Flexibility - it’s more than touching your toes

If the last week or two have taught us anything, it’s that having the ability to be flexible and go with the flow is an incredibly valuable trait. You only need to look at the state of the world to see how differently people respond when the control they have over their circumstances, decision-making and lifestyle is compromised.

We’ve seen a full spectrum of responses – some relatable and understandable, but others that are downright questionable. Rather than throw my two cents into the mix, while I resist the urge to shout, ‘stop hoarding toilet paper’, I’m going to talk about the value of being flexible in the context of tendering.

We’ve all been on tenders where partway through the process unexpected curve balls are thrown our way: the client moves the goalposts, the management team rethinks the strategy, the engineers revise the solution, a subcontractor changes their scope, the document management system goes down in the final week, the list goes on.

Like a lot of people in these situations, when the rug is pulled out from under me – or somebody gives it a firm tug – my first impulse is to analyse the change, determine what it means and quite often it’s to resist it. Nine times out of ten, the change is going to happen regardless, so resistance really is pointless and wasted energy.

I like to believe that over the years I’ve become more flexible and adaptable when unexpected changes happen. The benefit of this in the tendering context is that you can quickly move onto the actionable items that are going to help you respond to change proactively. And when a change is all but written in stone, this is the healthiest and most productive response.

In the context of our lives outside of tendering at the moment, it means you can keep your chin up as you cancel (or ‘postpone’) that once in a lifetime overseas trip as countries around the world make the unprecedented decision to slam their borders shut.

Something tells me we may all need to become more comfortable with a little less control and see flexibility as more than touching our toes!