policy Archives • Lewis Eisen

Authority Architecture: the Anchor for Good Governance

By Lewis Eisen and James Duncan https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesaduncan/ In the business world, we often talk about leadership, accountability, and transparency, but...

Advanced Policy Interpretation: Hidden Messages

As the person or organization behind the policy, the lens of your interpretation is from the back, where you're more...

Policies Send Out Unintended Messages

Yes, it's true. An organization's policies communicate both its intended messages and its unintended ones. The intended messages are read directly...

One Single Policy or Many?

Do we want to have one single big policy or a bunch of smaller ones? I hear this question discussed...

Writing Rules Without Shouting #2

Policies can be worded harshly or respectfully. A example of a respectful policy statement is the following: ”Employees connect only company-owned technology to the...

People don’t follow policies, they follow culture

Sophie was the HR manager in an office of 100 or so workers in the city's downtown core. She noticed that too many employees were not...

Your written policies may expose a compliance problem

It's the age of Open Government. Government offices at every level will be posting their internal administrative policies for all to...

Why Are Office Policies So Lengthy?

The truth? Most office policies contain lots of crap. (That's the technical term. The formal term is "unnecessary sentences.") Written...

Using Different Titles for Policy Instruments

The titles given to both the authorities and the guidance documents must be consistent if they are to be understood....

Do your policies contain policy?

Well-written policies contain statements of policy, not advice. The distinction is critical: employees who are in breach of policy risk...