Episode 30 - Sorry, more paperwork is required
I had a couple of requests to talk about the importance of policy and procedure manuals. It’s a serious topic and everyone that’s in business needs them. This week, we take a look at the main reasons for written policy and some of the pitfalls that exist when you don’t have them. It’s a short episode, but something we can expand upon in the future.
Outstanding work, and I’m glad you hit on this!
Good policy and proceedures are the basis for a top-run organization. An attorney once told me “A handshake’s great for aquaintances but put it in writing and we’re friends forever”. His advice and my policy manual has so far saved me a dozen cases in the courtroom, shielded my company from from a sexual harrassment suit, reduced my insurance premiums, and halted countless arguments about how to approach something.
Having a good commercial attorney on retainer at all times is also something worth considering.
SOP is such an issue for me, I started using blog software (WordPress, similar to this site) to publish my policy manual. I just write the original policies as posts, then write comments to indicate changes. That way I can organize the policies in catagories, keep track of what’s changed over time, and indicate when the policy was changed and why. It also permits me to make the policy available not only my contractors and employees, but my clients as well.
Keep up the great work Scott, and thanks for your contributions to the industry.