Our Policy Is.....
When standing behind your policies no longer adds value to your small business
Everyone knows (or thinks) small businesses need to have policies as part of their systems and operations.
Well, that's what we're told but is it really true?
FOCUS: BUILD YOUR SYSTEMS
Now I know I'm probably being very controversial but for good reason.
Businesses/organisations are 'told' you MUST have policies and procedures for compliance, audit, consistency, sustainability, productivity, profitability etc.
And whilst I absolutely agree in the need for procedures, I have a different opinion on policies.
Let's first look at what a policy is.
A policy outlines your intentions ie what you will do (or think you'll do) in certain circumstances, situations and environments.
For example, a Complaints Policy outlines what you will do in the instance of a complaint. But if you've never had a complaint before, do you really know what you'll do when it's REAL and not just a hypothetical.
A policy is about the possible – the WILL.
A procedure is about the WHAT and the HOW.
Now I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in what you think you will do (which also implies you may or may not do something); I'm only interested in what you will actually do, how, when, by whom etc.
So if you're writing a policy, what's the purpose of it?
1. Clearly and succinctly outline your intent
2. Easily understood by anyone who reads it
3. Able to be followed
4. Congruent with your brand
5. Compliance (possibly)
Why is it then, when I review many policies as part of streamlining a small business' systems, I find:
• They're written in techno, jargon or bureaucratic language that no-one understands.
• It takes half a page at least to get to the real information because the template has meaningless headings like: scope, purpose, responsibility etc.
Please get to the point – what do I really need to know?
• When I read them, I find they can be in conflict with the brand and how the small business operates.
Think about the TV Show: Dance Moms
I've watched about 5 minutes of the show 'Dance Moms' simply because I wanted to see what all the yelling was about.
So I googled the Dance School and stumbled upon their policies.
Two of the many rules in this studio are:
• Your children are a reflection of you. Good manners and proper etiquette are always expected.
• We will treat your children with courtesy and respect.
And yet, respect is definitely not demonstrated by anyone on this show, and certainly not from the dance coach, who at one stage, chose not to call a child by their name and referred to them as 'blondie' and 'you there' as a form of punishment.
I believe bully rather than respect would be a more accurate word.
So the purpose of these policies are....????
I know many small businesses must comply with compliance standards set in legislation and administered by regulators.
However, often these Standards don't specifically state you have to have policies but most businesses have hundreds of them, linked to the compliance requirements, because they think they have to.
It's open to interpretation, isn't it?
I believe businesses working in a compliance or regulatory space could actually have 1 Policy stating
our business agrees to comply with the requirements of the
[insert name of the Standards].
I think you'd agree this is a much simpler approach.
And my approach to policy and procedures is to I help my clients to document the key information staff and customers need to know in user-friendly and easy to read Handbooks, supported by the simple procedures required to run their small business.
Because the purpose of having lots of policies that aren't streamlined or being read or followed is....?????
And here's my final thought:
My point is this:
If you have written policies in your small business, please ensure they serve a purpose and are able to be understood and followed.
Please don't have meaningless policies which just tick a regulatory or idealistic requirement and nothing else – they simply take up space on your IT system and waste everyone's time.
Cheers
Tamara
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