Contract & Relationship Management Training

We will discuss with you your requirements, the knowledge, skills and experience levels of those who will attend the training, the context around your specific strategic supplier relationship and any current issues or challenges.

We design your training programme to address your particular needs. Wherever possible, we use real life examples from projects in progress or particular contract issues with your strategic supplier relationship to help attendees apply their learning to scenarios they are familiar with and put their learning into practice straight away.

We have developed a 10 module structure for our Contract and Relationship Management training that will be tailored to your specific requirements. You can select a number of modules to focus on in detail or cover them all. The modules are split into ‘Foundational’, ‘Pre-Contract’ and ‘Contract & Relationship Management’ and are all derived from our OPTIMISE methodology.

Understanding what ‘Supplier Expert Responsibilities’ are and recognising when/where they apply, and how they encourage supplier accountability, including ’Duty to Warn’ and Suppliers’ Due Diligence.  

You will learn how to:

• Gather all requirements and prioritise/resolve conflicting interests from different stakeholder groups 
• Clearly articulate requirements avoiding ambiguity 
• Construct requirements that support the achievement of your desired outcomes 
• Encourage suppliers to test and validate your requirements.

How to construct and mutually agree a fit-for-purpose contract that drives enabling behaviours for ongoing best value, partnership working and innovation with a built-in 6-monthly reshaping process to ensure contract terms continue to align with potentially changing business outcomes.

Ability to establish and develop productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders in both client and supplier teams, bringing people together to achieve the business outcomes you need. 

We’ll share with you great practice to contract manage an outcome/output-based contract as opposed to an input-based contract. Where you have an input-based contract, we’ll show you how best to optimise this to align to your business outcomes 

You will develop the ability to ensure service is delivered in accordance with anticipated performance and quality levels (not just those in your contract).  

You will be able to identify the contract administration required to ensure formal management of the contract from a commercial and contract management standpoint. 

You will learn how to use regular informal and formal mechanisms to provide feedback to suppliers on their performance.

You will understand how to create and agree clear, documented improvement plans where necessary and establish supplier performance and capability improvement processes that clearly set out how supplier development activities will be planned, managed and governed.

This module provides an overview of the BPG Negotiation methodology and techniques as well as how to establish and develop productive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, bringing people together to achieve the outcomes each party needs.

Ability to use interpersonal and communication skills to encourage people to want to give you their support in order to influence, change and impact decisions with both internal and external stakeholders.

Introduction to Negotiating techniques/tools:

• BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement)
• Identifying key interest values of each party
• Evaluating your evidence
• Using ‘Open Book’ auditing to validate evidence
• Concessions
• Roles & Responsibilities
• Influencing negotiations
• Win-Win strategies
• Styles & behaviours
• Resolving Conflict

Full Negotiating Skills training is delivered as a separate training course, over 2-3 days, see Negotiation Training for further details.

Developing ‘Commercial Trust’: five-step model that increases trust and leads to less resistance to identify new ideas and test innovation.

You will learn how to encourage and support innovations from others, incentivising and rewarding innovation and continuous service improvement from suppliers through a fit-for-purpose contract.

Ability to plan, lead and effect positive cultural change, securing commitment and buy-in and promoting a positive long-term vision.

Fit-for-Purpose Contract: understand precedents and priorities within the contractual documentation, managing changes and clarifications. Ability to flex, keep pace and realign services to business drivers and formally reflect in the contract.

You will develop the ability to work in an environment of uncertainty and continual change, where you feel comfortable making decisions and setting direction without having the full picture and are able to re-focus as details emerge.

You will learn how to adapt to changing circumstances and adverse situations whilst remaining calm, reassuring others and maintain performance, applying knowledge and techniques to reduce ambiguity.  

You will be able to objectively examine evidence to provide an independent assessment of governance, risk management and control processes for the contract. You will be able to: 

• Adopt a common assurance ‘language’ 
• Provide assurance that performance is monitored 
• Identify and address risks 
• Assure and respond to supplier-provided data on performance 
• Check suppliers are providing relevant and timely service/data to monitor contracts.