OUR APPROACHFormation is where the future relationship begins
A transformational deal is not built by completing an RFP and then handing the result to a contracting team. The way the parties define the opportunity, test their assumptions, work through disagreement, and make decisions during formation establishes patterns they will carry into delivery.
We treat formation, contracting, and governance as connected parts of one design problem.
Start with the outcome
Understand the “Why” behind the change.
A project can meet its technical specification and still fall short of the business change that justified it. We begin by pressing beyond the stated requirements to the capability or outcome the organization is trying to create. That purpose gives the buyer’s team a basis for making hard choices and a meaningful starting point for engaging the market.
Internal alignment comes first. It is then tested and refined through conversations with prospective partners.
Use formation to test the relationship
Explore how a prospective partner will work with you.
The most revealing part of a selection process is often how the parties respond to real questions, emerging information, and difficult trade-offs. We favor a process that creates room for substantive engagement, so that the buyer can assess not only what a prospective partner promises, but also how that partner thinks and works alongside the team.
That does not mean abandoning commercial discipline. It means using the RF(x) and negotiation to develop a relationship capable of doing more than deliver against a static specification.
Give the contract the right job
Strong terms, without the fiction of certainty.
No agreement can prescribe every decision a multi-year transformation will require. A strong contract makes responsibilities and commitments clear while supporting the collaboration needed when the unexpected occurs. It should reflect the relationship the parties have tested during formation and provide a practical architecture for making decisions and creating value as the work evolves.
The contract is an essential part of the ecosystem. It is not a substitute for it.
Design governance for these parties
Carry what works into delivery.
Governance is where the relationship operates after signing. Its design should draw on what the parties learned during formation: who needs to be involved, how difficult issues are surfaced, which conversations move decisions forward, and how the right people remain connected to the work.
A governance model built for the actual relationship is better positioned to support adaptation than one imported unchanged from another deal.
Build for what comes next
The plan will change. The relationship has to be built to change with it. We help organizations create the purpose, trust, contractual clarity, and governance needed to keep creating value long after signing.