The last few weeks before you submit a major proposal can get pretty frantic. Everyone seems to suddenly realize that this is it and the “notes” are starting to come in at an ever increasing pace. So here are three steps to protect the endgame, the critical transition from final draft to production and submission, to ensure the final document tells a compelling story, is self-consistent and free of formal or technical escapes.

Even if you are an old hand at major proposals, there is always that bit of wishful, magical thinking that this time will be different. You have done all the groundwork, laid out a production plan with plenty of reserves and you are determined to have a smooth glide path towards submission. I am a big fan of planning and aspirational thinking. By all means, do indulge in hoping for the best when you are months from delivery. And good planning is always helpful, but do recognize that a smooth, uneventful endgame is the exception. Most teams and their management cannot escape anxiety as the deadline approaches. Finally, after all your hopes and dreams have been boiled down to the crucial 10 or 100 pages, more than one team member may come down with a case of the doubts. Is this good enough? Wouldn’t it be more compelling in a different font face? Or my favorite: the one technical expert you hunted unsuccessfully since you started, suddenly emerges and tells you to start over.

Comprehensive planning and solid team communication can prevent some of this. Early in the project, layout the frame of your final document such as landscape versus portrait, fonts and color schemes. Provide early mockups and intermediate drafts in the final formatting. Make sure that as broad a base as possible is exposed to it. You’d be surprised who cares about fonts. If you have a standard or corporate template, excellent, use it. If you do not,  find out whether whoever has the final say hates Times New Roman. It has happened. Do not die on that hill. Reviewers don’t care unless it is a published requirement. Do make sure that technical authorities and their managers know when you need their input. If you do not get it, escalate your requests early.

What about technical errors that are discovered when there is just enough time to fix them? Now we are in the critical judgement era. First of all, there is no such thing as a submitted proposal without errors. The key question is whether they will make your team look incompetent or careless. Both fatal impressions. That can happen through either a single major mistake such as an incorrect analysis or through too many minor errors, including typos. Both categories should be eliminated by a series of careful and methodical internal reviews. For the, hopefully, rare case of a last minute correction, you want to have a group of at most three individuals who will make the calls for the entire document. Do not let just anyone “stop the presses.” If you let too many minor changes drive the schedule you are bound to skip crucial quality checks and end up with the opposite of what you were looking for. 

This is a situation where too much communication can hurt your team. As the leader of your team you owe them a positive, success-oriented outlook and to keep your worries of the hour to yourself. Many of them are either overblown or will resolve on their own. But when you identify a big issue, communicate clearly how you are going to tackle it, or if that isn’t clear, bring in a limited number of advisors to come up with a solution. Doing nothing and sticking with the plan must always remain a viable option. Nothing ever came from a proposal that was not submitted. 

So here are my three steps to protect your endgame: (1) Don’t let magical thinking blind you to the reality that there will be last minute changes and have a plan to handle them. (2) Be very clear about your decisions such as layout that are not likely to drive selection and stick with them to avoid late distractions. (3) Set up a small team with decision authority disposition all last minute requests and make sure this small team understands the impact of small and large changes. These are the foundational principles of a successful endgame and submitting winning proposals.