Writing Effective Policies and Procedures Course

Human Resources. Learn expert people management skills.

In this short course, we will consider policies and procedures as operational documents that communicate and describe a course of action.

The course offers guided reflection and practical training for anyone tasked with the responsibility of reviewing and updating existing policies and procedures or writing new ones. Throughout the course, we will explore definitions of policy and procedure, and discuss the distinction between them. Additionally, we will identify key components of policy writing such as rationale and context, purpose, scope, audience, approval processes and delegations, monitoring, and review. We will discuss the benefits of consistent layout and style, and pay close attention to language use, including the use and misuse of jargon.

The course will be conducted over two half-days, spaced at least two weeks apart. Each half-day session will span three and a half hours’ duration, including breaks. This course structure will enable you to apply learning from the first session and gather information to inform the second session. You are encouraged to bring along an example of a draft policy or procedure that you are currently working on, to both sessions.

Aims

This course aims to increase your confidence and skills in:

• initiating and writing new policies and procedures
• discerning strategies for revising existing policies and procedures
• describing the approach to policies and procedures used in your organisation
• identifying delegations and approval processes required for policy development and review

We want you to leave feeling empowered to participate actively in policy development and review in your workplace.

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to: 

• identify the rationale, purpose, audience, and context (including legislation) of specific policies and procedures within your organisation
• identify your policy network, recognising the participants, approvers, and their delegations involved in the development of policies and procedures
• initiate and facilitate approval processes for new and revised policies and procedures
• apply text features such as layout and style to maximise the impact to your organisation’s overall policy messages
• use plain English sentence structures to write policies and procedures that are clear, appropriately sequenced and readable
• use jargon effectively to communicate information relevant to your organisation
• identify any additional information required to support the enactment of policies and procedures within your organisation.

Content

This course will be offered over two half-day sessions.

Day one

We will begin by examining definitions of policy and procedure, and common usage of the compound term: policies and procedures. Exploring a sample of publicly available policies and procedures, we will discuss the messages they reveal about the organisations. Additionally, we will identify and define specific components of policies and procedures, and how they are apparent in the written word.

We will then focus on the language of policies and procedures, including an introduction to the notion of plain English and the potential use (or misuse) of jargon.

Towards the end of the first half-day, we will focus on your work context. You’ll be guided to describe your organisation’s approach to policy development and review, including approval processes and your place and role within them. You’ll also be invited to share a challenge to pursue between sessions.

Day two

In the second half-day session, we will engage in discussions and share suggestions for effectively addressing policy challenges within your workplace.

We will explore the notion of plain English in more depth, through individual and group exercises related specifically to policies and procedures.

Finally, we will examine a rating scale for assessing policies and procedures for clarity, coherence and potential impact. There will be time in this session for you to work on your draft policy or procedure, applying strategies gained in the course and receiving facilitator and peer feedback.

Intended audience

This short non-award course is focused on the presentation and language of policies and procedures to maximise their impact. It is suited to team members tasked with writing or rewriting operational policies and procedures.

Prerequisites

None

Delivery mode

• Face-to-face, presenter-taught training using your own device
• Online training via the platform Zoom

Materials

All course materials are provided electronically. Printing services are not provided.

Recommended reading

There is no prescribed text for this course.