HOW TO KEEP YOUR PROJECT ON TRACK … SHOW CONSISTENT LEADERSHIP
Early last year, I made the decision to prepare and submit a proposal for a very large tender. This is something that we typically undertake once or twice a year. Just one of the ways that we approach business development. This one was for learning and development services for a very large local government organisation.
This tender submission required weeks of effort from my team and me. And I know there were many other small and medium-size businesses which went through the same kind of process, putting in weeks of effort for this same tender.
Our finished work was the best tender submission we have ever prepared. And historically, we have a pretty good record of winning tenders in our areas of learning and development, coaching services, training, strategic leadership programs and advisory consulting.
Our tender response was submitted a day before the March 2024 cutoff date. The completion of the tender evaluation process was scheduled for the end of June 2024. After which we would receive information about whether our submission was successful.
As expected, we did receive correspondence at the end of June 2024. We were advised that, unfortunately, the evaluation process was taking longer than expected. This local government organisation had received far more tender submissions than originally anticipated. As a result, the new evaluation deadline was the end of September 2024.
We simply played the waiting game. Once our response is submitted, we wait to hear the outcome or receive any further requests for information.
At the end of September 2024, we received another update. No result yet. The evaluation had not been completed. The communication was that, once again, the process had been significantly underestimated. The government agency believed at this point they had reviewed approximately 50% of the overall submissions.
“You cannot make progress without making decisions.”
- Jim Rohn
The revised evaluation timeframe was now July the 31st, 2025, at which point the results of the tender process would be communicated to all participating organisations.
Based on this, I was quite hopeful that this time we would hear the outcome.
A few days ago, on the 4th of August, I received an email with a subject line advising that our submission had been unsuccessful.
I was very disappointed. I really did not expect this result.
But when I opened the email and read the details, this was not about our submission at all. The email advised that the agency had been unable to complete the evaluation and so had abandoned the process.
After this massive undertaking of over 15 months, the net result was zero progress.
In fact, there was a huge cost associated with this tender project. Firstly, in preparing the tender and issuing it, then the costs of the potential providers preparing and submitting their responses to the tender, and next in the evaluation process. A net result of nothing.
It was disappointing yes. But ultimately, apart from the weeks of effort we put in at the beginning, no major damage for us.
“We are our decisions.”
- Prof.Salam Al Shereida, renowned scientist
So, what are the lessons?
Here are a few obvious ones:
- Failure to plan effectively — leading to massive time blowouts.
- Exceptionally poor communication throughout the process with huge periods of time passing before any update was provided.
- The tender itself was poorly written, and so general in nature that it would have been very challenging to assess different responses.
- This suggests a lack of experience and capability in this type of process.
- Which also suggests the organisation didn’t grow, or hire, the needed expertise and capability to support this project.
- The project was clearly under-resourced for the evaluation process, having underestimated the number of responses they would receive.
- Expectation management was poor. There was a lack of communication about process progress and status.
- Ultimately, this was a failure to finish.
- All the effort from the providers, and the agency, resulted in a zero result.
Alternatively, they could have:
- Started small rather than trying for such a big job first up.
- Tested the process out.
- Learned how to manage a tender process end to end.
- Sourced the needed expertise.
- Resourced appropriately.
- Communicated more often.
- Revised the plan more effectively once they recognised they were not only off-track, but significantly off-track.
- Altered or adjusted the original request to a smaller one with a view to progressing at least part of the requirement, if they were unable to progress the whole requirement.
- Acknowledged the efforts of providers in preparing their submissions and the amount of effort and time that had gone into these. Rather than communicating that these submissions were unsuccessful, acknowledged that it was not through any fault of the providers that this was the outcome, but rather apologised for the process and outcome.
Next time you want to bite off something that might be more than you can chew, take a step back and consider these questions:
- Do you need to do this in one big bite?
- How can you test your process before doing the biggest part?
- What fundamentals of change management do you really need to reflect on, and make sure that you have in place the Why, Where, What, How, Who, and You of change management?
- How often do you need to review progress against plan and towards your agreed goal?
- What are the factors you need to review to build a foundation for success, including the critical expertise, capability, and experience in this space?
- What is the right level of resourcing to support a positive outcome?
- How can you make early decisions when new information comes in
- How can you communicate early and often?
- How can you get help as soon as you think you might need it?
There are so many opportunities for improvement. Even when a process or project is not working as expected, there is always opportunity to make a difference in the way you are leading.
I’d love to know your thoughts.
A light breakfast and an engaging networking opportunity with Senior peers in a small group setting.
Stacey will share key leadership insights for 2025.
MELBOURNE
Date: Tuesday, 2nd September
Time: 7:15am to 8:45am
Venue: Eva’s Restaurant & Bar, Pullman City Centre
Address: 265 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
This 12-month, high-end program is designed to rapidly build foundational leadership capability at scale across your organisation. And the best part? It’s fast, effective, and structured for impact.
Leaders will gain the competence, confidence, and credibility needed to succeed, all within a time-efficient, high-support environment.
Based on my latest book, Big Leadership, this session challenges CEOs to future proof themselves, their leadership, their people and their organisations.
Our world needs big leadership. We need more leaders who choose to be proactive, to elevate their own practice of leadership, and to develop the leadership around them, if we are to create a future we want to be part of.
This session offers straightforward insight into what makes it important for leaders to adopt Big Leadership, and the impacts if they do not. As well as providing practical ideas and approaches for how.
