Thanks for stopping by! Before you dig in to read my latest article, please swing by the store and pick up the stuff I ordered, it’s already paid for.

 

Curious about this? A little (or a lot) confused? Have you ever received or given someone a task like this? This is, quite literally, how many of us provide instructions to subordinates, and make requests of colleagues and team members. Ambiguous, and with little of the detail needed to result in a successful outcome, the first time. This costs money, morale, and time and is a self-imposed obstacle to achieving goals.

 

How does this factor into winning in the arena of Federal Contracting? It directly impacts your cost of doing business. In Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors®, we refer to the time and money spent finding and winning work as C.A.B. Fare, the Cost of Acquiring Business. When it takes you longer, and costs you more to develop the knowledge and relationships needed to win, you give your competition the advantage. In short, the inefficiency in delegating actions, and the mild to significant turmoil experienced by those given incomplete information and instructions, reduces your organization’s competitiveness.  

 

How do you avoid or correct this? It should begin with ensuring that everyone involved is as much on the same page as possible. Specifically, unless everyone has the same training, and sits in the same meetings where knowledge is shared, don’t assume they understand you, and vice versa. We all know Federal Contracting is the land of acronyms that are lost on many people, but it goes much deeper. Unless you are working in it and on it regularly, terms specific to one agency that speak to a program, a contract or contract vehicle, a system or function, may have little to no meaning to someone not versed in that agency’s vernacular. I liken this to what I have heard from friends of mine who have learned to speak and understand Japanese. If you don’t use it, you lose it, with “it” being the ability to speak the language. In Federal Contracting, the fact is, many folks have nothing to lose because they never had it, where this “it” is an understanding of fundamental and advanced terms they can use to ‘connect the dots.’

 

What’s needed is the dissolution of knowledge silos within organizations. For decades, the role of Business Development has been shadowed in mystique, primarily for reasons of the self-preservation of the individuals in those roles. What do I mean?

For years and years, many under-qualified, and unqualified folks kept their BD jobs longer than they should have because of this mindset. It still happens today.

 

Ensure you and your team, regardless of function, establishes a standard for the Growth language you use, based on evidence versus conjecture. This usually entails finding out for yourself, which intimidates many. It shouldn’t. How you and your team describe and discuss things related to competitors, customers, opportunities, partners, and relationships, can just as quickly take you where you want to be, or down a rabbit hole. Our Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors® Bootcamp is regarded as a must-have for anyone in Federal Contracting, and Context is a key part of the curriculum.

 

Delegation is critical to scale. For CEOs like me that started on the ground floor of a company and have done most, if not every job, letting go can be a significant fear factor. Why?

One of the many great tools I received working with my one-time coach, Michael Hyatt, was an understanding of how to delegate. A few years ago, when we hired my executive assistant, I utilized the 5 Levels of Delegation as a way of getting things off my plate. It worked really well, and I continue to master this today.

Delegation and Education are essential to Growth in Federal Contracting. Building your people and processes accordingly, can net you tangible and sustainable outcomes.

Peace, Health, and Success,