Where do you go to play?
I fell into a conversation recently regarding the different character traits of folks likely to be successful in the different roles within a proposal centre. To illustrate, we talked about where one would be most likely to find each individual at their happiest.
The favoured milieu for proposal manager, I reckoned, would be the war room. They’d never be happier than leading a group session, cajoling the team into visualising and realising a truly successful proposal.
Meanwhile, the proposal writer would make the occasional foray to a subject matter expert’s desk – getting them to pour out information to be turned into polished text. But their ideal lair would be the quiet corner of the office – somewhere to hide and concentrate on their editing, in peace and quiet.
And the document manager would be found contentedly at their desk, playing with the document – until the closing stages when the lure of the hot presses would prove necessary and irresistible when the document had to be printed.
Where do you go to play during the proposal effort – and to hide?
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Where is this peaceful land of which you speak?
Personally, when managing a large bid I find the sofa’s by the coffee machine at peak break times the place to be. It’s where you find out how things are really progressing. People let things slip in casual conversations, often not with me if they have not spotted me (which is difficult as I am 6’5” tall)
Julian – you remind me of one of the battles that BJ and I fought when setting up the Strategic Bid Centre for Compaq UK & Ireland a few years ago. Our spec for the centre included war rooms, desk areas – and comfortable sofas where those working on proposals could sit and talk, catch a moment’s respite, think creatively etc. We won the argument and got our sofas, but not without a fight!