Have RFPs Become yet Another Proxy for Managerial Leadership?
By Michelle Malay Carter on February 19, 2008
In a noble attempt to stem corruption and to make things objective, we have tried to take the judgment out of the RFP process and turn it into more of a calculation.? We hire people to make judgments; we have calculators for calculating.
I realize there are compliance issues surrounding the need for RFPs, and they make the reviewing process easier by making the proposals more consistent.? Yes, we are to the point where there is a lot of water under the bridge as to why RFPs are structured the way they are, but if we step back and look at the process, do they really say:
We can’t trust our people to act morally, and we don’t trust their overall judgment so we are going to micromanage this process?
There is a character issue here but there is a cognitive capability issue here as well.?
If we are not hiring the appropriate people and we are not tracking their work, is this not a failure of an organization’s managerial leadership system?? Have RFPs become yet another proxy for managerial leadership.? Are they a system for compensating for other poor systems?
A more complex project calls for a higher cognitive capacity to make the kinds of judgments necessary to chose a qualified vendor.? If the decision is made a too low a level, the projects have a higher likelihood of failure.?
So is the solution to ask for excessive minutia in the RFP, or is it?to see that vendor review is carried out by a person at the appropriate level?? (We’re back to the need to understand work levels.)
The problem with asking for excessive minutia in an RFP is that it attracts vendors who enjoy the minutia.? Sometimes this is exactly what you need.
However, if you are looking for a big picture vendor, you won’t find them by asking them to provide you minutia.
Have you ever been?suffered at the hands of an?RFP process?
Filed Under Accountability, Corporate Values, Managerial Leadership, Organization Design, Requisite Organization, Talent Management
Comments
6 Responses to “Have RFPs Become yet Another Proxy for Managerial Leadership?”
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It is definitely a balancing act, but one that needs to be attempted.
I don’t think that all RFPs are structured as such to take the decisions out of the decision making process; I think many times they are structured the way they are so as to allow the decision makers to make informed decisions. Lets say that I post a RFP for a CRM system; the marketing collateral says “yea, sure, it can do that, that and that”… and so do all of the other pieces from competing vendors. How do you compare apples to apples? This decision is made even harder when you are not an expert in the field that you are soliciting bids for, so you as the buyer want things spelled out for you so you can be sure you’re making the better decision.
Of course, this is in an ideal world, one where the decision wasn’t already made before the RFP process, one where the owner’s nephew isn’t involved, and one where the hiring crew actually reads the proposals and asks informed decisions.
David,
Thanks for stopping by. You make some good points here.
Regards,
Michelle
In many organizations RFPs excuse manager/leaders from responsibility. I like your point about how some senior leaders allow lower level managers to make decisions that have a high possibility of failure.
It comes back to leaders who are afraid-specifically afraid of the losing. When a leader is factoring in his/her 401K, pension, bonuses, etc., you can be sure a bad decision is ahead. That’s assuming any true decision will be made at all.
If organizations are investing (salary, benefits, incentive comp.)in people, then why not expect an ROI from those same people. You won’t do that when an RFP is the hiding place.
Eric,
Thanks for stopping by. Yes, RFPs might be one of those things that organization’s do mindlessly because they have always done it that way.
Might it be time to go back and review the process in light of current strategy and values? As they say, Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers.
Michelle
Perhaps it would be useful to differentiate what an RFP is for. Surely there are different types of work, some of which lend themselves to RFPs. Building a large construction or delivering 2,500 tanks of a pre-existing design is quite different from “create a new org chart for me”.
As I understand it, the RFP was partly created to level the playing field by allowing non-insider providers (especially those traditionally left out, such as minority- or nonrelative-owned businesses) an opportunity to get the work.
Forrest,
Welcome back. Thank for the reality check. Yes, there are still some legitmate uses for RFPs. They don’t seem to fit in my world.
Regards,
Michelle Malay Carter