When copy/paste won’t cut it: Applying a growth mindset to tendering
5 min read
Over the past eight years tendering on construction projects, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told “the only thing they’ll care about is the final figure” and “just use that section from our previous tender for [insert client here]”. And let me tell you, I get it. Teams are busy. They’re being asked to continually produce quantity over quality when it comes to tenders; often while they are already engaged in demanding, live work programs.
Tendering for new work may appear as a tedious (yet necessary) task, easily met by supplying a generic response lifted from a library of previous tenders. But at a time when competition for projects is fierce and final figures are separated by the most miniscule of margins, your substance will set you apart.
As a Tender Specialist who has seen firsthand the value of compelling, contextualised content time and again, I may live and die fighting an uphill battle against the non-believers, but trust me when I tell you the reward is well worth the effort. And the value in changing your fixed mindset to a growth mindset and approach to tendering on projects is worth its weight in wins.
What is a growth mindset?
Coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, a growth mindset describes the underlying belief people have about learning and intelligence – when someone believes they can become smarter, they understand that dedication and hard work makes them stronger, thus they put in extra time and effort which leads to higher achievement. This “growth” mindset contrasts with a fixed mindset which describes one’s belief that their ability is static - you either are or are not good at something, based on your inherent nature. As a result, people with a fixed mindset tend to set goals low and avoid difficult challenges, deflecting failure elsewhere. People with fixed mindsets plateau early and achieve less than their full potential, while people with a growth mindset will reach higher levels of achievement and ultimately, fulfilment.
So, how does all this apply to tendering?
Approaching your tender response with a fixed mindset will mean you’re likely to fall into the trap of cutting corners (i.e., copy/paste). Conversely, a growth mindset will see you acknowledge your existing brains, talent, ability, or content as simply a starting point. Dedicate some effort, consideration and project-specific contextualisation to your response and you can accomplish great things (i.e., a tender win!). Embrace the challenge of a new tender, strive to learn, and consistently see the potential in developing valuable new content and skills when preparing your responses.
Acknowledging your imperfections is also important. We can’t all be the best at everything and fulfill every single criterion perfectly, every time. Emphasising areas in which you currently excel is critical, but also viewing your challenges or perceived areas of weakness as opportunities to focus on producing more well-developed, considered, aspirational content is important. I highly recommend this approach instead of a) ignoring the question and hoping the client will overlook it or b) providing an ill-considered, superficial response.
A growth mindset approach will not only result in a thorough, considered, and contextualised tender submission, but also encourage a more innovative and collaborative team culture in the process, which bodes well for the happiness and fulfilment of your team in a more general sense.
Applying a growth mindset to your tender submission also means you must genuinely value the process over the end result. Yes, we all want to win, but there are times we may fall short. Recognising the value in the high-quality work you have produced, regardless of the outcome, is critical to embracing this method. Approaching every tender with a growth mindset means you’re tackling problems from a fresh perspective, charting new courses, or finding innovative solutions to important issues and challenges that will inevitably reappear down the track. Maybe you didn’t win this time, but your search for answers and the content you have produced in pursuit of these answers was deeply meaningful, and has resulted in an improved pool of high-quality subject matter from which to draw on next time. Prospective clients also recognise and appreciate good quality submissions and will be more likely to include you on their next tender list (another great opportunity presents itself).
When faced with failure, growth-minded individuals or teams will demonstrate resilience and turn their attention to mastery. They will focus on the lessons to be learned, build their capabilities, and revise their strategies moving forward, seeing feedback as a tool to fuel improved performance. In contrast, teams with a fixed mindset do not focus on learning but on their feelings. They lose self-esteem, become pessimistic and ultimately give up (i.e., “the client only cares about the final figure”). We may not be able to control whether we win or lose a tender, but we can control how we react. If you do fail to secure the project, you need to react in a growth-minded way - pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go again. Through a genuine belief that hard work and persistence will increase your expertise, ability and quality of content, your team will continue to produce excellent tenders and ultimately secure future projects. Committing yourself to continually improving the quality of your submissions and building on areas of weakness will also enable you to pursue more substantial, demanding tenders for projects of higher profile and value in the future. We can always improve, and we can always learn, often more from failure than from success.
Where to from here?
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with being guided by past tenders and building on previous iterations of a document as you develop responses to new tenders, but a copy/paste job simply won’t cut it. In today’s climate of uber-competitive tendering, near enough is not good enough. Yes, existing relationships and final figures are important when it comes to winning, but so is a succinct, targeted, and professional submission that has been carefully considered and clearly articulates the expertise, strategy and approach your team will apply to the specific task at hand. Applying a growth mindset to your next tender means genuinely embracing the journey and committing yourself to the pursuit of excellence and the belief that you can always do better.
Change your attitude, embrace a growth mindset, and reap the rewards.