Jason-
I had to sign a contract last week, and the lady that I was working with placed it in front of me and said “take as long as you need to read through this so that you understand it and can sign it.” After skimming the first paragraph I responded by saying “I am not ever going to understand this. So I’ll just sign it and we can both pretend that we made some real agreement here.”
I hate contracts.
I hate the legal language and fine print. There is probably at least some part of every single contract I am involved in right now, that I do not understand and could not understand without paying for legal expertise.
Contracts are not the answer.
What we need are more agreements made between people, out loud and in public…more open, honest conversations. We do not need to increase the role of lawyers, legal departments or the corporate entity and I do not want to give organizations more tools to define the employment relationship.
I do not want it to be harder for people to leave their jobs, I want it to be easier. All beta everything.
I believe that work wants to find its match in talent and that talent wants to find the work that it is called to. Making it easier for that movement to happen increases the evolutionary pressure on the organization. I do not think that a more dynamic and fluid work relationship means that it is a mess, I think it just means that it is different.
Organizations will compete through providing great work and a great work experience, and both parties will share power in mediating that relationship moving forward. Contracts are about control, they are the opposite of what is needed today.
-joe