Greenbank Bulletin

The world of pitching is in many ways imperfect for the simple reason than that the decision to choose one supplier over others is made by humans, affected - often in the moment - by various degrees of rational, technical and emotional pressures.

And the involvement of realpeople means, regardless of whether you are a winner or a loser, you may never know the real reason for their decision.  How many time have you heard the statement "It was a really difficult decision, everyone who lost came a close second"

When we have some tough thinking to do such as problem solving, developing project plans or building a robust and compelling business case we need to do some quality thinking. These are the times that we really need to look at all angles of the situation, play devil's advocate and be creative about alternative approaches and solutions. Whether working alone or as part of a team we need to make sure our thinking is focused and at its best. Using the 6 Hat Thinking Styles developed by Edward de Bono can help us to do this

We can almost guarantee that on every one of our programmes where we focus on influencing skills and strategies we are asked this question. It seems that even the most experienced professional struggles when they need to manage upwards. Yet it is often the most critical factor in achieving our goals and ensuring that our careers stay on track. In this article we hope to offer some practical ideas and tactics to manage your boss…..