Crickets Chirped
My firm was engaged several years ago to do a soup to nuts evaluation of a governmental entity. Included in the engagement was a definition of needs, a documentation of existing processes, the creation of an RFP, and facilitation of the vendor evaluation effort. Overall, it was a good effort—we came in on time and on budget.
The problems arose during the vendor selection effort: we had two firms that were a virtual tie in terms of functionality and price.
Early in the process, I had mentioned the notion of creating x factors (tie breakers) for just this purpose. The team didn’t want to do it because they said the factors were not measurable.
So, there we were, stuck in a conference room with no direction and every person in the room looking at me. The executive director of this organization walked in the room at that time and he also wanted to know what was going to happen. At this point, I mentioned the team’s reluctance to create tie-breaker mechanism in advance. Everybody nodded and continued to stare at me. Crickets chirped.
This was new terrain for me, and then I had a terrific idea.
I tossed this little nugget out on the table: “How would everybody feel if we took a straw poll and everybody wrote on a scrap of paper who they think should be our vendor of choice?“ The executive director looked and me and said he was thinking the same thing. Well, there we had it…a new methodology.
Everybody wrote down their decisions and handed them to me—and I read out the answers. One vendor had seven votes and the other had two votes. A little more discussion was had, but the vendor with seven votes won the contract.
My lesson learned was encapsulated in the deafening silence and stares. My mistake was not making them come up with tie-breaker criteria. Never again. I have kept the scrap pieces of paper in my office as a memento and a reminder that there is always something to learn.