By this time you may be worried that putting together a comprehensive policy and procedure manual will take a good deal of time. However, in reality, a carefully drafted manual can save your company countless hours of management time in the long run.
You will discover that having a framework for your management rules and for the guidelines of your organization will help your organization become more effective at what you do. Your manual should be an outgrowth of your company's mission statement.
Do you have a clear mission statement? A mission statement should be a clear sentence (or two) about the values, beliefs, and philosophy of your organization. This statement should be concise enough that everyone in the organization can understand it and realize how the part they play fits into that mission.
Here are a few effective mission statements:
"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."
"The mission statement of Zappos.com, also referred to by Zappos employees as their "WOW Philosophy," is: "To provide the best customer service possible."
"To be Earth's most customer-centric company where people can find and discover anything they want to buy online." (Amazon)
"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative, and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world."
Notice how, in just a few words, these mission statements provide purpose and reveal the organization's corporate culture. Now, using this mission statement as a starting point, your organization can develop goals and objectives. These may include categories such as product quality, customer service, low employee turnover, customer retention, financial performance, leading sales figures, new product development, etc.
What do you think of when you think of a manual? If you are like many of us, you think of a dull, dreary document that will put you to sleep before you are done reading it. Perhaps you have even signed such a document that you have not even fully read.
Yes, most of us think of policy and procedure manuals in a negative light. However, your company can change all that. It's time to turn your thinking around and to see the positive side of policy and procedure manuals.
Unlike what you may have thought, a policy and procedure manual is not designed to control employees, but actually to empower them. Have you ever considered the fact that within set boundaries, you can have more freedom.
An effective policy and procedure manual enables your staff to do what they do best for your company. Once they understand the rules they must abide by, they are free to think, do, and create within those parameters. They don't have to be constantly checking over their shoulder or, worse yet, asking if what they are doing is okay.
Your manual also empowers your management staff to perform consistent and fair oversight, without having to make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Of course, in order for these benefits to occur, your manual must set the right tone. It must make sense and be easy to read and to follow.
Are you ready to get started on your new policy and procedure manual? Do you wonder where to begin? In Lesson 2, we will discuss how you can get started on this important document.