How do you smoothly transition from contract negotiation to implementation?

Be realistic and be granular in your negotiations. As lawyers, we often get lost in the legalese. Remember, the contract is for actually getting something done. So thoroughly understand the business technicalities needed for actual implementation. As much as it is good to have your business stakeholders present at the negotiations, your job as a lawyer must be to understand the business aspects as thoroughly as your business counterparts - so that when you convert that to contract terminology, it doesn’t get lost in translation. Spend enough time with your business teams in advance, understanding their needs before you head into that negotiation. And then drill down the details so that implementation pit falls can be avoided.

In my experience, setting clear and detailed expectations with timelines are the key to success on any project. It is imperative that the all parties understand how the expectations impact the timelines.

In my experience, Post Kick-off Review meeting is also essential. To evaluate the effectiveness of the kick-off meetings and make any necessary adjustments for future phases of the project. Feedback from team members, identify areas of improvement, and refine project plans if needed.

This means for yourself and your organisation. In a perfect world, everyone reads the contract and the handover is seemless. In reality, there is silo thinking and most of the persons in charge of execution were not involved in the negotiations. So either make sure that you have a lean handover cheatsheet or someone that "owns" the contract from the begining to the end. Without that, expect that you are going to be blindsided.

A key element to setting expectations is to place a great deal of value on communication, and a common understanding of what the communication protocol should look like. Setting the standard at this moment builds a strong emphasis on the importance of effective communication once the implementation begins. Establishing this expectation early will not always prevent misunderstandings, but will help streamline the resolution process, or let you know when you may be at a endpass and need to rethink aspects of the negotiation. In many cases effective communication serves as the catalyst for building mutual trust and respect with those across the table from you, or on the implementation team.

Over the years I have noticed that a lot of stakeholders have not fully supplied their requirements or needs at the start but rather try to infuse their requirements after tender documents have been sent out. Amendments to tender documents causes many problems and it is these stakeholders that need to be held in check. Stakeholders should be made aware that once the tender documents have been submitted that no further amendments can be undertaken. This also comes into play upon implementation of any contract, in that any additional works can not be entertained within that same contract but rather raised as a separate issue and documentation. The project manager must be the lead person to hold the stakeholders and contractors to task.

What I have seen working very well is to establish contract ownership (on the executive sponsor level) and contract holdership (on the executing level) on both sides early on, and transition the people holding these roles from the negotiation process into the team that has to live with the contract. That way, you have a continuous bridge between the contract partners, ideally with some existing trust, and transfer of knowledge between the negotiators and the user base.

ensure that the contract is fully reviewed, agreed upon, and signed by all parties involved. .Clearly assign roles and responsibilities to the implementation team members. Ensure that everyone understands their specific tasks and how they contribute to the overall success of the implementation.Identify potential risks that could impact the implementation process,Foster collaboration between the negotiation and implementation teams. Regular communication and coordination between these teams can help address any discrepancies, clarify ambiguities, Address any issues or conflicts that arise promptly and collaboratively. Open communication and a proactive approach to problem-solving will proven minor concerns from escalating.

One person from each side to be accountable to ensure communications are all recorded and detailed. This is particularly important if contract negotiation takes place verbally - this person must be accountable to clarify and get both parties to agree. It’s too easy for other stakeholders to go off topic and not actually agree anything.

Learn how to develop a Gannt chart and help co-ordinate trades/teams. Disputes and escalations happen when planning is poor or delviery is not the teams priority.

In my experience I have found that the initial contract and implementation is important but the bigger picture is key to building a long lasting relationship. This sounds obvious but I have seen too many shortsighted sales people only focused on the current sale and not looking at the bigger picture. The ultimate goal is to establish a relationship beyond the initial sale with a long tail. Rather than selling more contracts with different customers, focus on selling more with fewer customers.

The way that I was taught, the best contracts are the ones that don’t need enforced, in the sense that the contracting parties did their due diligence during negotiations; the parties know their role and execute them. Now, of course that means that the majority of the work happens during negotiations, but isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?

To build trust , it is important to consider parties as “partners”. When it comes to partnership it is important to layout the “purpose” of partnership which the contract is just a mean to achieve a milestone. The partners will feel valued and will be able to deliver expectations in a holistic way beyond a SOW or Contract. This helps to build a long term relationship

Continue to look at the contract holistically and not just from a silo’d position. Trust comes with hitting expectations and enduring due diligence.

Like in any team, trust happens when you don't ask someone else to do what you would not. It also means you are responsible for doing your job.

Make sure you have an escalation plan. Who and how to push issues up the chain to get quick resolution. This step can save many extra hours not to mention reduce stress.

In long term projects you want to make sure your team works with the latest version of the Contract. Ideally, you achieve this by making re-instated versions for each Amendment (or bunch of Amendments). But sometimes we tend to just "patch" the Contracts with Amendments here and there, now and then, and then you find yourself with dozens of Amendments across the years. Alternatively, you can build a Contract change tracker where you just identify each Amendment and the sections of the Contract that is modifying. Nothing fancy or complicated, something simple yet effective that will help managing changes in long term contracts.

I've found it critical for adapting and adjusting when working internationally and with different cultures. Cultivating trust is very important.

Setting the expectations from both parties to allow for variations or change to scope is critical during contract negotiation. Ensuring “change control” is in place, including how this is done, timelines and who is accountable to agree, and what happens if agreement cannot be completed. Scope of work invariably changes, it’s just ensuring all have set expectations and clear communication lines to allow this to happen quickly and efficiently to not add further delay to a project.

There is always three ways of doing things, your way, their way and the right way, Stephen R. Covey. Get the job done so everyone makes money.

Always be listening, not hearing the words being translated into literal meaning. Take the time to hear your clients and catch when things are going in a positive direction and identify what actions are pushing things in the opposite. The ability to read and learn from your environment, especially when it comes to making deals is beyond critical as human connection is generally the driving factor behind trust. Always be learning and writing notes on successful adaptation to challenging situations.

Ensure all understand they’re responsible to feed into lessons learned. Review these each month / quarter and in particular at the end of the cm react to ensure everything is captured and allowing everyone to have a voice. I also encourage solution solving as we complete lessons learned to make it worthwhile for all stakeholders. You also should never be afraid to share “some” lessons learned with your client, as this can also help build trust and loyalty, furthering the relationship / partnership and taking it to a deeper level.

Areas for improvement should be identified, and a plan of action should be developed. It is important to address weaknesses and enhance skills. Reflecting on failures can provide valuable lessons and help build resilience, preventing the repetition of mistakes.

The fundamental element remains an unquenchable curiosity and ongoing learning, with a distinct emphasis on gleaning insights from missteps to avert their duplication. Building trust, a pivotal pursuit, is of paramount importance. It is my practice to routinely furnish clients with a comprehensive report that openly recognizes the challenges faced throughout the course, encompassing both my own misjudgments and any on their part. Within this report, I also take the opportunity to suggest recommendations, drawing from the experience to propose actionable measures for refinement. This not only reflects a commitment to continuous improvement but also underscores the collaborative nature of our engagement.

I see the same mistakes been done multiple times because different persons are involved. Make sure to have a simple and effective way to communicate lessons learned. No one is going to go through a 1000 cell Excel table or a 200 pages manual. If the templates are the problem, change them right away. Go to the root of the issue instead of only documenting the lessons learned in the file that in going to be lost in some obscure server/cloud.

Almost every deal comes down to human connection, so don't forget to be a human when working with people. Relatability is one of the quickest ways to lower people's guard and get you to the truth, were you can do the real work!

Important to consider if we buying “service” , “product” , “Manpower” etc. In today’s digital world the product being bought or contracted has been morphed in a very complex way. Hence it is prudent to for the buying organisation to do a deep due diligence for “point of arrival”, “product being purchased” and “ Governing structure” being put in place for success. Many organisation are now changing their partner management structures to imbibe these measures.

As you move from negotiation to contract implementation it is always very important to ensure the desired end is very clear and agreeable to both parties even beyond the specific negotiated items. I often do this with a one pager titled - 'what does success mean for us'. The one pager must speak to the essence of the contract and what represents success for the project so everyone can buy-in to the vision. Kick-off meetings are a great place to reiterate and have this conversation with everyone. It's not strange to have new joiners on the project who may not have been involved at the negotiation phase so it's a good time to reset for everyone and from time to time the subject should be revisited. Thanks

I would avoid acting as closed business units, dumping stuff to others in an attempt to avoid accountability. "I have sent you an excel file, your fault you did not read it properly" attitude kills trust and leads to value erosion. The same concept applies to clients. Be transparent and share any opportunity of savings or improvement to build a better relationship and avoid being labelled "opportunistic" as you'll most probably be paid back in kind.

Have a good handover and detailed Briefing System and Procedure from the work winning team to to the PM teams. Mobilise those with the required competency and time allocation ASAP always in suitable time to permitted obligations for Deliverables to be complied with. Get out the list of first 90 Days Deliverables urgently to see what the points of critical failure could be if any are not comprehensively dealt with in a timely manner. Documents to permit earliest billing applications & accurate submissions on Insurances evidence, Registrations, Pre-requisite permissions and Authorities requirements are met. Bank Guarantees, Collateral Warranties Parent Co Guarantees other support documents signed off in house and submitted.