Are You Cut Out to be a Policy and Procedure Writer? (Part 1 of 2)

 

Over the past 28 years, I have met hundreds of people who write policies and procedures for their companies. I am often surprised at what some of these individuals actually do. Some just edit policies and procedures written by others, some act as a clearing house and publish policies and procedures as submitted without editing, others help departments write and publish policies and procedures.

Others--though a much smaller number--have an active role by being a central point through which all policies and procedures are submitted and published. My question is: If you do not completely control the content of all company policies and procedures, are you being effective as a policies and procedures writer?

At this point, I believe that every person assigned to do policy and procedure writing for a company should take a closer look at his/her job duties, level of management support, authority on the job and the effectiveness of published policies and procedures.

My contention--and the purpose of this article--is that you must have the authority to control what is written, approved, published and implemented, trained and measured in order to be an effective policy and procedure writer. 

Four elements are critical to your achieving success as a policy and procedure writer.  The first element is covered in this article; the next three are covered in the second …

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