Three Tips to a Successful Stand-up

There are several small components that are important for proposal success. To me, one of the most critical is the proposal stand-up. To have a successful bid, proposal leadership must have insight into how the bid is progressing and how the team is doing. Stand-ups are the best way to avoid being surprised during the bid process, inform executive leadership of progress, and build team morale. What do we need to have a successful standup? Here are my three key tips.

have a set schedule and agenda

Stand ups need to be frequent to be effective. I keep mine to a minimum of three times per week for smaller, more straight-forward bids. I hold daily meetings for more comprehensive efforts. This ensures we are all on the same page and up to date on the bid.

I use the same general agenda for my stand ups:

• Welcome
• Upcoming key deadlines (internal and client-based)
• Any solicitation updates (amendments, extensions, etc.)
• Any intelligence updates (client or competition-based)
• Contributor progress and updates
• Parking lot/Q&A

This approach makes my team familiar with how the meeting is run, what information they need to bring to the table, and allows the meeting to run smoothly. It also allows us to quickly tackle key items and information. I do allow the agenda to be flexible for the bid. For example, if the capture lead wants to cover additional topics, I am happy to accommodate him/her. But I do make sure to keep the agenda the same for each individual opportunity.

I usually take notes and circulate it to the team. I prefer to use the collaboration site for the bid to store these meeting notes, but will email them if we are not using any tool. This ensures each team member has access to the content and key actions from the call.

invite everyone who needs to be there (and no one else)

It is important to ensure your entire team is on your stand ups. Leaving key people out not only short changes and alienates them, it also deprives you from having the critical information you need to run the bid successfully. Therefore, work with your capture lead to ensure all necessary resources are included.

There is usually a discussion about including teammates on the call. My philosophy on this is simple. If teammates have a significant role in the response, they should be on the call. If not, then they are not required. If you do have teammates on the call, you may wish to have pricing discussions offline or as part of a second, internal stand up.

Attendance can be an issue on stand ups. During the kickoff, I emphasize how important attendance is. I always ask that people let me know if they will miss a meeting and provide an update on their progress or actions. When we have our first meeting, I follow up with an email to the team stressing the need to keep me informed and provide updates. For frequent absentees, I engage the capture lead to apply pressure as needed. I have found it rarely comes to this after one or two strongly worded emails.

keep it short (but not too short)

I usually schedule a 15-minute block for my stand ups. Very rarely do they go over that time window. This is possible by adhering to the agenda and directing longer, more detailed conversations to a separate call or meeting. The standup should only include topics that are of interest and importance to the entire team. Sometimes, individuals either begin to go down rabbit holes or try to engage in side conversations that deal with topics not germane to the entire team. In these situations, I ask the individual(s) involved to set up a side call or discussion so we can stick to our agenda. This way, we remain on point and on schedule.

conclusion

Stand up calls are fundamental to a well-run bid. They provide key updates and insights into the entire proposal effort and help the proposal manager stay involved. Following these basic tips can maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of proposal stand ups, allowing you to be a more productive proposal professional.