As many CIOs and IT leaders will attest to, there comes a time in change initiatives when the pace of contracting doesn’t keep up with the pace required of the delivery effort. Or, more often than not, it doesn’t keep up with the expectations of pace of change from the business stakeholders who stand to benefit.

It doesn’t matter how much your commercial management processes and capabilities align to “best practice”, sometimes the world moves too quickly and it becomes necessary to start pieces of work without the required contractual cover in place: the dreaded “working at risk”.

The typical response from the sourcing advisory community in these circumstances is a familiar one: do not condone the fact that work has commenced – hold the line, our official position is that we are waiting for the contract or work order to be signed. While these are the correct and appropriate responses, there are always shades of grey.

Of course no one wants to pursue work without the right contractual cover in place, but if this is the right course of action when all considerations are taken into account, there are some Do’s and Don’ts of working at risk. These can help to clarify the basis on which the parties are proceeding, while expediting the time to contract.

Decision Making

Do involve all the accountable parties in the decision to proceed with the work, and ensure where possible that one of these parties feels accountable for the overall decision-making process. This should include the primary beneficiaries of the work from the business. Transparency is key to collective responsibility ensuring that the need to close off contractual conversations remains a priority.

Do have a written and agreed understanding of scope and spend of the work to start. Not being able to contract in time for the start of a project does not remove the need for proper planning to be in place. If the answers to ‘what are we doing’ and ‘how much will it cost’ are not known, then the pre-sales phase has not been concluded and both parties should reconvene around the original proposals.

Process Management

Don’t try and execute the overall project plan. Chunk up work and be clear about mini ‘gates’ that can help maintain focus on the need to complete the required work orders and contracts. Trying to pursue the overall plan will introduce activities and dependencies that will lock in longer term elements of the project – only the minimum viable work should occur when there is no contractual relationship established. 

Contracting

Don’t allow an absence of leadership to prevail. Decisive leadership will still be necessary to help remedy any pitfalls that caused contracting delays in the first place. One of the most common failures of IT delivery communities is not applying sufficient focus to the commercial aspects of change. IT leaders need to be able to remind their teams to be commercially minded at all times, although not commercially-led.

Do consider interim contractual arrangements. Sometimes there might be occasions where existing work orders or contracts can be extended or varied in such a way as to provide interim commercial cover while wider agreements are negotiated. While this option brings the risk of reducing the impetus to bring contractual conversations to a swift conclusion, it can still be a sensible course of action where available.

In conclusion

Ultimately, working without contractual cover and expecting that purchase orders and invoices will be raised and paid is not a situation organisations should aspire to, either buyers or suppliers. Indeed, when the process of contracting is truly intractable, this normally points to a broader malaise where a more fundamental review of the project, relationship or change should be undertaken. However, by operating in the right way, when ‘working at risk’ has become unavoidable, there is an opportunity to maintain progress in the initiative while building trust and strengthening relationships at the same time.

In all respects, the relationship between senior leaders on both sides is key – if it is strong it will work. If it is not, it’s likely to fail.