By Tania Field
Senior Tender Specialist (Sydney)

Almost a year ago I applied for and was accepted to join the APMP ANZ Committee. I nominated for a committee role because it was my strong desire to be part of an active proposal development community to further myself as a leader, become more technically proficient through exposure to like-minded members, and use my skills to contribute to the shared goals of the committee.

Even though my application expressly stated, “I understand the commitment and skill it takes to deliver successful events and would be honoured to have the opportunity to work with the committee in this area”, I’m not sure I really considered what was before me.  I didn’t realise that in less than 12 months we would agree conference objectives, form a team, recruit speakers and sponsors, and deliver an event for approximately 150 bid and proposal professionals – the pressure!

However, I’m glad that I have an ability to block out pain receptors and have a go, repeatedly.  I learnt a lot through the process, new skills, and attitudes that I can adopt to positively impact the next event, tender or project. Aside from the professional development journey I found myself on, I really did have an awesome time and enjoyed seeing the event come to life.  The success of our teamwork was reliant on a shared understanding and agreement on the cause, a good support system, brilliant people and the secret ingredient, ‘fun’. I made a lot of new friends and extended my proposal management tribe.  

In attending the conference, I got to hear from legends in the business and learn from some ‘up and comers’ who were practicing new ideas and sharing wonderful and inspiring tips for delegates. A few personal highlights from me:

• The beliefs about stress are more dangerous than stress itself.  At any point I can recognise my state and think about my needs and practice self-care. I can also think about my role in how I help others and serve the community to shift my state of stress (so much more where that comes from)

• Our understanding of mega trends can help in resolving client challenges, such as, understanding ‘What is changing?’, ‘Where is it coming from?’, ‘What are the impacts of the change?’, and exploring the implications of the change to know what to do next

• The importance of language. Eradicating the word ‘just’ from our language, such as, I am ‘just’ a proposal manager, and continuing to strive for that ‘seat at the table’

• We can all learn to love negotiating and it starts by repositioning negotiations to conversations. The art of negotiation is not only reserved for commercial boffins, but also considered as integral to the bid team throughout the entire tender process

• Fighting the war against ‘vagueness’ and getting in early in the process to define the value in bids across financial, social, productivity, risk and quality categories.

In summary I think this profession and community is great. We have good people who are dedicated to the cause, and this profession has so much to offer as key to bringing new business in the door across all sectors.

I also totally rate volunteering where it’s related to the profession. This is an ideal space where you can stretch yourself, expand your network and make long-term contacts, and engage in broad discussion.