Organizational Health Maybe you need a State of Grace Document more than you need a contract. “A State of Grace Document has a deceptively simple structure. Its one to three pages emerge from an in-depth conversation in which the following are co-created: “1. A statement from each party on what it is about the other party and the relationship that they find so valuable - "the 'story' of the individuals as they see one another while things are going smoothly." Whenever the conditions described in these statements are present, the relationship is considered to be in the "state of grace" which inspired its birth. The purpose of the document and its related conversations is to sustain that state of grace. “2. An agreement about the length of time the two parties will tolerate a departure from that state of grace. For a marriage or a close working relationship, that time period might be an hour or a day. For a less immediate relationship, such as between business clients, it might be a week or a month or more. “3. A commitment by both (all) parties that if they are out of their state of grace, they will come together - before that agreed-upon time period has elapsed - to have a heart-to-heart talk about the state of their relationship. The aim of that conversation will be to either heal the relationship into its original state of grace - or to transform it into a new state of grace.” Article: The State of Grace Document