With the full support of the lovely 50 Degrees team, I have just started a part-time English Literature MA… I’ve been reflecting on how the main tenets of storytelling apply to bid writing, drawing on *very serious* wisdom from some of my favourite books.

… 50 Degrees takes employee wellbeing seriously; but let’s be realistic, no organisation can isolate its employees totally from the pressures of work…

I have set out an overview of the 50 Degrees Directors and Managing Consultants in terms of their ‘spirit’ Jurassic Park character, to give you a taste of what it’s like to work with each of them.

In retrospect, before March 2020 travelling was something that society had collectively come to take for granted – myself included. Looking forward, I think we will now appreciate travelling opportunities a bit more... which brings me to my first experience of travelling with my work colleagues.

The implications seems to be that studying English Literature may give you a decent grounding in dinner party discussion, but is of zero use in the real world… certainly in terms of securing a job.

This is palpably nonsense.

Increasingly, awarding Authorities are asking questions about culture within mobilisation responses… for example… ‘describe the culture the Operator will create, and the actions taken to support its development’.

It’s a sensible question.

“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking” – U.S. General George S. Patton

… sitting in a meeting that really focused our long-term mental health on day 4, I realised I’d arrived somewhere quite unique.

I read with interest recently that a well known organisation was introducing unlimited annual leave for their senior staff to try and attract new talent into their business.

This sounds like a great deal. I mean, who doesn’t want unlimited holidays right?!

Because, fundamentally, if you are fearing the unknown – you really are fearing something with absolutely no evidence that there is something to fear. You are simply, instinctively, expecting the worst. Our instincts tell us a lot about our internal workings and our unconscious thoughts, and I want to combat this mental hardwiring of mine.

Last week, the Education Select Committee published a new report into the prison education system…. we have set out seven consistent themes which have been illuminated by prison education reports published over the past six years.

As I did my usual route home into the peak district on my bike, suffering into the usual headwind, I was distracting myself with thoughts of growth and diversification…

“…yes, I have found a way to bring my dog into every conversation…”

While we may not be IT nerds, we absolutely are tender writing nerds, and we’ve developed some ‘go to’ strategies for turning what our clients tell us about their digital systems into winning bid content.

It was pointed out to me that the recent Blog I posted, ‘The value of values’, was wholly internal facing, so it might be worth considering how people outside the organisation view 50 Degrees.

We’re expanding our Sheffield and London offices and opening a new office in Bristol, where we’ve got a hub of super bright folks starting.

Does it matter if employees know exactly what their company’s values are?

Happily, there are a few simple things we can do to help empty that bucket, and even punch a few holes in it to stop it filling up next time! These can be broken down into 3 categories, I like to think of them as ‘The 3 P’s’; Positive Activity, Positive Interaction and Positive Thoughts.

The world of bid consultancy is a pressurised one. Juggling multiple projects. Word counts. Glitching IT. And the ever-present tick-tock of the looming deadline. It’s stressful. We’re constantly filling our metaphorical ‘stress bucket’.

But as I started to write, I realised that I was missing the wood for the trees. To write a good response, you have to strike a balance between getting the right level of detail and not losing the thread of your argument.