“We’re too busy responding to bids to redesign processes and implement technology. Can’t you just help us go faster?”
A few years ago, I was working with a client whose proposal team was overwhelmed with the volume of opportunities. They knew they needed to do something, but they were maxed out, the business was demanding more, and there was no extra headcount. They even recognised they were rushing their proposals and that was probably impacting quality. They were so driven by the Urgent, they didn’t have the capacity for the Important. Instead of solving the problem, they just wanted to make the pain arrive quicker.
The Tyranny of Urgency
We work in a world of ever-tighter deadlines, schedules, and milestones. We’re asked to do more, with less, faster. Our bids are important, of course, but it often feels like we only have time to focus on what’s most urgent. We sometimes mistake a hectic day for a productive one.
In his famous book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey defines Habit 3 as “Put First Things First”. But those “first things” aren’t the most pressing, the ones with the closest deadline. No! They’re the things that deliver the right results, the desired outcomes, the strategic goals. They are Important Not Urgent.
Making Decisions for the Long Term
The Urgent will always shout louder than the Important. But if we only ever answer the Urgent, all we build are more emergencies. Breaking out of our cycle of relentless urgency demands strong decision making. We decide what’s truly important and what’s not. We decide on our personal, team, and organisational goals. We decide to stop managing time and start managing ourselves, our energy, and our happiness.
Deciding What’s Important
We can’t eliminate urgency. But we can stop letting it run the show. That means prioritising the plans, capabilities, relationships, and solutions to make things less urgent in future. Fewer crises means better work and less stress.
- Are we promoting productivity, wellbeing, and satisfaction?
- Have we scheduled time to find and fix root causes?
- Can we build better relationships with SMEs to create more trust?
- Have we optimised processes to eliminate waste, delays, and rework?
- Do we understand our biggest challenges and could technology help solve them?
Decide Differently – Every Day
The problem is it’s not enough to make this a decision for one day. If we want to make progress, if we want to bid better not just faster, if we want to improve our wellbeing and job satisfaction, it takes a daily act of rebellion. We must decide to do what’s Important Not Urgent every day.
Darrell Woodward
Darrell Woodward is an award-winning consultant helping organisations unleash the full power of proposal automation to win more business faster. As a Bid Geek and coffee lover, he believes technology in bidding is about combining the right blend of content beans – compelling narratives, tailored solutions, and persuasive arguments – and the expertise of bidding baristas to craft the perfect proposal brew.
