Contract Insights

Union negotiations are critical for maintaining a harmonious work environment and ensuring operational continuity. Still, they are fraught with challenges. From understanding the nuanced demands of union representatives to managing extensive contractual obligations, the stakes are quite high. Organizations frequently grapple with finding the optimal negotiation style that balances assertiveness with diplomacy and efficiency with comprehensiveness. In these challenging situations, having the right strategies and tools becomes paramount.

As such - in this blog - let's explore various negotiation styles suited for union negotiations, identify common pain points, and demonstrate how leveraging the best tactics can streamline these complex processes. The right approaches can lead to more effective and amicable outcomes, and unions can receive what they deserve.

Contract negotiation can create the difference between a strong or weak contract, which can directly impact the bottom line of an organization and the health of mutually-beneficial business relationships. As contract negotiation processes evolve at the speed of technological innovations, discover how leading-edge legal technology can empower your negotiation processes - including the use of robust version control, document collaboration, rules-based clause ownership, redlining software, and more.  While contract negotiations can take their necessary time, automating the process of negotiating agreements and contract terms where possible allows you to focus more on contract negotiation strategy and bargaining power.

Contracts are legally binding - and thus need to be executed properly.  Legal teams should equip themselves with a thorough understanding of the contract lifecycle.  The contract lifecycle is the process under which a contract is authored, reviewed, sent for signature, executed, and - potentially - renewed. 

The "lifecycle" is an archetype used to compartmentalize and understand a contract's complex evolution.  The lifecycle begins with contract requests and concludes when these requests are fulfilled - with the possibility of managing contract renewal.  Let's further explore the eight stages of the contract lifecycle below and how contract management software can help streamline your contracting processes. 

Nearly every business relationship involves a contract. At the crux of every contract is back-and-forth negotiation. This chess-like undertaking requires purposeful and good-faith cooperation on both sides.

The cutthroat, 1980s Wall Street businessman approach of trying to steamroll one’s opponent into submission often depicted in movies does not reflect successful contract negotiation in real life. True contract negotiation requires active listening, considerate acknowledgment of both parties’ pain points, and the ability to forge a win-win agreement.

As such, here are 8 contract negotiation strategies to improve your contract negotiation processes.