I follow the same emotional arc for every tender, and I am sure you do too.
I always tell myself this time will be different, that maybe, this is the one where everything does go smoothly! But it doesn’t matter how straightforward or complex the tender is, something always seems to creep up.
So, in the spirit of fun, I wanted to highlight the emotional stages we all experience during a tender process because it sure is relatable.
Stage 1: Optimistic Confidence
We’ve got heaps of time
We’ve just received a copy of the tender document. Everyone is reading it, making notes, and it looks like the submission deadline is WEEKS AWAY. The returnable schedules are reasonable and most importantly, everyone is in a good place mentally.
There is also tender management plan in place, and all SMEs have been assigned to their respective schedules.
Overall, the whole team is aligned and confident.
Stage 2: Calm Productivity
This is going surprisingly well
Blueprinting begins and everyone starts drafting their schedules. Organised and proactive are two words used to describe this phase.
Nothing much to say here, all is well.
Stage 3: Mild to major concern
Uh-oh
In my experience, multiple things can happen here.
For example, someone may flag a vague question in the returnable schedule. This simple observation then leads to the release of an addendum, which, in turn, triggers changes across several schedules of the submission. That, or a ball was dropped and we now need to pick up the pieces.
Initial concerns begin to surface and because we’re all multitasking, this really just threw a spanner in the works.
As the days go by, we make a conscious effort not to panic. Despite the mounting challenges, we strive to remain calm and collected. All we need to do is just get on with it.
In the wise words of Dory’s Finding Nemo, we “just keep swimming”
Stage 4: Questioning Choices
Okay… this is bigger than we thought
Stress and anxiety kick in. Decisions are made quickly and confidently. We battle formatting issues and freezing documents. We are in deadline mode.
Stage 7: Momentum returns
Hold up, the submission is coming together
A second wave of optimism comes over us. Smiles are returning to faces and the team is jovial.
Everything is coming together really well. Most of the schedules in the tender management plan say ‘100%’ with a few stranglers sitting at perhaps 70%-80%.
Stage 8: Last-Minute Scrutiny
Check it again! One more time
We’ve transitioned into double checking for compliance. We scrutinise every schedule to ensure all boxes are ticked. Most importantly, that we have answered all of the questions.
We follow our checklist and we format again. We also do a spell and grammar check, and acronyms have also been reviewed. With everything done, the schedules are finally packaged up for submission.
Stage 9: Submission Euphoria
It’s in!
It’s finally done! Relief and pride are two emotions I would associate with this stage.
Stage 10: Reflection
What did we learn from this?
A moment of reflection sets in, and we start thinking about what went wrong as well as some of the elements that went well. We talk through the lessons learned that we could carry forward to the next one. Because let’s be honest, we’ll be doing this all over again very, very soon!
If you’ve been through these stages, know that you’re not alone. If you haven’t yet, all I can say is welcome to the club!
Tenders are and will always be intense. However, a clear strategy, process and support can make the work feel manageable. Contact us today to see how we can help.