Organizations publish policies and guidance for a reason. Among other things, well-designed guidance can help prevent costly mistakes before they happen. In the scenario above, what if none of us had prepared for that meeting? What might the second- and third-order effects have been, including the financial consequences? That experience also made me think about the people responsible for developing and maintaining those documents. Someone had to identify the requirements, translate them into organizational guidance, and make that guidance available before we needed it.

So Where Does a Person Even Start When Developing Policy?

Most organizations already have established policies. However, since we’re exploring policy design and management, I thought the best place to begin is with the top-down approach. To that end, a great first step is to compile a list of applicable laws, regulations, contractual obligations, industry standards, and internal leadership guidance that inform the direction, day-to-day activities, and culture of the organization, and internal leadership guidance that inform the direction, day-to-day activities, and culture of the organization. The next step is to think of organizational policy and guiding documents holistically. These aren’t independent documents; collectively, in the absence of leadership, they are an organizational compass.

Each organizational department or section would then review the internal and external information in the context of what this means to our department and organization and how it should be managed. In some cases, information is passed on as a one-and-done message. In other instances, the information may require routine reporting or compliance documentation. In either case, understanding the management element helps shape how a policy is published and managed.

When written well, published, and properly maintained, they can create efficiencies throughout the organization. Published guidance can prevent organizations from making avoidable mistakes before work begins. They enable people to train and operate independently within the parameters laid out in the guiding documents.

Managing Organizational Policy is Easier Said Than Done.

I’d like to begin by saying, maintaining policy isn’t easy. The size, geographic dispersion, and type of industry drive policy and guiding documents. Even after a policy is published, there is an amount of work required to maintain it. How often is it reviewed, who needs to read it, and how is it monitored? These and many other questions shape the management of organizational policy and guiding documents. The challenge of policy management is in part because there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. The answer is most often: it depends.

The most efficient way to manage policy is to have a process customized to the organization’s design and industry. Not having a management process can, over time, lead to increased and unnecessary risk.

As a rule of thumb, each policy and guiding document should be owned by someone or a department. The leadership within the overseeing department should have the experience to establish the management process of the policies they oversee, and if not, that’s when external experts should be brought in to advise on the best business practices.

There are a few things to keep in mind when considering policy oversight and management. For a variety of reasons, organizational policy tends to be important when it’s written and published; however, it becomes less relevant as time goes by. Not because it’s any less important. Over time, systems, processes, and information tend to change, which can make a policy less relevant. If you need or want people to stay in touch with a policy, then people need to feel like the policy is easy to read and provides relevant information.

Four Steps for Developing and Managing Organizational Policy

Developing and managing organizational policy involves four recurring activities: identifying the need, designing the guidance, implementing it, and reviewing and improving it as conditions change.

Step 1. Identify the need. Begin with the internal and external drivers of policy. Too often, policies or organizational guidance is a reaction to an event. Maybe that’s a necessary evil; we can’t predict everything. A small organization operating in a heavily regulated or high-risk environment may need more formal guidance than a much larger organization with simpler operations. It should be Identifying a need doesn’t always mean writing a new policy. Updating existing guidance or improving a procedure may be the better response. But with proper management practices, an organization can avoid many otherwise risky situations.

Step 2. Design the Guidance. Before writing, consider who will use the guidance, what decisions or behaviors it should influence, which other policies or processes it might affect, and how people will know what’s expected of them. A well-designed policy should help people do the right thing, not simply tell them what they can’t do.

Step 3. Implement it. This is where management becomes action. Who needs the policy, how it’s delivered, and how often it’s updated are all part of implementation. If it’s a new or significantly updated policy, a group review and Q&A session may be helpful. In other words, publishing a policy doesn’t mean it has been implemented. People need to know where to find it, understand what it means for their work, and have an opportunity to ask questions.

Step 4. Review and Improve. We’ve all been there: someone hands us a document and says, “Yeah, that hasn’t been updated in forever, but it’s better than nothing.” From a leadership perspective, that’s a missed opportunity. The information is still needed, yet somewhere along the way the organization failed to keep it current. There isn’t a single review schedule that works for every policy. Some require periodic reviews mandated by law, regulation, contract, or organizational policy. Others may need review when operations, technology, leadership direction, or external requirements change.

The key is to establish responsibility and a review process rather than waiting for something to go wrong. One way to evaluate a policy is to look beyond whether it has been published or acknowledged. Are people following it? Does it help them make decisions? Has it reduced the problem it was intended to address? Is it creating unintended difficulties elsewhere in the organization? The answers can help determine whether the policy should be maintained, revised, or retired. Ownership should include responsibility for ensuring the guidance remains accurate, relevant, and useful, not merely who stores or updates the document.

Artificial Intelligence in Organizational Guidance

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool when developing and reviewing organizational guidance. It can help organize information, identify possible inconsistencies, and suggest ways to improve clarity and alignment. However, convenience shouldn’t replace judgment.

Before using AI, consider whether you’re authorized to share the information with the system you’re using. Remember that AI-generated content may sound authoritative while overlooking legal requirements, organizational culture, or the unintended consequences of a policy.

Whether you write the first draft yourself or use AI to help develop it, the responsibility for understanding, validating, and approving organizational guidance remains with the people and/or department who own the guidance, not the technology.

Keeping Organizational Guidance Aligned

I began using the term Golden Threads to describe the keywords and phrases that guide and stitch together the organization’s strategy, operations, and culture. These threads are crucial for maintaining alignment and coherence across departments and activities. An example of a Golden Thread could be as simple as the phrase “entrepreneurial spirit.” This phrase might be explicitly or implicitly reflected in an employee handbook, empowering employees to solve problems at the lowest level.

Every organization develops its own terminology, but leaders should be careful when using terms that already have established legal, regulatory, contractual, or industry meanings. An organization may intend a word or phrase to mean one thing internally, while employees, regulators, customers, or business partners reasonably understand it to mean something else. When established terminology is used differently, the result can be confusion, inconsistent expectations, and unnecessary risk.

For example, terms involving compensation, benefits, safety, compliance, or reimbursement may already have meanings established outside the organization. Calling something by a familiar name doesn’t necessarily give an organization the freedom to redefine what that name means.

When designing or reviewing organizational guidance, look for the Golden Threads that connect the organization’s purpose, mission, vision, and strategy. Ask whether the guidance reinforces those ideas or unintentionally works against them. A policy shouldn’t operate independently of the organizational direction it’s supposed to support.

A policy or published guidance is only the beginning. Its real value comes from how effectively it guides decisions, supports operations, and adapts as the organization changes. In this moment, I’m reminded of the saying, “If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound?” Said another way, “If a policy is written, but no one reads it, does it make a difference?”

RuReady Framework Connection

This article supports LS18 Organizational Policy Design and Management, a Mastery-level Skills element in the Leadership Domain of the RuReady Adult Readiness Framework. This skill focuses on developing, implementing, reviewing, and improving organizational policies and guiding documents to support organizational direction and day-to-day operations.

Organizational Policy Design and Management builds on LK14 Organizational Policy and Governance, which examines how organizational policies, procedures, standards, and other guiding documents function as a system. LK14 focuses on understanding the system, while LS18 focuses on applying that understanding in practice.

If you enjoyed this article, explore the broader RuReady Adult Readiness Framework:

Preface: A Field Manual for Adult Life
Chapter 1: Why Do We Do What We Do?
Chapter 2: An Exploration of the RuReady Framework
Chapter 3: Life Skills for the Personal Domain
Chapter 4: Career Skills for the Professional Domain
Chapter 5: Leadership Skills for Every Level

Before moving on, feel free to use the checklist below to assess your readiness level.