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Dynamic Agreement™ puts the power of creating agreement and addressing change in the hands of the people affected by it.
Most relationships involve agreements. Some of those agreements are important enough to write down and formalize in a contract. The importance we place on the relationship often determines what the persons involved want to know about each other. For example, if we’re considering entering into an agreement which may result in us being substantially affected by the actions of the other person, we’d probably want to know if:
- we’re compatible for the purpose of the agreement (e.g. marriage, employment, business partnership, exclusive supplier, landlord/tenant, etc),
- we share common values and principles,
- we share a common vision, and our motivations for entering into agreement are mutually acceptable.
- It’s a beautiful thing when we enter into an agreement and things work out exactly as planned with no conflict. Issues may arise, though, when:
- incidents beyond our control occur (e.g. job loss, illness, product unavailability, 9/11, etc.),
- needs or desires change (e.g. security rather than flexibility, opportunity rather than safety, immediate results rather than long term growth, etc.), or
- mistakes are made (e.g. low performing investments, uninformed decisions, miscalculations, unrealistic expectations, etc).
A static agreement (conventional contract) is transactional and legalistic, and the people involved are referred to as the parties. It represents a snapshot of the condition of the parties at the time they sign the agreement. The motive of the parties for entering into the agreement is given little, if any, attention. Often parties don’t even read a static agreement because it’s been negotiated and created by attorneys who use legalese that may be difficult for non-lawyers to understand. In a static agreement:
- the parties are merely another “deal point” (who, what, when, where) of the contract like the start date and amount of money to be exchanged,
- conflict is abnormal and treated as a breach of the agreement if it adversely affects the deal points,
- the possibility of change is addressed by threatening sanctions which may result in the dissolution of the agreement, and
- a lawsuit, or other adversarial procedure, is usually the means of dealing with the dissolved agreement.
Dynamic Agreement™ is relational and humanistic. The primary purpose of the process is to facilitate the collaborative, co-creation of a mutually beneficial agreement arising from the relationship of the persons exploring agreement. Dynamic Agreement™ provides the platform and process of Dynamic Agreement Dialogue™ for people to exercise their power as they co-create agreement that reflects, facilitates, and maintains the relationship they desire.
Dynamic Agreement™:
- begins with the people exploring agreement thinking about the values and principles important to them,
- is collaboratively co-created with assistance of a Dynamic Agreement™ Attorney, if needed,
- includes a preamble Foundation Statement setting out the shared Vision, Purpose of Agreement, and Guiding Values & Principles (why) of the persons exploring agreement,
- regards change as a constant, and treats conflict as normal and representative of diverse perspectives
- uses Dynamic Agreement Dialogue™ to work out deal points and cooperatively address Change, Challenges, and Conflict, and protects the legal rights of the collaborative co-creators.