By Kate Burrows
I have been fortunate to form successful associations and even long-lasting friendships with many of my tendering colleagues of the last decade and more.
Not to mention consumed way too many slices of pizza with many of you around the conference table as a submission deadline approaches.
But with some $25 billion in successful tenders in my professional toolkit, I realised there was a more efficient, effective and engaging way I could help you improve your tender performance.
Enter the Tender Training College – Australia’s first dedicated e-learning centre for tender training.
I am really very proud to be launching this venture because I know first-hand how it will empower business professionals to enhance their confidence and careers.
Over the years, I have repeatedly seen people with limited training or experience in tenders dropped into tender teams.
There’s no manual available. The deadline is looming and it quickly becomes a sink or swim state of affairs.
And I know how that feels, because that was me at the start of my tendering career.
You hope no-one notices you are frantically treading water, trying to stay afloat while you work out what the difference is between an EOI and an RFP, or how to comply with the tender requirements.
Fortunately, I learnt a lot from people who were already seasoned tender professionals and was trained as a tender coach.
Bid by bid, I saw there was a way to unravel the mysteries of tenders and tendering.
And a way to systemically and efficiently put the pieces of the tender puzzle back together to be successful, time and time again.
I realised there was a formula approach available to help people become more effective in tendering so they could spend more time doing the things that were important to them.
Hence, the idea for the Tender Training College was born.
With my team, we identified the key competencies and skills that were required to be a part of a winning tender team in the Australian marketplace.
We applied the best e-learning principles to my expert knowledge in tendering to produce a number of quality online courses to improve tendering performance and productivity.
Take our Introduction to Tenders and Tendering Certificate as an example. We go back to the beginning to understand the role that tendering plays as part of a government or company’s procurement process.
Why do clients even go to tender in the first place? What are they looking to achieve? How do they assess the responses?
Importantly, this course helps to demystify the different types of tender documents and give you a better understanding of the component parts of a tender document.
Where was this course 15 years ago when I needed it? Here’s hoping it gives those professionals new to tendering the knowledge, capabilities and confidence they need to shine.
And to those seasoned professionals, I look forward to many more years of working with you in this new venture.
I encourage your feedback to help the Tender Training College to continuously improve the skills and knowledge of the professionals in our marketplace.
Don’t hesitate to email me your thoughts – kate@tendertrainingcollege.com.au
