Adapt to Survive: Keeping Ahead of an Ever-Changing World

It’s an age old business adage – if you don’t change with the times, you get left behind. In today’s interconnected global economy, it happens faster than ever. While in graduate school, I worked at Borders Books and Music, which fell victim to an inability to sense the trend of internet sales. Kodak initially developed digital photography but did not see it as viable and continued to be blinded by the profit of its traditional film business until it was too late.

Business reality television is filled with stories of companies and founders who cannot, or will not, change. On The Profit, Marcus Lemonis focuses on working with struggling businesses. Sometimes, like when he helped diaper bag manufacturer Diaper Dude, the struggle is a result of not reading a changing market. In others, such as specialty ice cream producer Mr Green Tea, it’s because they are not willing to take the risk to get the company to the next level. In either case, many companies don’t see change coming until it is too late.

We encounter similar situations in proposal development. Sometimes we need to be willing shake things up to get the results we want and need to deliver. I have identified three ways in which we have difficulty seeing the potential advantages of change – in what we write, in how we run the bid, and it how we manage our careers.

what we write

All too often, contributors get stuck on writing what we do today and how we have always done the work. However, there is significant risk in just describing the current or old process. In today’s dynamic economy, commercial and government clients alike are looking for something new, current, and forward-looking.

This mindset needs to apply throughout our proposals. In IT it is easy to see the potential advancements in processes and products. But even in industries and sectors that are not traditionally thought as cutting edge, your teams can work to incorporate fresh material. In a similar vein, you can bring innovation and forward thinking to your management and staffing sections, which are often thought of as ‘same old same old.’

To accomplish this inclusion of new thoughts, proposal professionals need to careful and considerately push our teams. Always keep in mind your team’s tolerance for risk and change. While accounting for that, ask questions to get the team thinking. Do some independent research on trends in your firm or client’s industry to determine the latest and greatest trends. Then, work with your contributors and bid leadership to see if there is a way to layer that new innovation into your bid. Being proactive and taking the lead will not just make sure your proposal demonstrates how your firm can react to changing environment and workplace. It also provides you with a sense of pride in ownership and will help you gain a stronger reputation with your contributors.

how we run the bid

The number one thing I have always shuddered at is when someone tells me, ‘this is how we have always done it.’ If people didn’t take risks and try new things we would still be washing our clothes against rocks and using landlines and typewriters to communicate.

We need to be open to new, innovative ideas and tools to make our proposal efforts more efficient and effective. For example, using Agile development has great promise to maximize our efforts, especially when incorporated within the color team process. As I have discussed previously, and as this series on business reality television shows, we can incorporate ideas from other fields into our proposal process.

When someone throws up a barrier to innovation and advancement, make the benefits clear (often in terms of reduced cost, time, and risk). If you can create your proposals more cost effectively while reducing risk and increasing quality your management team will usually buy in. If they do not, perhaps it is time to think about exploring new opportunities.

innovating ourselves