The Book of Agreement has arrived in time for Christmas. The best resolution you can Make for the New Year is to make sure you have agreements for results in all of your significant personal and "WITH LESS FOCUS ON THE PURELY PSYCHOLOGICAL "We all want agreement. Here's how to get it and keep it and work it" -Mark Victor Hansen*Co-creator, #1 New Your Times best selling series Chicken Soup for the Soul**** "Stewart Levine delivers on his agreement with the reader to provide a powerful vision and practical tools that turn potential business and personal conflicts into collaborative partnerships." Nina B. Link, CEO, Magazine Publishers Association of America "The Book of Agreement contains all the models you'll ever need to protect questionable relationships and nurture strong relationships. It puts some iron in the handshake." Alan Weiss, PhD., Author, The Ultimate Consultant Stewart's book reminds us how agreements pervade every aspect of our life, and provides the reader with a clear roadmap to more effective agreement making. After practicing law for 25 years, both as a trial lawyer and a General Counsel, I never imagined that a book about agreements could be such a refreshing and enjoyable read!* I recommend this book to all lawyers seriously interested in obtaining greater insight and understanding of how to turn conflict into agreement." Shelby Rogers, Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel, State Bar of Texas; and former Chair, Law Practice Management Section, American Bar Association. The day after I read Stewart Levine's The Book of Agreement, I was able to put his principles and prescriptions to the test. *They worked for me, and I know they'll work for you! *Levine's approach is so straightforward and so sound that you just can't miss. *It was like a whack on the side of the head when I read Levine's simply profound and sensible notion that we'd all benefit from embracing the idea of creating agreements for results instead of negotiating agreements for protection. *Putting that concept into practice in all our relationships is what this book is about, and the pages are full of very explicit advice on how to do it. *My prediction is that you'll be consulting The Book of Agreement before engaging in any new negotiation, and you'll be very glad that you did. *In fact, I bet you have one tomorrow, so what are you waiting for? *Buy this book right now! James M. Kouzes, co-author of The Leadership Challenge and of Encouraging the Heart, Chairman Emeritus, Tom Peters Company Here's a short article adapted from the book:
By Stewart Levine, Esq.
Ready...Fire...Aim and The later is much more effective because it provides clear direction before action When introducing the concept of Agreements for Results to an audience, I think of the tag line from an old Quaker State Motor Oil commercial - You can pay me now, or you can pay me later. That line holds true when thinking about agreements. Most people never think about investing the time to make explicit the implicit agreement they believe they have at the beginning of a new personal or professional relationship, team, or project. They're off and running, everyone with their own vision of the destination, and how to get there, without the clarity necessary to minimize the potential for conflict. Like the Quaker State warning of engine damage if you don't do the preventative maintenance of changing your oil, they will incur the cost of inevitable conflict, a cost that can be prevented. When we think about the idea of having an agreement we usually think about long legal documents, lots of "what ifs" and how we can protect ourselves from something we do not want to happen. I am a bit brainwashed because of my background as a lawyer, and the mindset I was taught to step into when "protecting" clients. When I serve others in my role as a Resolutionary protection is what people are concerned about. They do not want to get hurt. I believe that we would all be better off if when beginning a new endeavor we could shift our focus to a vision of results you want to produce, not the calamities you want to avoid. The following Ten Essential Elements make up the template of items that are elementary items that must be discussed if you want to create a vision and a map to getting the results you want. I have compared the mindset of an "Agreements for Results" The elements of an effective agreement are: 1. INTENT & VISION
RESULTS: Focus on what you want to happen. PROTECTION: Focus on all the "what ifs" that could go wrong You can tell what will happen in your life by paying attention to your dominant thoughts. Given that, if we focus on the calamities we increase the chances they will happen. What we really want in any collaborative context is everyone focusing on desired results - the best possible vision of the future. That will greatly improve the chances of what we want to materialize happening. It's obvious that when you bring on a new hire, it's more useful to see them leaping tall buildings than focusing on the mistakes they might make. 2. ROLES RESULTS: Making sure someone has responsibility for all PROTECTION: Narrowly defining responsibility to limit We want to make sure we have what we need to get the job done without anything slipping through the cracks. We want clarity about who can be counted on for what, compared to someone saying, "that's not my job!" In the old context people liked to hide. They did not like to take the responsibility for making something happen because if something went wrong, they were responsible. Hopefully the fear of making mistakes is no longer as powerful a driver it once was. We have all learned that the need for innovation requires experimentation. We know that mistakes cannot be "punished" if you expect continued risking, the heart of entrepreneurship. 3. PROMISES RESULTS: Contribution - committing to wholeheartedly do PROTECTION: Doing the least; hiding behind qualifying words that 4. TIME & VALUE . RESULTS: Clear time commitments and satisfaction with the value PROTECTION: The most for the least Clearly stated "BY WHEN'S," and for how long the promises will be kept. Everyone must be satisfied that what they will get from the project is worth what they are putting in. If someone is under compensated they will be resentful. Resentful participants do not produce results that are "beyond expectation," but people committed to a vision do. 5. MEASUREMENTS OF SATISFACTION RESULTS: Goals that inspire and state clearly and measurably what PROTECTION: Qualifiers to argue from and use as excuses What are the objective measures that will tell you if you accomplished what you set out to do so there are no arguments about it? For some people it is frightening to make a commitment that will hold them visibly accountable to a promise they made, so they will look for an edge. 6. CONCERNS AND FEARS RESULTS: Compassion for any "anxiety-producing" concerns and risks PROTECTION:An edge to take strategic advantage of when you are inside You address concerns and fears to make everyone as comfortable as possible about moving forward. Doing this is a way of responding to "internal chatter" that might inhibit full participation. It solidifies partnership by addressing what is lingering in people's minds. It enables people to clearly identify risks, and to choose to move forward anyway. Each person should be willing to take the other's deal. 7. RENEGOTIATION RESULTS: How can we make this work as unanticipated changes take PROTECTION: How can changes be used for advantage 8. CONSEQUENCES RESULTS: What reminds everyone of the significance of promises and PROTECTION: What would be a good punishment It is important to keep people mindful of promises they made and focused on delivering promised performance. It is as important to have people realize the connection between their expectations and failure to perform. Becoming conscious of that gap serves as a motivator. Consequences are put in place not as punishment, but to remind us of the loss of an unrealized vision, and the sanctity of our promises. 9. CONFLICT RESOLUTION RESULTS: What will get us back on track quickly It is important to embrace conflict as expected and to hold it as an opportunity for creativity in how we deal with specifics we did not anticipate. It is very important to understand the magnitude of the transaction cost of remaining in conflict. 10. AGREEMENT ? RESULTS: Do I trust enough to be in an open, ongoing collaboration PROTECTION: Can I get out without penalty? Has the process produced enough trust so you can say "Let's do it, I'm comfortable moving forward with you, and sense we'll be able to work things out as we go forward." Has the deep dialogue we have exchanged produced what Max DePree calls a relationship based on covenant - a heart felt connection and commitment to people and results. AN AGREEMENT FOR RESULTS After fifteen years of running his own consulting and training business John decided to take a position as the executive director of a regional learning center called Learning, Inc. (LI.) LI will be an NGO whose board is made up of members of for profit organizations, school boards, university's, government and community representatives. John wanted a clear vision of where they were headed. He wanted to know where he was headed, how he would get there, and the metrics by which his success or failure would be evaluated. John engaged in a dialogue with the board. The following agreement is the framework for John's employment. Notice the detail of the vision. 1.INTENT & VISION: To build a leading edge state of the art conference and learning center. The facility will be booked one year in advance; it will be featured in three national training magazines; requests are received from large corporate university's to use the design as a model; the physical design wins awards; technology and distance learning will be state of the art; the operation will be financially self-sustaining; working on the project will be inspiring; the metrics used to measure learning will reveal that the physical facility greatly enhanced the level of learning; the facility is used by the local community including the local government and the local corporate community; the facility is always a work in progress; relationships are collegial; part of the operation is funded by government and foundation grants, part by corporate entities and part by local government. 2. ROLES: John is the executive director who will function as a conductor; the board representing stakeholder groups will be advisors. Also needed will be fundraisers; design professionals; corporate sponsors; government sponsors; students; educators; contractors; politicians; the media; responsive and engaged community members; and volunteers. Because the experience proved so valuable for John he now has agreements with all of his direct reports. CONCLUSION Agreements are a fundamental life skill we never learned when we were young. It is the primary building block for all kinds of collaborations, and working with others is the only way results, productivity and satisfying relationship happen. Try having a dialogue that incorporates the elements at the beginning of your next project. I guarantee that from then on you will become an advocate for "Agreements for Results" in all your endeavors. ******************* Stewart Levine is the founder of ResolutionWorks, a consulting and training organization dedicated to providing skills and ways of thinking people will need to thrive in the next millenium. He spent ten years practicing law before becoming an award winning marketing executive at AT&T where he was recognized as a pioneer "intrapreneur." He uses his approach with individuals, couples and small business as well as forming teams and joint ventures in a variety of situations. He was recently featured in an article about "Trend Setters" in the legal profession. His book "Getting to Resolution: Turning Conflict into Collaboration" (Berrett-Koehler 1998) was an Executive Book Club Selection; Featured by Executive Book Summaries; named one of the 30 Best Business Books of1998; endorsed by Dr. Stephen Covey and featured in "The Futurist" magazine. "The Book of Agreement" has been endorsed by thought leaders like Robert Allen, Geoff Bellman, Robert Fritz, Peter Gabel, Mark Victor Hansen, Jim Kouzes, and Harrison Owen. Information: www.ResolutionWorks.org.
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