MASTERING CHANGE - COMPLEX PROJECTS AND THE ROLE OF CONTRACTS!

Welcome to The 9th Annual IACCM EMEA Forum!

Projects are made complex by the underlying complexity of the systems that are needed to support them. Contracts and the contracting process are critical tools in achieving and maintaining alignment between the three major elements that must be brought together to achieve project success:

• people
• process and rules
• legal and commercial frameworks

A fundamental challenge facing any major project is to ensure that each of these elements is understood and that differences or contradictions are reconciled. Today’s global markets have added to the challenge, with our need to manage across cultural, linguistic and jurisdictional boundaries. To achieve success, there is need for a disciplined methodology. And that is where the contracting process comes into play. A good contracting process will ensure that there is consensus over scope and goals, that there is an appropriate procedure for on-going governance and management, that there are forums for discussion and on-going negotiation, that there is visible commitment to consensus and cultural sensitivity. It will anticipate the need for reports that offer visibility and insight, analysis that places the spotlight on risk and copes with reducing its probability and consequence.

Conflicts between people, their interests, rules or commercial practices lie at the root of most underperforming projects. Failure to understand and address them adds to the complexity and becomes potentially overwhelming. No matter how talented a project manager may be, he/she needs effective support and a coherent framework within which to work. That is what a good contracting process and talented commercial teams will deliver.

Bad contracts are those that are dominated by specific interests, where power or measurement systems have been allowed to overwhelm wisdom and judgment and prevented the growth of stakeholder understanding. This is evident when a contract is imposed by one party on the other, or when a particular functional group such as Finance or Legal or Sales is allowed to dictate the terms. Another source of failure often comes from senior management or project owners, where they prevent an open contracting process – perhaps because their past experience of contracts is negative, or where cross-cultural understanding or respect is lacking.

As businesses face a growing range of complex projects and trading relationships, the importance of developing a more structured, reliable and internationally accepted approach to contracting and commercial process is growing. There is increasing management realisation that this is an area for focus. To build trust, profitability and competitive edge, organisations must become consistently better at aligning needs with capabilities, with defining and managing contract scope, with establishing sustainable and long-term relationships.

To achieve these goals, contracts and contract process by which they are created must become simpler.

• They must be quicker and more efficient to form
• They must be better at addressing real and tangible risks
• They must be more focused on delivering success
• They must support and underpin constructive relationships

The 9th Annual IACCM EMEA Forum will offer in-depth insights to these challenges and a road-map for their resolution. Executives and senior practitioners are invited to come together and explore how simpler and better focused contracting can help them to master complex project delivery, both at home and internationally.

The prize for success is enormous. IACCM research suggests that the average business could be adding almost 10% to its bottom line.

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