Help writing policies and procedures quickly: what to do?

“Help, I need assistance on policies and procedures tonight, tomorrow or next week.” I hear this phrase all the time. I can’t help but wonder why they didn’t know about “some homework” before the last day or week. I have puzzled over this problem for years.

I think the problem lies with the “assignor”, which is usually someone from the management team of a company. They find it easy to write policies and procedures in a day or two. In other words, they take writing policies and procedures for granted. This is far from the truth, as it takes experience and strong organizational skills to be a good policy and procedure writer. That said, there is help on the web, but usually not in physical bookstores like Borders down the street.

The good news is that if you need to write one or two policies and procedures, you can get quick help, but if you have to write entire manuals, have good communications, do good training, and hope your audience will follow your policies and procedures. , then you need to buy books by experienced authors to help you learn how to write good policies and procedures and how to write and implement strong communication and training programs.

This is what you can find on the web:

Books in writing effective policies and procedures along with sample documents;

Canned Policies and Procedures Documents (although I would only recommend this approach in a “real pinch”, be sure to give credit to the author, as you can’t take someone else’s work and call it your own if you want your audience to follow the content

Consultant to help you write policies and procedures (while this can be a good avenue, consultants need to be experienced and are often very expensive and seek long-term commitments);

Workshops (Though workshops are often not delivered at the right times, and again, you should look for experienced P&P writers to teach the class, not a consultant or trainer who hasn’t written more than a dozen P&Ps. .. policy and procedure writers who have written thousands of policy and procedure documents)

In short, the best and fastest way is to find an author who is also an experienced policy and procedure writer and buy this person’s books. Check first to see if the author has any books that can help you set the stage for a system of policies and procedures rather than just grammar and/or editing advice. And if you must hire a consultant, make sure the selected consultant has written at least 500 policies and procedures.

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