Being cranky doesn’t come naturally to me, so I’m not going to start forcing that characteristic on my stakeholders just to intimidate them into meeting deadlines. I’ve been told throughout my tender career that I’m too nice to stakeholders.
It’s good to be tolerant to some extent, but also tenacious enough to ensure you get the right information from the right stakeholders at the right time. Tenders are typically stressful and many people don’t always react well to stress. People have their own ways of dealing with stress, but it’s not a great reflection on a tender manager to curse at the computer and be rude to people - even if they blame their behaviour on being stressed. This is particularly important in the lead up to the deadline when tensions are high and nerves frayed.
Level headed. The ability to work accurately and calmly under pressure and within tight time frames. It’s important to give key tender resources sufficient notice and clear briefs rather than dropping work on them at short notice. They will brief and delegate this task to a skilled graphic designer who can design more effectively and much faster. Ability to delegate in a timely manner. An effective tender manager won’t waste time fiddling about with the front cover design when they have critical tender milestones to meet. It’s also tiring, but it's vital for a tender manager to effectively multi-task throughout the tender process. Communicating with multiple stakeholders and working on different tasks with competing deadlines is essential to a tender's success. It’s useful to outline key tender role responsibilities and expectations from the outset and ensure people remain accountable for their inputs throughout the tender process. This is also applicable to every single tender contributor. It's important for a tender manager to remain accountable throughout the entire tender process. It’s important to have an eye for intricate details, while also considering the overarching tender deadline and availability of tender resources. Scheduling skills can be applied by using Gantt charts, Excel Spreadsheets, Microsoft Project and SharePoint etc. 
While managing big egos can be a challenge during a tight tender timeframe, it’s critical to get people working as collaboratively as possible throughout the entire tender process.
Negotiation skills. Managing big egos and tailoring communication styles to different stakeholders and personalities when negotiating critical and timely tender inputs. The following key skills and traits are what I believe an effective tender manager should have: Personality traits and skills of an effective tender manager If you’re lucky, you will source a tender specialist who is skilled in both management and writing, with graphic design skills as well. Some tender specialists focus more on delivering tender management services, whereas others specifically focus on tender writing. If a company expects their tender writer to write a technical methodology from scratch without direct education/experience working in that discipline, they are setting the tender writer (and tender response) up for failure. If a company advertises a tender manager role with low level administrative duties included, you can bet they don’t fully understand, or appreciate the complexities of this demanding role. Many companies and recruitment consultants underestimate the unique personality traits and skills of tender specialists, including tender managers and tender writers.
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