Policies are a bane to the existence of most employees. While they aren’t generally set to be a stumbling block, too often that is what they become. Let’s look at the problems with policies and what you can do to overcome those problems.
The Problems
Here is a short list about what your team members don’t like about policies. How many of these have you experienced or heard?
- Too Bureaucratic or Complicated. People often feel that workplace policies are overly complex, filled with unnecessary red tape, or hard to understand. This can lead to frustration, especially when policies seem to slow down work processes, or require excessive approvals for simple tasks.
- Inconsistent Application. People often express concern when policies are not applied consistently across the organization. Some feel that favoritism or individual discretion leads to uneven enforcement of rules, creating frustration and a sense of unfairness. Or..
- Rigid and Inflexible. Chances are you have felt this way about at least some working policies since and in the aftermath of pandemic lockdowns and return to work initiatives.
- Outdated or Irrelevant. Have you ever experienced a policy that hasn’t or doesn’t adapt to changes in technology, work culture, or modern business practices?
- Not understood or communicated. If a policy isn’t clear, can’t be found or isn’t understood, it likely creates barriers beyond the policy itself.
- Too Focused on Control, Not on Trust. Policies that are perceived as micromanaging or controlling tend to frustrate people. When people feel controlled or are left with little personal agency, trust will be stunted or not exist.
- Unnecessary or Difficult. Have you ever seen a policy as unnecessary or not adding any value? Have you wondered how a policy could be created without consulting those who do the real work every day?
I recognize that some of the negativity expressed here isn’t completely balanced and might tend to give policies a bad name, yet in your own experience, I’m betting you have experienced many of these. And if so, then the process we use in creating policies should be reconsidered.
But…
People don’t create a new policy with the hope that these problems arise. People generally have good intentions when they create a policy. They are trying to address a problem or a potential one, and make things better, easier or more consistent. But as we have seen and experienced, policies don’t always have the expected or intended impact (or there are additional unintended consequences).
Fixing the Problems
I offer four suggestions to help address the concerns we have all experienced with policies in general, and specifically any new policy.
- Consider the employee and customer perspective not just the “business” perspective. Too many policies are put in place to manage, control or standardize things in ways that don’t serve the customer or employee experience enough. Remember that the “business” includes the team and the customers! Before finalizing a new policy, include input from the team and understand their perspective on the situation.
- Less is more. The more policies you have, the more likely you are adding costs to enforce them and creating additional untended consequences from the weight of these policies. Before you add a new policy, consider how many you already have.
- Pilot them first. When you look at the list of concerns above, it is clear that many policies don’t achieve the outcomes intended. Since we know organizational life is complex, why not pilot or test a policy before formalizing it? It is almost a guarantee that you will find ways to adjust it for the better as a result.
- Give them expiration dates. Many policies serve a purpose for a while. But the impetus for the policy might go away, the context of the policy might change, or the world might just be changing too quickly for your policy to maintain value. Consider an expiration date (or at least a renewal date) for any new policy.
There can be value in setting a new policy, but too often they cause unintended problems too. Applying these suggestions will help you reduce the negativity, cynicism, and problems that policies often create.
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