Legal Ops Tools: 20 Reasons Why a Contract Playbook Is Essential

What is a Contract Playbook 

The Contract Playbook, also referred to as a Contracting Playbook or Contract Management Playbook, is quite simply, an essential tool for any legal team that is committed to optimised contracting-function performance. 

For those who are unfamiliar with the Contract Playbook – it is a “how-to guide” that informs your commercial/legal teams as to what are acceptable, compliant and business-enabling contracting outcomes.

In this blog article, we set out 20 powerful reasons, any one of which, makes an overwhelming case for the implementation of a Contracting Playbook. 

The Benefits of a Contract Playbook 

So, here are our top 20 benefits to a legal team who sponsors the production and use a Contracting Playbook inside of their business:

1.   Deal Momentum: better organised teams speaking to common positions that they justify with compelling arguments create vital deal momentum, which is key to getting deals done
2.   Enhanced Arguments: the Contract Playbook enables your commercial teams to efficiently deliver more persuasive positional justifications that can be tailored to your industry, sector, market, country and organisation
3.   Best Negotiator: the Playbook is a repository of the combined and most potent experience and expertise of all of your team members – including that of your best negotiator. Your “best” becomes the “default standard”
4.   Compliance Consistency: Playbook positions should include “baked in” compliance positions – which in turn allow your contracting teams to achieve far greater compliance outcomes
5.   Perpetual Improvement: the Contracting Playbook should capture constant position improvements with each and every usage and adjust to external dynamics. It is a process that enhances with continual review
6.   Enhanced Productivity: with everyone operating in a more aligned, potent, persuasive and compatible manner – your commercial negotiation teams’ productivity significantly increases. 
7.   Team Alignment: with team-based access to the Playbook, your team will naturally and easily align around established legal, commercial and compliance positions
8.   Improved Training: your training can be arranged by reference to the specific tool that will be used to support negotiations, providing essential information and skills that teams need
9.   Empowerment: your commercial team can increasingly use the tool to take negotiations forward safely and efficiently 
10.  Junior Productivity: junior resources will be able to leverage the tool to do more themselves safely and efficiently, thereby improving their value contribution
11.  Lawyer Development: legal team members with access to high-quality tools like the Contract Management Playbook make greater contributions and develop their skill set more efficiently
12.  Legal Team Focus: the Playbook helps the legal team to improve focus as routine contracting-related questions are safely and effectively answered by the Playbook itself
13.  Better Risk Management: the Playbook substantially reduces overall contracting risk profiles as required positions are more regularly secured
14.  Reduced Disputes: with ideal contracting and compliance positions more regularly secured, the instances of contract-related disputes are more consistently reduced
15.  Performance Evaluation: the Contract Playbook provides clear and objective standards that are to be obtained by team members – helping to drive a data-driven performance culture
16.  Improved Internal Client Relations: Contract Playbooks are produced in conjunction with the internal client who will increasingly use them, and aid greater quality relationships and alignment
17.  Enhanced Strategic Capacity: as commercial teams handle more routine contracts, the capacity of your in-house legal team can be directed to a higher value, strategic legal matters
18.  Improved Function Morale: morale drastically improves as providing clear positional expectations and the means to achieve them make team members feel empowered
19.  Better Deal Performance: compelling means to justify sensible positions sets your deal up for greater likelihood of improved contract performance outcomes.
20.  Reduced Legal Costs: simply put, Contracting Playbooks enable contract negotiations to be concluded faster and to a higher standard whilst reducing expenses 

Everything on the list above is a desirable outcome for your contracting function, and our list could easily become “40 Reasons why a Contract Playbook is Essential.”

In our Blog – Legal Ops Tools: Contracting Playbooks we provide a short tour of what should be included in a Contract Playbook to help you get started with the production of this incredible tool.

Of course, if you just want to immediately start experiencing the benefits of the Contracting Playbook, we have plenty of solutions available in the GLS Legal Operations Centre. 

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Please check out the GLS solutions and know-how resources listed on the right side of this page – they might assist your legal team with the issues explored in this Blog. 

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