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Objectives





Your next step in beginning your manual is to create a set of objectives that mirror your mission statement. You will use these goals to guide your wording for each section of the manual. Since most companies focus on customer service, let's look at that category as an example.

What are your goals for customer service? In other words, what do you want your employees to focus on when it comes to customer service? Here are a couple of ideas to get you thinking:


As you consider these points, you will soon see that they reflect your mission statement. How much autonomy do you want your employees to have in dealing with your customers? Your policy and procedure manual can spell things out.

Zappos' CEO Tony Hsieh has related the story of one of his company's customer service representatives who sent flowers to a new widow without consulting a supervisor. The woman was returning boots she had ordered for her husband just before he died in a car accident. At her husband's funeral, the widow related the kindness of Zappos to her friends and family.

That employee felt empowered to live out Zappos' "above and beyond" service credo. Would your employees feel they could do the same thing? Remember, policies do not just provide restrictions; they can offer freedom.

Does your company use a collection of forms as part of your regular day-to-day business dealings? Take the time to review these forms to see if any of them need to be revised, updated, or even abandoned.

Be sure you understand exactly why a form is used. Ask what is the intent of the form and does it require a need for a written policy? You may find that some of your forms are not linked with any existing policy and are, in fact, not needed at all.

Now consider if you have any new aspects of your business that require forms. New products, new services often require new policies and procedures to go with them.

When you look at it this way, the process of developing a policy and procedure manual is a way of streamlining your business.

Whether you are using a boilerplate -- or template – for your manual, or you are starting from scratch, your manual should be seen as a work in progress. Research is a big part of the process of creating a policy and procedure manual.

Your policies will need to be expanded, supplemented, and revised as your business grows, and as business conditions change.



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