Embrace Solutions, Not Excuses: Three Approaches to Handling Challenging Situations

Like all reality television, business reality shows are built on drama. Many of these programs focus on helping failing and struggling business turn their operations around, usually with a heavy dose of “tough love.” For example:

• The Profit on CNBC focuses on millionaire Marcus Lemonis identifying, investing in, and fixing failing small business
• The BBC’s series The Fixer showed British entrepreneur Alex Polizzi attempting to help fix Britain’s family businesses
• British chef Gordon Ramsay has made a cottage industry around fixing failing hospitality businesses on shows like Kitchen Nightmares in both the US and UK, Hotel Hell, and Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back

It is hard to argue anyone has been more successful in this format than Jon Taffer. A long-time consultant in the bar industry, in 2011 he launched the hit show Bar Rescue. In each episode, Taffer visits a failing bar, identifies the shortcomings, remodels the entire location, and often “fixes” the staff and owner to set them on the road to prosperity. One of Taffer’s signature lines is “I don’t embrace excuses. I embrace solutions.”

In bid and proposal development, there are plenty of times where we could embrace excuses, both individually and as a team. The Government did not give us long enough to respond. We do not have enough page count. We do not have enough resources to properly work this proposal. In these situations, it is way too easy to simply chalk it up as an unfortunate situation and lose confidence. However, as proposal professionals we should look these challenges in the eye and fight. Here are three tips for handling crises and excuses on your efforts and in your teams.

tip 1: keep your cool

It is so easy to lose one’s head when a challenge arises. However, getting worked up and agitated is the exact opposite of what will bring you to a satisfactory solution. So, how can we keep under control?

Take a Break. Trying to solve the problem right away allows emotions to impact your decision-making process. Whenever possible, take some time to allow cooler head to prevail. Even some problems that require an immediate resolution can benefit from even 30 minutes of cooling off.

Get Away. I have found it is easier to cool off when you physically remove yourself from the situation. In crisis moments, I look to go for a quick walk to clear my head and come up with potential solutions. It is amazing what a change in your location can do to change your perspective.

Stress Relief. We all have our ways of dealing with stress. Some people work out, others binge watch television, still others chow down on some comfort food. Whatever you do to de-stress, it is critical you do it during crisis moments. It gives you the chance to keep your wits about you and makes sure you are able to approach the crisis with a clear head.

tip 2: solve the problem without blame

When tensions run high in the war room (physical or virtual), emotions can become easily frayed. After all, proposals are high-stress activities, especially when the company labels it a “must win” opportunity. When you inject a crisis moment into this environment, finger-pointing becomes a go-to option for many.

As the proposal lead, you need to work to minimize the blame game, both from your own perspective and within the broader team. It doesn’t help anyone to attribute any failing or crisis moment to a team member. The person blamed often becomes hurt and withdrawn, or angry and hostile. The rest of the team becomes scared to make a mistake, fearful that the finger-pointing will turn to them next.

Keep your team centered and focused not on who is to blame, but how to solve the problem.

tip 3: learn the appropriate lessons

After the crisis is solved and cooler heads prevail, it is incumbent upon leaders to learn the appropriate lessons from what has occurred. I usually wait until several days after the bid has been submitted to begin my lessons learned process. This allows the effort to still be fresh in people’s minds but removed enough from day-to-day life to give them a detached perspective.

Prior to any meeting, be sure to gather people’s inputs and ideas anonymously and provide them to the team. Then bring the entire team together for an open and frank discussion. During the meeting, present the comments to everyone and use them to foster conversation.

Most importantly, the goal of this session is not to relive the past or allow people to vent on how things went wrong or how they were attacked or maligned. The purpose is to learn. Therefore, focus on organizational or team improvements that can help improve the process. For example, you noticed last-minute changes caused a great deal of stress and concern over document compliance. In response, instead of blaming the capture or sales team for their indecision, look for solutions. Perhaps you can document the impact of potential last-minute changes on the proposal ahead of time. This allows the proposal team to then know what areas require updates when these last-minute alterations come in.

conclusion

Dealing with crises and challenges is part of being a proposal professional. Things change, from the solicitation language to our teaming strategy to the technical solution we propose. Being prepared to handle a challenge when it arises is 90% of the solution to solving it. Then, when you’ve helped successfully navigate the proposal challenges in front of you, you can be like Jon Taffer at the end of each Bar Rescue episode. You can stand, look at your accomplishments, smile, and say “my work here is done.”