Think Ahead and Work Backwards

Fortunately, it's quite easy at an individual level to develop an implementation mind-set, Ertel says. It's merely a matter of asking yourself what will be different the day after the deal is signed. You need to think ahead to what it takes to achieve the value you are striving for, and work backwards from achieving that goal to what the parties must do together during implementation, to what should happen at the negotiation table to enable that.

"Creating an implementation mind-set in an organization is more of a challenge, and senior management has a critical role to play," he says. "To do so, the firm's leadership has to overcome some longstanding traditions and replace some widely held 'common wisdom' about the role of the negotiator. Fortunately, the organization has a number of levers available to it, ranging from metrics and compensation, to process and tools, to training and coaching, to the exhortations and example of the leadership team. To move from an organizational mind-set in which what matters is closing deals, to one where the organization only wants deals worth doing, requires a concerted change effort."

Ertel says CIOs looking to make some changes in how their teams negotiate with IT vendors and service providers shouldn't think that it requires turning the whole organization around. There are lots of different kinds of negotiations that go on in a large, complex organization. There are negotiations with customers, with suppliers, with varied kinds of business partners, and even internally, across silos. The CIO can start making changes in their department, and delivering the kind of value their outsourcing and other technology deals were intended to deliver, even if sales or procurement or other parts of the organization lag behind in getting the point.

"In the IT function, a CIO who demands that negotiation teams carry on as suggested can expect to see major changes and major improvement in the success rates of their implementations," Ertel says.