Writing contracts is one part of developing professional connections that can significantly influence the sustainability of relationships. Preventing disputes over a contract’s meaning and enforceability requires the careful articulation of expectations and benefits.
When you spend adequate time organizing the content in your contracts, you may effectively lower the risks of misunderstanding.
Define responsibilities
For a contractual relationship to benefit all participants, everyone needs to understand their role. Your ability to define responsibilities can give each participant the clarity and motivation they need to effectively contribute to the relationship. Tied to each responsibility should be a description of how the completion of those tasks will influence the whole.
Clear expectations can remove confusion and improve the likelihood of satisfactory outcomes. You can also disclose consequences that will follow in conditions of non-compliance. Outline the process whereby you will handle questionable conduct so you can minimize its effect on the contract.
Suggest resolutions
It is not unusual for disputes to happen sometimes in business. Acknowledging this can help you plan ahead to hopefully minimize disruptions to your workflow should a disagreement arise. Within your contract, LinkedIn suggests including a dispute prevention clause. Here, you can suggest solutions for preventing conflict, as well as resolutions to quickly and fairly resolve any disagreements that may occur.
Because contract writing involves a lot of moving parts, you may benefit from working with an attorney. A legal professional can help you assess the integrity of your agreement to make sure it will remain enforceable despite the inevitable ups and downs of the relationship. A reliable contract can give you the time and resources to focus on meeting other obligations within your company.