Control Points--A Key Ingredient to Successful Policies and Procedures

 

I have been working in the policies and procedures field for almost 28 years, and there is hardly a day that goes by that I don't hear statements like "How do you make sure that published processes, policies, procedures or standards are followed?" or "How can a document be written, or what can be included in that document to guarantee that people will follow its guidelines?"

More recently, policy and procedure writers are turning to metrics and measurements as a means of determining what works well and what needs improvement. While training, communications and metrics can help with the roll out of policies and procedures, they do not guarantee success.

The policy and procedure writer needs to find ways to assure compliance by writing the documents in ways that the process can control its own success. One way is to incorporate control points, as we shall see in the next paragraph. The writer must be careful not to rely exclusively on communications, training and metrics. This is a common mistake by policy and procedure writers.

The Solution--Enter Control Points

By incorporating control points, the policy and procedure writer has a real opportunity to improve the chances of a policy or procedure being quickly implemented and accepted the first time the policy or procedure is released. A control point can be any point in a process that …

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