It’s a familiar pattern in bid teams. The ITT lands and someone says, ‘we’ve done this before’. Same sector, similar scope, familiar questions.
That’s usually when thinking starts to narrow. You move quickly to win themes. You assume you know what the client will care about. The bid isn’t rushed. It’s structured and professional – but it just feels forgettable.
It won’t lose you the bid. But it’s unlikely to win it either.
Beginner’s mindset, a Zen Buddhist concept, is an approach that encourages you to see the world and face challenges as if for the first time. In bid world this means approaching each tender as if you don’t already know the answer, remaining open, curious and with no preconceptions.
In practice, this looks like:
-
Asking great questions and seeking new information
-
Pretending you’re unfamiliar with the requirements and approaching them with fresh eyes
-
Testing whether your differentiators genuinely solve the problem in front of you
-
Seeking different ways of delivering
Experience matters. But without a deliberate reset, it can quietly harden into assumptions.
At ShineX, we build that pause into our process, so experience sharpens bids instead of dulling their edge.
