9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
From the author of "Teamwork Is An Individual Skill", April 11, 2003
This review is from: The Book of Agreement: 10 Essential Elements for Getting the Results You Want (Paperback)
Add this book to your shelf of most important references--like your dictionary and your "Windows for Idiots" guide--and consult it often. Your life, relationships, and career will improve immeasurably.
Stuart Levine's first book "Getting to Resolution" is the best I've read on resolving conflict. I think I know a thing or two about agreements. So I read the review copy of this new book, supplied by his publicist, with mixed emotion. I know and love Stewart, we have the same publisher, I'm thrilled his great second book is out, and he taught me good stuff about resolving conflict (we also shared an excellent glass of Merlot last year in Santa Fe, but that's a story for another day). But, just what can Levine teach this veteran partnering consultant about making and keeping agreements?
A thing or two, it turns out.
Let's start with what's critical to learn if you don't already know it.
Consider Levine's Principle #2, "We work and live in a 'sea' (context) of agreements." Do you realize all relationship behavior is governed by implicit or explicit agreements? Someone can't even push your hot-buttons unless you and they have established by implicit agreement that "those" buttons are indeed hot and that you will explode if they are tweaked in a certain way. And you know "Shhh, don't tell a soul"
implicitly means "keep this to yourself as well as I'm keeping it to myself." Even a chain of command is full of implicit agreements about norms like who can and can't tell whom what to do, who can and can't evaluate another's performance, who can and can't make decisions, etc. If you've worked in one hierarchy, you pretty much can move from organization to organization and quickly grasp the nuances of the culture. Why? Because you understand, experientially, the sea of implicit agreements.
You buy into, if not invent, these implicit agreements, and then live by them whether you like it or not. It's your own doing. So you might then consider Levine's Principle #3, "We never learned the essential elements of an effective agreement." I believe people clamor for control because they lack the learned power of agreement-making. It's much easier to just boss folks around. But it's far more powerful and rewarding to make what Levine calls "agreements for results." That's a lot of what TeamWisdom (a term from my work) is about.
So what do you do? You learn the essential elements of an effective agreement, then put them to use. Repeat. Improve. Repeat. Improve. Levine shows you how.
Just as he did in his first book, Levine gives us the foundation first and the practice second. He starts with the Basic Law of Agreement ("Collaboration is established in language by making implicit and explicit agreements"), then offers ten principles, and then ten elements of effective agreements. Elements include things like roles, time and value, measures of satisfaction, etc. Later in the book, he uses these ten elements to fashion templates and illustrate agreements for different situations (like employment agreements, sales agreements, performance appraisal agreements, feedback agreements, and many more).
The strength of this book is in combining his original concepts with his applications. For instance Levine identifies the difference between agreements for protecting your interests and agreements for results. The first is what you hire lawyers to do in writing contracts; he knows,
Levine practiced law for years. He shows you how to make agreements for results and protect your interests. Levine also provides application after application after application. More than half the book is devoted to templates for agreements for results in organizations, associations, communities, families, cultures, marriages, and more. Be sure to practice the new Levine U MBA -- managing by agreement. You'll also want to read his section on training your lawyer how to make agreements for results.
The Book of Agreement makes a terrific companion to "Teamwork Is An Individual Skill: Getting Your Work Done When Sharing Responsibility"
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Comprehensible concepts from an expert in the field, June 25, 2006
This review is from: The Book of Agreement: 10 Essential Elements for Getting the Results You Want (Paperback)
We all know of stories where businesses, families and communities went down the drain because the involved parties were locked into years of conflict. In this book, Stewart Levine provides an insightful framework and applications for resolutions that can be put to practice immediately; sort of a 15-Minute Gourmet Resolutions recipe book.
A must read for anyone trying to get the most out of relationships.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a practical book for the real world, April 17, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: The Book of Agreement: 10 Essential Elements for Getting the Results You Want (Paperback)
The Book of Agreement is the first practical book on how to realize the potential of really working together in the world, at the office, or in the home. Stewart Levine outlines the amazingly simple, and yet so powerful, 10 elements that actually produce"agreements for results". Following this by example after example of people who actually made this work. I found this book to not only be worth my time, but such a time saver that I got copies for everyone in th office. I even sent copies out to my family.
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