Wording Operational Policies to be
Positive and Helpful

Too often, policy writers spend countless hours drafting documents for submission to the approving authorities. They spend this time because they have no established rules to guide the drafting of these documents, and therefore must reinvent the wheel each time. Even when drafting policies from a standard corporate template, an inordinate amount of time is spent fussing around with wording.

The Perfect Policies™ approach provides a formula for how to organize and draft documents quickly and easily.

A team of unskilled policy writers can be a time-sucking vacuum. The team supervisor must work closely with their writers until the point where they can work autonomously, without constant supervision.

The Perfect Policies™ approach is simple and straightforward. Team leaders can spend less time hand-holding their writers and more time doing more important tasks.

Draft policies are often sent out to various stakeholders for consultation prior to being finalized for approval. Too much of this consultation time, however, is inevitably spent with stakeholders word-smithing the policy statements drafted by the writer. This takes the focus of the discussion away from the meat of the requirements, wasting time arguing about stylistic elements.

The Perfect Policies™ approach is a defensible paradigm that policy writers can use to support their work during the consultation phase.

The more problems found in a draft policy, the more likely an approval body will reject it. Too often policies submitted for approval are bloated with unnecessary text, serving only to slow down the process.

The Perfect Policies™ approach limits the content of the draft policy to only what is relevant for the approval body. Clients have reported that policies written following this approach have sped through the approval process in one-quarter the length of time it normally takes.

Statements that worded harshly or aggressively will not engage the reader. The language is heard—even if only unconsciously—as disrespectful, and that disrespectful engenders resistance from employees and customers. This resistance shows up as a lack of engagement in corporate initiatives, and a lack of buy-in to management’s agenda. In the worst cases, it shows up as high employee turnover and customer dissatisfaction.

The Perfect Policies™ approach shows writers how to draft statements in a way that creates and supports a respectful workplace.

A common complaint among policy writers is the lack of compliance with corporate policies. In many cases this lack of compliance is A direct result of language in the policy which discourages—rather than encourages— cooperation.

The Perfect Policies™ approach provides a formula for wording policies in a way that is courteous to the people governed and avoids aggressive language. It shows people how to avoid harsh wording for even the strictest of requirements.

Enforcement mechanisms are only actionable on properly worded policies. Commonly, the problems with the wording become apparent only at the time of enforcement, when it’s often too late to do anything about it.

The Perfect Policies™ approach reduces the possibility of late discovery of wording problems and reduces the time spent on ineffective policy enforcement.

Internal Audit teams are often stymied in their work because they are faced with policies that were poorly written, and therefore difficult to report on.

The Perfect Policies™ approach produces policies that auditors can work with easily.

Policy writing too often is adversarial and combative. Instead of promoting a cohesive workplace, it divides groups into “us” and “them” camps.

The Perfect Policies™ approach is collaborative in nature, promoting shared responsibility among different groups in the organization.

Baby Boomers may not realize it, but the I-am-in-charge-and-you-will-listen tone of voice found in many policies is a vestige of a time when those in charge commonly chastised or scolded their subordinates.

Millennials will not tolerate disrespect. The Perfect Policies™ approach engages Millennials by using language that engages them.