Rules are mostly made to be broken and are too often for the lazy to hide behind.
- Douglas MacArthur
Policies. They exist to the bane of many. They range from the small, unimportant and irritating to important, strategic and profound. From when to sign up for benefits to ‘what is our approach is on remote work’. Some of them get people emotional. And Upset. Some offend people. Some ignore them until confronted.
In my time as a CHRO I dealt with many policies, some local, some global, some useful, some just nuts that were stopped before implementation. I have opinions. I am biased by an early mentor’s advice. John Holloway, an HR VP I worked for in the late 90’s always said “Avoid new policies at all costs! They reduce management discretion!”
Disclaimer: I am not against procedures, especially when it comes to safety, sanitation and proper manufacturing. Let’s not confuse process with policy.
On Policies:
- Per John’s great advice: don’t have them if you don’t need them. Reserve as much management discretion and judgement in all situations as possible.
- Think about unintended consequences of policies before you enact them. Will they cause you to discipline or fire people for things beyond their own control?
- Some policies protect us legally. These are the ones to document and enforce.
- Handbooks? Keep them thin.
- Policy websites? Keep them simple and not time bound. Do not create monsters that need to be tended. Do not trap yourself in complex rules.
- Regard policies as guidelines that are to be followed most of the time. Most? Let’s say somewhere over 90% of the time. But we allow ourselves discretion for special situations where following policy is stupid.
- There are many HR people who live and die on policies. They are likely attracted to the function due to this enforcement orientation. They are annoying.
- Many policies create fake work – interpreting, enforcing them, etc. Lawyers get involved. Think DMV. IRS. Medical insurance. How much of what goes on in these entities adds value?
- Generally speaking, be pragmatic. Don’t have more policies than you need, and be reasonable using the ones you have.
- Beware those that love writing policy and actually think they have done something when they have completed one. Oh Lord……
- Strong values trump policies. The more you communicate and demonstrate good corporate values, the less you will need to rely on policies.
Scaredy Cats Love Policies
That’s correct. Of those who love policies, most do not want to think or discern and, like a DMV clerk, just look up the answer to every question in a manual. Beware those that pull you aside and say ‘I think we need a policy for….’ What they are really may be saying is ‘I don’t like to think’ or even worse ‘I don’t want to stand up on my own decisions and face my people and explain myself.’ Rather, they want to blame anything they do that is challenging or controversial on policies. Typical areas where the weak want policies are anything involving time off, attendance, performance ratings and business travel. What is easier to say: ‘Sally, as your manager I am not authorizing this business trip as we are short handed right now, budgets are tight, you are not exactly crushing it and I don’t see a valid reason for it.’ Or: ‘Sally – the trip you requested is not within policy’. You know the answer for the Scaredy Cats. You know it well.
The larger your organization gets, the more policies you will endure. Every so often, go through them and force yourself as a leader to cull the number of official policies. There is a correlation between numbers of policies and lack of business agility.
