What Type of Capture Manager Are You?: How You Can Improve Your Performance APMP Webinar December 2013 Eric Gregory, CPP APMP Fellow Senior Vice President, Shipley Associates

A Few Introductory Thoughts

Capture • Knowing your Capture Manager type can

lead to more successes

Capture • Knowing your Capture Manager type

determines what help you need

Capture • Knowing your Capture Manager type tells

how you should execute your program

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The Objective

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The Goal

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Your Capture Manager type determines how you behave here and how you win.

The Capture Manager Types

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The Capture Manager Box Every Capture Manager Exhibits Some

Characteristics of all Types. One predominates.

Disrupter Visionary Strategic Tactical Mission-focused

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True Capture Cuts Across All Categories

Technological

The Disrupter

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• Strengths • Creative • Innovative • Energetic • Agile, moves fast and hard • Synthesizer of complex ideas

• Weaknesses • Perceived as chaotic, disorganized • Blunt to a fault, hyper critical • Way ahead of the team • Intolerant of questioning • Strategy often unclear

Strategies for Improving Performance

Team

Need stellar organizer on the team (senior proposal coordinator)

Need good functional leads who can execute fast, accurately and with personal touch (Solution, Pricing, Contracts, Subcontracts, Proposal, BD)

Need solid advisors willing to tell you when you go too far with ideas, pushing, and criticism

Need a really good scheduler who can lay out a plan and keep team on track

Program Execution

Slow down a bit. Not much. Keep the pace such that people can keep up

Take time to lay out strategy clearly. Simplify with graphics so people can visualize your solution

Encourage questions. “Got it?” “Anybody confused?” “Does this make sense?”

Always start meetings with a review of actions and schedule so people can see organization and progress

Let functional leads direct their areas. Guide don’t direct their teams.

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The Visionary

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• Strengths • Focused on solution • Appreciates risk/reward • Develops clear paths to the future • Articulates the vision • Moves team toward the vision

• Weaknesses • Lack of attention to detail • Lack of customer focus • Often selling more internally than

externally • Hard to connect dots between mission

and solution • Lose sight of cost/price

Strategies for Improving Performance Team

Need a BDer capable of keeping the focus on the customer

Need a Solution Architect and a Proposal Manager to focus on detail

Visionary Capture Manager MUST go on many calls with the customer(s) to stay grounded in mission needs and expectations

Need a really good PTW and Pricing team to remain competitive

Need a dedicated team competitive analysis expert for reality checks

Need an independent PTW expert

Program Execution

Get on the graphics early and use graphics as the principal means of communicating the vision

Place more emphasis on call plan and make sure each call has a specific strategy/objective to validate concepts

Have more frequent gate reviews to keep customer/competitive focus

Conduct multiple Blackhats at reasonable intervals for ground truth check

Do internal and external PTW

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The Strategic

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• Strengths • Focused on long-term • Balances long-term/short-term goals • Effective long-range planning • Effective delegation • Builds team around specific actions

• Weaknesses • Communicating strategy and actions • Connecting strategy and solution to

customer benefits • Keeping focus on progress • Expects team to achieve without

specific direction • Connecting strategy(what)/tactics(how)

Strategies for Improving Performance Team

Get a proposal manager early and use them to manage action items

Get the proposal manager to issue formal capture or proposal directives providing specific direction

Get a conceptual graphic artist as a member of the core team

Get a proposal coordinator to capture and display metrics demonstrating real progress

Get Solution Architects for each solution: technical, management, past performance, pricing—connects strategy with tactics

Program Execution

Use Executive Summary drafts to communicate strategy

Develop critical graphics early and use them to communicate value and benefits effectively in context

Hold effective weekly capture meetings where critical information, thoughts, expectations, and direction are communicated

Use a simple table to connect specific strategies with specific actions (action item list labeling)

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The Tactical

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• Strengths • Focused on short-term • Driver--gets short-term actions done • Effective day-to-day planning • Measures progress daily • Keeps team moving at good pace

• Weaknesses • Strategy not connected with customer

needs • Fails to communicate “Big Picture” • Stands outside the team • Focuses on detail to exclusion of

changing conditions • Achieving end not win becomes focus

Strategies for Improving Performance Team

Get a strategist as a partner on your team—junior capture manager as deputy

Get a BD person as your communicator

Get highly team oriented proposal manager

Get BD person focused on the win

Get a proposal manager highly sensitive to changes in the customer and competitive field

Program Execution

Review strategy at every session and put prominently “on the wall” and graphically communicate connection to customer issues

Distribute regular updates to Executive Summary draft to vector in on the “Big Picture”

Rotate leading the action item review to gain team integration

Acknowledge detail orientation and ask team not let you fall into trap

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The Mission-Focused

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• Strengths • Knows customer mission inside and out • Can connect strategy with key customer

issues, hot buttons, biases, hopes, fears • Understands competitive position • Translates issues into clear solutions

• Weaknesses • Not a team organizer • Poor judge of team needs • Prefers hero execution model of capture • Poor communicator to team • Poor driver of day to day activities

Strategies for Improving Performance Team

Get a great proposal manager to run day to day ops. Create the effective team of 2 not 22.

Proposal manager hand picks coordinator to keep team organized and focused on day to day

Core team must be fleshed out with A players

Proposal manager designated as team voice and communicator

Get the best Solution Architect available

Program Execution

Personally keep team focused on customer issues at every team meeting since you’re the expert

Work individually with each core team member to impart knowledge of customer and mission

Participate actively in all solutioning

Delegate, delegate, delegate…..do not become the bottleneck

Do weekly newsletter type update to team to force effective communication. Mark COMPETITION SENSITIVE

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The Technological

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• Strengths • Creates leading edge solutions • Solutions appear to have high value • Articulates complex solutions simply • Solutions solve major customer issues

• Weaknesses • Solutions have no programmatic

backbone • Tends to be on leading edge of risk • Problem solving not supported by data • Alienates team with unrealistic solution

expectations • Prices aggressively with little basis

Strategies for Improving Performance Team

Get a great risk analyst who can effectively identify, categorize, and mitigate risks

Get a systems engineering oriented Solution Architect who can lay out a realistic implementation plan

Get a true conceptual graphic designer who can simplify visually a complex technology-based solution

Get a technology-oriented proposal manager capable of putting the technology-based solution in the customer’s context

Get your best PTW person wherever

Program Execution

Use facts and data to present solution: modeling, prototypes, test results must be presented for credibility

Design effective communications plan with customer(s). Must have acceptance before submittal

Use internal and external PTW experts and estimates

Develop comprehensive risk identification, management, and closure process early

Have core team be your design review team and get buy in

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What have we learned….?

• Understanding your Capture Manager type can affect the success of your capture Objective 1

• You should build your core team based on what Capture Manager type you are Objective 2

• You should build your capture program to leverage your strengths and manage weaknesses to increase probability of win Objective 3

• Failure to understand your Capture Manager type puts you and your capture program at risk Objective 4

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How do I know what type I am?

1. Look at the strengths and weaknesses of each type presented. Which ones best represent you?

2. Look at your last 3 captures and identify problems that were caused by you.

3. Correlate these in a simple table. The answer will reveal it self quickly.

4. Ask a respected colleague. The answer might surprise you.

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Wrap up…

“To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the

people do not notice their existence. The next best, the

people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the

people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people

say, 'We did it ourselves!’” Lao-tsu

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Knowing your type lets you become the best leader.

Contact Information

Eric Gregory Senior Vice President, Capture and Proposal Consulting-East

Shipley Associates

egregory@shipleywins.com