Writing Effective Policies and Procedures

Policies and Procedures are an essential part of any organization. They provide a roadmap for day-to-day operations

About this Course

Policies and Procedures are an essential part of any organization. They provide a roadmap for day-to-day operations. They ensure compliance with laws and regulations, give guidance for decision-making, and streamline internal processes. Policies and procedures document provide guidance for all employees to be successful within their role, answering key questions, resolving ambiguities, detailing best practices, and defining expected standards for conduct and behavior.

This fast-paced and interesting five-day training course from takes participants from an understanding of what content to select through the correct ways to structure it, the craft of writing clear, concise, comprehensible copy to the processes of approval, checking and document control. The course is filled with practical activities that are engaging and often surprising. An enjoyable course increases memory retention far beyond the norm. The skills that it covers are a tremendous professional toolkit that will be applicable far beyond the realm of policies and procedures into all aspects of business writing.

Course Objective

By the end of this Writing Effective Policies and Procedures training course, you will have learned how to:

Use highly effective planning and ‘ideation’ tools
Draft text in Plain English through an iterative process
Plan and execute beta testing of your documents
Understand the approvals process to achieve smooth sign-off
Promote the use of your policies and procedures and how to continually maintain and update them

This course will Highlight on:

Will highlight the following key topics:

Determining the right content for each document
Structuring content correctly
Writing in a clear, unambiguous way
Understanding the iterative process of writing and approval
Understanding how to keep all stakeholders engaged and on-side

Course Methods

This training course will use a variety of proven online learning techniques to ensure maximum understanding, comprehension, retention of the information presented. These include interactive practical exercises, supported by audio visual material and case studies. Participants will be encouraged to relate the principles of policy and procedure writing to the specific needs for their own organisation.

ORGANISATIONAL IMPACT

Major benefits to the organization include:

More consistent policies and procedures
Reduced time to achieve professional results
Consistently comprehensible documents
Improved version control procedures
A consistent approach to referencing standards and legislative documents

PERSONAL IMPACT

Participants will gain the following benefits:

Improved writing skills
Enhanced communication abilities
Greater self-confidence
Increased effectiveness in Planning and Drafting
Enhanced strategic goal setting ability
Increased ability to use a range of planning and creative tools

Course Outline

DAY 1

What are Policies and Procedures?

Introduction
Why they are important in day-to-day operation?
Why are policies and procedures important for tendering?
What should a policy contain?
The structure of Policy and Procedures
Think audience: who is going to use your documents and what do they need?

DAY 2

How to write company Policies and Procedures

Getting started – mapping content
Best practice in content creation
Drafting processes and stakeholder consultation
A practical guide to writing plain language
Beta Testing
Drafting exercises

DAY 3

The Strategic Overview – From Task To System

Ensuring policies and procedures match not conflict The role of policy and procedures in the organisation
What needs to be included?
Who needs to be involved?
The Review Process
The Approval Process

DAY 4

Developing and Improving Policies and Procedures

Review examples of Policy and Procedures
Avoiding ambiguity
Standards and Regulations – Keeping up-to-date Communicating about your Policies and Procedures
How to ensure staff compliance?
Maintenance

DAY 5

Keeping Ahead of the Curve