Why you should switch your proposal process to be based on goals instead of steps

While every proposal process has goals, most processes are procedure-driven. Their focus is on completing tasks and steps. When we break down a major effort, we tend to think about the things "we need to do" to complete it. However, it is better to break things down by what must be accomplished instead of what you think people should do. 

It's a bad sign when a process description brags about how many steps it has. Each extra step adds to the likelihood that it will break in practice and the difficulty in gaining process acceptance. And this is what we see in the proposal process at most companies. They are task oriented and frequently ignored when the task descriptions don't fit the circumstances of the bid.

I've had great success in challenging environments by implementing goal-driven processes instead of procedure-driven processes. The entire MustWin Process is organized around accomplishing goals instead of following steps or procedures.

What is a goal-driven proposal process?

A goal-driven process gives following procedural steps a lower priority than fulfilling the goals. Let that sink in. There is often more than one way to accomplish something. The steps in the process are not important. It's the accomplishments that are important. In a goal-driven process, the point is to accomplish the goals that lead to winning, and never just to complete a task or pass a milestone. In a goal-driven process, you have to understand how a task leads to accomplishing something. Why you do things is more important than which way you do them. 

Why is a goal-driven process better?

A goal-driven process not only accelerates people's ability to accomplish the things needed to win, it also increases the reliability of achieving them. Proposal processes tend to be fragile because RFPs can be very different from each other. The result is that people interpret the proposal process rather than follow it with precision. When goals are more important than procedures, people can follow the process every time and still accomplish the right things, even when they have to do things in an unorthodox manner. The process becomes more reliable and doesn't break, even if the procedures followed previously are not applicable because of a difference in the current RFP. Accomplishing the goal is more important than how you did it.

Earning process acceptance

It is far easier to get people to agree on a handful of goals. Once everyone agrees on the goals, then we can talk steps. And what usually ends up happening is that people choose to follow the steps because they are the best way to achieve the goals. People resist procedures that are forced on them. But they'll choose the path of least resistance to achieve their goals. If you have mapped out procedures and the use of resources in a way that makes achieving their goals easier, most people will gladly adopt them.

This changes the perception of the process from being a mandated burden into becoming an asset. Once someone accepts a goal, if you offer them a faster, more reliable way to achieve it, people tend to readily accept it.

Defining your goals

The most important part is how you define the goals. You shouldn't try to simply convert every step in your process to use goal-language.  And you can't leave them at too high of a level. "Writing a proposal" is not a good goal because it can lead to creating an ordinary proposal. A better goal would be "Writing a proposal that fulfills the instructions and quality criteria of the Proposal Content Plan." A goal like this requires:

• Not only having a Proposal Content Plan, but having one with enough detail that it provides the instructions and quality criteria that writers need.
• Following your content plan after it is written.

This is how you get people to effectively plan before they write, with or without a top-level mandate. Well-written goals, once accepted, lead people to accomplish the things needed to win.

It is best to only have a handful of goals, so that how they fit together and add up to what it will take to win remains memorable. Most proposals have startup, outlining/planning, writing, review, production, and submission phases. Identifying what your goal is for each of these helps those involved know what to accomplish in each phase. When you do this successfully, the goals imply what people must do in order to create a proposal based on what it will take to win. Any steps or procedures that you have worked out over time become easier to understand because they help achieve the goals.

You should also make all of your goals require success from the previous goal. With procedures, people are tempted to take shortcuts. However, if the goal of a review is to assess whether the proposal fulfills the content plan, you can't skip the step of creating a content plan before you start writing. This is how the goals encourage people to do the things needed to create a winning proposal. When they are interconnected, you can't take shortcuts. The proposal process also becomes more reliable, because it is easier to hold people accountable for accomplishing goals than it is to hold them accountable for tasks or following procedures.

Implementation and getting process buy-in

Instead of implementing your process as a procedural mandate and trying to compel or cajole people into following it, you can implement the proposal process as a set of goals and then offer techniques to help them achieve their goals. If they fail to achieve their goals, it's their failure. It's not a contest over whether they followed orders or who has the authority to issue orders.

That just leaves getting everyone to agree on the goals. That's another reason why you only want a handful of them. Ideally, you want everyone to be able to memorize them. If you write your goals to accomplish things and make it so that they can't shortcuts, it's easier to get everyone to agree that the goals are the right goals.

You can even offer a minimization challenge. Offer to delete any goal that isn't absolutely necessary for creating a winning proposal. If they can't, then all the goals are necessary and you are closer to getting their buy-in.

Instead of getting everyone to agree to The Process and all of its steps, you can start by asking "Can we all just agree on these six goals...?"