making authority in internal and external commercial communication issues and technical legal decisions. It is important to clearly define the rights and wrongs of the case, identifying where the organisation is on firm ground and where it is weak. This can also help to identify where compromise is possible.
Where it is not, endeavour to understand what the other party wants to achieve. Then negotiate with a view to settling the matter out of court.
Identify your credit vulnerabilities
It is important to assess the areas of greatest vulnerability: particular contract terms, employment or regulatory issues, laws relating to advertising and data protection, or whatever. Once these have been identified, the level of vulnerability should be assessed and then monitored closely, taking steps to establish necessary training and compliance.
Never ignore or trivialise legal action A threat of legal action may be tactical, but it should always be taken seriously and, wherever possible, anticipated so that preventive measures can be taken. If the worst happens and the organisation is faced with legal action, even though, according to the International Bar Association, over 90% of cases never reach court, large amounts of time and money may have to be spent dealing with the matter. It may also mean that projects have to be delayed or products withdrawn from sale until the matter is resolved.
Some necessary credit taking steps.
The following course of action outlines some necessary steps.
Subdivide strategic plans into a business plan for each operating unit, and then into objectives for each department, team and ultimately each individual. Always start by asking some basic questions such as: What business are we in? What is our purpose? Where are we now? Where do we want to be in the future? How will we achieve this?
Consult widely to identify opportunities and decide priorities. Innovation and common-sense ideas come from employees at the lowest level as well as the highest and from customers and suppliers.
Assess the organisation’s competitive position. Current trends need to be taken into account, to highlight strengths and weaknesses.
Focus on the purpose of the organisation. What does it do? What makes it unique? Does it need to change? What will help to achieve success in the future? Take a balanced view of the opportunities. Too narrow a perspective may result in missed opportunities; too broad a canvas can make it difficult to focus, bringing risks and learning curves associated with diversification.
Communicate a powerful vision. This should include a clear statement of what the organisation’s business is, where it is going and how it will get there. A vision or mission statement must be inspirational and help win commitment. It must also be realistic, understandable and clearly understood by everyone in the organisation.
Set time frames. Vision statements are concerned with the long term, but the strategic planning process must provide objectives that are attainable within a time frame of 1–5 years. Without short-term goals to aim for, it is difficult to maintain momentum and motivation.
Set clear objectives. The most effective managers translate a vision into practical objectives, taking account of the strengths and weaknesses of the people they manage.
A strategic plan cannot be static. It must be adaptable to change and must reflect the process of continuous improvement and development within an organisation. To keep the plan relevant and realistic, it is essential to evaluate and modify it on a rolling basis, mindful of changing circumstances and new opportunities or problems.
Fitting credit operational decisions with overall strategy
A strategic plan should guide actions and decisions, providing a sense of purpose, energy and direction. It should also offer a means of communicating, motivating and co-ordinating efforts throughout an organisation, helping to focus on areas for improvement or development. A strategic plan provides an opportunity to change an organisation’s nature: its purpose, its activities and even its organisational culture, including values and the ways things are done. It can embrace a set of guiding principles as well as a practical framework for achieving its aims. It also offers a means by which performance can be measured and assessed. So how can strategic plans be made to guide and direct operational decisions?