Episode 6 - A skeleton walks into a bar...

...with an Afghan rug and a first edition James Bond novel.*

Make no bones about it, this was no magic carpet ride, and Ben is no Miss Moneypenny.

Another hilariously woeful episode for our hapless contestants, ending up with Ben speaking for the rest: "we didn't read the dossier very carefully". A schoolchild's mistake that one is meant to overcome during mock GCSE exams, and certainly not the behaviour of someone destined to lead you into battle.

We don't expect these random punters to be antiques experts, but instantaneous declarations without any evidence is not the way to make business decisions. And they did it a lot. Giving each team member time to express themselves in the manner in which they feel most comfortable would not only have benefited cross-communication, but may allow the quieter and more thoughtful team members to come up with some gems.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that Margaret's "Cassandra" Lorraine is right. Consistently. Pants Man? Disaster. We knew it, she knew it, but nobody paid the blindest bit of attention. And now the value of a rug that she spotted (showing that there's no substitue for life experience: most of the candidates are reasonably young – but anyone who has met a carpet vendor anywhere from Turkey to Tunisia will appreciate the asking price for these things) was ignored.

What is going on here?

On the face of it, the problem seems to be werewolf vs zombie personal animosity between Philip and Lorraine. This is the root of the issue and would take a lot of fixing, but the symptom could be addressed: and that symptom is total lack of information exchange. It seems to be somewhat one-sided, too. Philip's rock-sure conviction of his unwavering "pin-you-to-the-wall" rectitude, however wrong he may be, is threatened by Lorraine's quiet dissent, and therefore he puts her down at every opportunity.

Their animus and mutual lack of comprehension is something that could be overcome with the use of the "Team ReBuilder" from OPP – an MBTI-based course that is tailored to the current economic situation, that takes shattered and traumatised teams, and re-bonds them.

What both of these candidates actually lack is charisma. With Lorraine, a smart cookie, it is obvious: despite being consistently correct, she talks quietly, bitterly and angrily with a scowl akin to a bulldog licking vinegar from a nettle. And in this episode, she was so intimidated by the results of last week's task, that she nearly gave up talking altogether. Whereas Philip may be brimming with (woefully misguided) confidence, and is usually the most successful person in the room in getting his ideas pushed through, we should not mistake this for genuinely persuasive people skills. His methods of persuasion are to dig his heels in and shout the loudest – and thus he misses countless glaring truths passing before his eyes.

This all comes down to communications that tailor one's message to one's audience. Whether it's the bizarrely incompetent "would you like to buy a rug?" while doorstepping startled pensioners, or Ben's similar "would you like to buy a bike?" which made him look more like a heroin addict trying to get money for a fix than an officer inductee (by the way, in case anyone missed it, Ben got a scholarship to Sandhurst). Not the best means of persuading one's target of the validity of oneself or one's products.

Again, a comprehension of business psychology would have helped greatly. In OPP's article "Dealing with change: the new business as usual", we indicate the MBTI extravert's preferences are indicated to be "communication, communication, communication", but people like Deborah and Philip need to realise that communication is a two-way street. Philip needs to make time and space to draw out the opinions of the introverts, however much he dislikes them. If he were to take some time out and listen to the team's less cocksure members, he would have avoided so many mistakes.

And mistakes there were. Both teams indulged in similar degrees of muppetry in not considering more thoroughly the intrinsic value of the items presented - and the error of trying to sell the lot, rather than consider the top line. While Ben showed much more thoughtful firmness than one would have expected in slapping the vampire Deborah down when her negativity threatened to disrupt the team's efforts, creating time for open discussion and reflection would surely have given better chance for opinion on the cash-from-the-attic provisions than "these shoes are old". Yes. They're antiques. You muppet.

It is with regret that we note Philip's team won, or rather didn't lose so badly. But thus it was that three more disastrous communication errors were trotted out.

First, was Ben's wavering on who he would bring back to the boardroom a cleverly strategic manoeuvre, or a disastrous tactical error? He knew James would be in the clear, thus forcing Suralan to a decision between himself and the taciturn Noorul. But as the bombs and bullets of James's outrage exploded around him, beat a hasty retreat to the safety of a one-in-three chance rather than a 50/50, and brought Deborah back into the firing line.

Of course, the muppet of the week this time is Deborah. Again, tailor your communication to your audience. Do NOT insult Suralan's right-hand man. Especially in front of the Big Man himself! There are ways of "managing up" that OPP can teach – respectful disagreement with a superior that persuades but doesn't get anyone's back up. Deborah's error was gratuitous and unforgiveable, and will no doubt not be forgotten. What a muppet.

Sadly, Noorul became the Frankenstein's monster who became reanimated at the wrong time, in the wrong context, on the wrong subject. Bzzt bzzt. You're out. No surprise there.

Noorul's clearly a nice guy. That doesn't mean he'd be any good at business. But on the flipside you don't have to be an aggressive, shouty maniac either – something Phil and Deborah should consider very carefully.

*Actually, he asks the barman for a pint of beer - and a mop.