My tender journey and the skills I prize today
Tania Field, Principal Tender Specialist (Sydney)
I recently participated in a panel discussion titled “Australian Landscape: Insights for Bid and Tender Managers”. This was a great opportunity for me to reflect on my journey and share my insights on mandatory skills, technology, and innovation.
My journey is most likely similar to many others. I was tapped on the shoulder and invited to work on a tender. I think, no, I know, I was terrified at the time because it was pitched to me as “suck it and see”. I had to leave the security of a job I knew well and take a leap of faith. At first I thought the “suck it and see” was quite rude until I googled the meaning. The sentiment of this phrase is “to know if something will work or be suitable is to try it”.
At the time, I was working in an organisation that was known for excellence and talent, and so I was concerned that I was being shifted to a very cold and desolate world, to be buried deep in the organisation, with all knowledge of me being slowly erased, fading to a distant memory. I soon discovered how wrong I was as my comfort levels grew and as I bore witness to all of the crazy and wonderful opportunities being afforded to me through competitive tendering.
I now know why I was asked to jump on the team – I had the perfect skillset. I had oodles of experience in senior-level business administration, and I was an exceptional coordinator, project manager, and stakeholder manager. I was also relied upon as a person to “get sh*t done”.
Many years on, I eventually emerged from the marathon that was an unsolicited proposal and had to make some quick decisions about my future. It dawned on me that I could totally do this thing called tendering, and that I could make a career out of this.
The profession was the perfect blend of my love of business, project inception, and creativity. What was clear to me was that the transition was going to be a bit of a stretch, but not too much of a strain. A lot of the core skills of a good business professional were all that was needed as a foundation. So, I made a decision, a tenderer I shall be, and ran hard at it.
As is my practice, l was disciplined at building my capability and capacity to prove this to anyone that would care. My current employer, Tender Plus, was offering the only VETAB-accredited course in Australia, so I signed up and fast-tracked the course. I found the Association for Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) and became a member, and underwent the foundation certification training. I then joined the local APMP committee in Australia and New Zealand, to volunteer first as the conference and events lead, then vice-chair, and for my sins, I was nominated for the position of Chair and am now in my second year of this role. In between all of this, I also spent my personal time troubleshooting and understanding my craft. And I have followed my interests, i.e., strategy development, even when I was scared and had a lump in my throat. I put my hand up to take on difficult challenges and would stay up late working on a plan.
Many more years on, I have ended up in the role of Principal Tender Specialist in Sydney for Tender Plus – go me! I am often engaged in major submission management for consortia-level bids. In my time in this profession, I have started to see a shift in how bid and proposal professionals are perceived. I have observed that we are perceived less as administrators, formatters, and “making documents look pretty”, and becoming increasingly regarded as subject matter experts (SMEs). I can also see the trending on this on social media.
I do, however, still often hear that people are fighting for recognition in these roles. And my response to the profession is to continue to fight – every individual is responsible for their career and has to advocate, influence, negotiate, and network.
The other thing we can do is to continuously build and shape skills that are relevant to the market and how we see it trending to position ourselves more favourably in the eyes of employers. Here’s what I would recommend as critical skills to focus on today:
Critical Thinking
The bid/no-bid decision is a great example. Even if we don’t own the decision, we should ensure we are designing the process so it’s robust, is data-driven, and that we are actively participating and contributing to the discussion. We need to push for clarity until we understand the why. This focus will greatly influence and impact win rates.
Understand the world around us
Take the time to read the paper, watch the news, and follow thought leaders, all with the aim of understanding the customer perspective. This focus helps shape the value proposition and tender solution in response to customer pain and gain points.
Flexible Leadership and Communication
Appreciating that we often work in diverse teams to solve complex problems reminds us that we have to exercise diverse tactics to get the job done. This focus means a flexible approach to communication, prioritisation, and ways of working, all to bring the best out of a team and bring it all together.
Productivity
As the custodian of the tender process, reflecting constantly on the method to work faster, smarter, and better, should be a dedicated practice. Productivity can come in many forms. This focus might mean acting on your feet and fixing problems in real time, i.e., additional resources, or embedding new code to fix processes. In other scenarios, you might plan for new tools and platforms to make work more efficient. Having a formal method to ensure we continuously reflect on and improve the process to make your life and the team’s life better should be a core principle for better and best practices.
Do you need a hand preparing or writing your bid? Tender Plus can help. From our offices in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane, we provide national tender consulting services, including tender coordination, tender writing services and tender support. Contact our team today to elevate your tender submissions.