Oh, the personalities you’ll meet: A bid team alignment guide
Every bid team has its quirks. Whether it’s the perfectionist who won’t stop tweaking commas or the chaos-lover suggesting last-minute rewrites, personalities can collide as the deadline looms.
Using the classic Dungeons & Dragons alignment chart, we’ve mapped out nine unique bid personalities to bring a little humor to your tender process and included some practical guidance for managing each one.
Bid team personalities
Bid team personalities alignment chart
Understanding the alignment chart
The alignment chart organises personalities along two axes:
Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic: Describes how characters approach rules, structure, and spontaneity.
Good, Neutral, and Evil: Reflects their motivations and how they impact others.
The bid personalities alignment
Here’s how Bidtique sees bid personalities fit into the alignment chart, along with tips for responding to their quirks:
Lawful Good: Mr. Perfect
How to recognise him:
A stickler for rules, deadlines, and formatting.
Polishes every section until it gleams, often at the expense of speed or creativity.
Believes perfection is the only path to success.
What he’ll say: “We can’t submit until every single word is perfect!”
How to respond: "Do you want it perfect, or do you want it submitted?"
Neutral Good: Ms. Helpful
How to recognise her:
Always volunteers to assist, keeping the team afloat during crunch time.
Balances multiple responsibilities with determination but risks spreading herself too thin and can end up making mistakes or overlooking crucial requirements.
Not so secretly enjoys the martyr role she has cast herself in.
What she’ll say: “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that too!”
How to respond: "Thank you for offering! Let’s see who else can take on some of these tasks to lighten your load."
Chaotic Good: Mr. Gunna
How you’ll recognise him
Full of energy and promises but struggles with follow-through.
Brings enthusiasm and ambitious ideas to the team.
Frequently promises to complete tasks but doesn’t deliver on time.
What he’ll say: “I’m gunna finish my review tonight, I promise!”
How to respond: "That’s great, love that commitment, but let’s set a clear deadline so we’re all on track for the morning; or talk about a fall back...just in case…"
Lawful Neutral: Ms. Process
How you’ll recognise her
Loves structure, detailed workflows, and clearly defined processes.
Insists on following the plan, even when flexibility is needed.
She’s not wrong exactly, but has an incredible ability to slow you down.
What she’ll say: “That’s not how we documented it in the plan!”
How to respond: "That’s a great point, but let’s focus on what the bid needs most right now."
True Neutral: Mr. Casual
How you’ll recognise him:
Cool as a cucumber and ‘hands off’ - everything’s ‘cool’ as long as he doesn’t have to actually decide or do anything.
Maintains a relaxed demeanor, even during high-pressure situations.
Often acts surprised or miffed when asked to contribute meaningfully.
What he’ll say: “Oh, you needed that from me? I didn’t realise it was urgent.”
How to respond: "Yes, it’s urgent. Let’s set some priorities so we can move forward."
Chaotic Neutral: Mr. Complexity
How you’ll recognise him:
Turns simple tasks into epic, confusing workflows - loves a big multi-tab spread sheet linked to other spread sheets.
Overthinks every section, adding jargon and unnecessary complexity and double handling.
Wants to pause to update bid plans, ‘circle back’ and have endless meetings.
What he’ll say: “Let’s just have one more meeting to brainstorm this further.”
How to respond: "The current version is already strong and compliant. Let’s focus on finalising instead of overengineering this section. We can discuss further at our debrief after hand in.”
Lawful Evil: Ms. Nitpicky
How you’ll recognise her:
Will find a mistake in anything (if she’s allowed to look at it for long enough).
But will offer no constructive feedback on the substance or ideas expressed in the pitch.
Obsessed with grammar, formatting, and her version of ‘consistency’ - ‘all this text needs to be ‘justified’.
What she’ll say: “That comma placement looks wrong.”
How to respond: "That’s a good catch, but we need to prioritise the bigger picture right now."
Neutral Evil: Ms. Optics
How you’ll recognise her:
Will want photos of herself on the cover and throughout the bid - “here’s a pic of me with the PM!”
Will insist on an off-puttingly long CV that runs to several pages highlighting her achievements (even when they’re beyond the subject of the bid).
Thrives on visibility and credit, regardless of the team’s struggles or the firm’s priorities - it’s all about them while they add no real value to the process.
What she’ll say: “We need to make this look amazing (just like me)!”
How to respond "Let’s focus on getting a complete and compliant draft together, then we can worry about the cover and formatting."
Chaotic Evil: Mr. Last Minuter
How you’ll recognise him:
Lazy, indecisive, insecure in the role or just plain incompetent - hard to know.
Becomes a ‘panic merchant’ and thinks nothing of making the lesser paid team members work late and over weekends.
Needs the adrenaline rush of a looming deadline to get into gear.
What he’ll say: “I’ve just had a brilliant idea: we need to rewrite the executive summary right now!”
How to respond: "With 3 hours to run we’re past that stage now. Let’s make this work with what we’ve got."
Which tender team personality are YOU?!
Have you worked with - or perhaps been - any of these personalities? Whether you’re a Mr. Perfect striving for polish, a Ms. Process wanting an orderly bid, or a Mr. Last Minuter causing last-minute chaos, every team has its mix of quirks.
Want to turn bid chaos into clarity?
Get in touch and let Bidtique wrangle those team personalities and politics and help streamline your tender submissions.