Relationships
Relationships matter because the good ones - those which are mutually beneficial - build trust and open communication, helping gain the results everyone wants. Poor relationships can hinder progress and even get in the way of simple common sense.
Relationships are formed at an organisational level, as well as the personal. Important relationships exist right around a business - with customers, partners, suppliers, staff and more. Each needs to be considered and nurtured in proportion to its importance to any enterprise. We can assist you identify and manage your most valuable (or even challenging) relationships.
Our experience and training allows us to deal with relationships in numerous ways, but the following are common themes:
Negotiation. Also known as the 'process of influencing another party', this tends to be utilised by one side in order to achieve desired goals. Negotiation starts with identifying one another's needs and looking for areas of commonality. Ideally beginning before any real contact is made, negotiation is not just about bargaining over a meeting table. Further, it ends only when an agreement has been fully implemented. For instance, we might assist you move into a new market sector and hone your profile, all through careful planning and staged, advance influencing of your intended market. We may then assist you in agreeing the terms of any transaction - the middle phase of a negotiation - again purposely following a planned script. And then we may help you demonstrate compliance with the agreement, often through simple, tangible verification. Our desire at this point is for you to have built a good, positive relationship which can then become self-sustaining.
Mediation. Utilised when two or more parties recognise that they have differences they cannot resolve without assistance, mediation is often a pragmatic step in avoiding a lengthy and costly all-out dispute. Here we are happy to aid each party involved and to look for workable, agreeable outcomes. The process frequently involves compromise and each participant must be willing to adapt.
Dispute resolution. It is estimated that in the Western world approximately two percent of contract agreements result in a dispute where some form of litigation is initiated. From our direct experience, we know how complicated and uncertain litigation can be. Involving pleadings, affidavits, discovery, injunctions, undertakings and more, long before any hearing is held, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the process. Working with you and any appointed legal representatives, we can provide non-emotive input such that your prospects in litigation are maximised and opportunities for pre-trial settlement are not wasted. Indeed, we would seek to be your conduit to dialogue with the other party.
