With the ongoing pandemic looming on, there are various outlooks towards contracts that are happening. One among them is going for a new round of negotiations rather than outright litigation. The business has considered the higher ground realizing the slowdown in business happening to a majority and the inability of performing to the complete responsibilities of the contracts done prior when COVID-19 was never a word neither a way of like now.
Foremost, find the challenges in the contract that need to be having change management with a new negotiation.
This is incorporated with the three new negotiation principles from Leary and Cutcher -Gershenfeld Theory for finding solutions in the pandemic.
1. Find a common ground of interest for the new changes.
2. Keep a margin of error to include any bias.
3. Reaching an agreement across everyone involved in the negotiation.
The above three area fundamentally strong set of principles to start the negotiation.
People still preferring in-person meetings, yeah still have a long time to wait. However when businesses that are on the move and sectors which still are out there doing business should now evolve to make e-negotiations work better in everyone’s strides.
Negotiate one issue at a time until everyone settles with all negotiations under the contract.
Dispel uncertainties in the new framework of negotiation T&C clauses.
Consider every new government regulation while paving the way for new negotiations.
Factor in for delays and new timelines in the negotiations for existing and potential business agreements.
Parties should take the impact of business continuity plans on both sides into negotiations for feasible and plausible work in business to continue.
Integrate alternative actions of performance language for the contracts to not bring it to a complete halt.
The negotiations should border on being realistic under current circumstances, adaptable with the new pro-COVID-19 business models, and being agile to changes inclusive when it happens. Norms are out of the door for a clear cut outcome since for the next couple of years until the COVID-19 is tackled nothing is for actually certain.
At AEREN LPO, we have considered the new possibilities and put together a framework to respond to contract negotiation and bring in positive, do-able, and productive negotiation changes. The economic disruption is for real and let’s make renegotiations stronghold to COVID-19 situations and beyond.
