It's all in the staff handbook

I’m in the process of developing a proposal for a potential client that focuses on the internal communication of company policies. For the business in question, failure to communicate policies effectively could not only lead to huge financial penalties but also injuries and, in worse case scenarios, loss of lives. It’s a topic that’s very much front of mind for me at the moment, as I’ve recently written an article for Communicator magazine (published by The Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators) on this subject.

Whilst every company knows the importance of communicating policy effectively, so many of them fail to get it right. But in today’s environment, doing it well is increasingly becoming a ‘must have’ rather than a ‘nice to have’. Non-compliance can lead to a whole host of woes including damage to the value of the brand, loss of shareholder value and issues in recruiting and retaining talent, to name just a few. So what’s the problem?

Ask people what immediately comes to mind when you say the word ‘policy’ and you already have an insight into what makes this task so difficult. A quick quiz around the RY office produced a variety of answers including ‘dull’, ‘boring’, ‘restrictive’, ‘telling me what I can’t do’ and ‘confusing’ – not very positive associations. Policies are often viewed as ‘yet another thing to do’ and the fact that they are rarely translated into statements that explain how they will make the life of an individual or the whole company better doesn’t help matters either.

So what can you do to ease the pain a little? A good place to start is to provide a clear context for the policy and to link it to company strategy. Be clear about what you want people to do as a result of the policy. Think about whether it’s relevant to everyone. Is a ‘one size fits all’ approach appropriate or do you need to tailor things for different audiences? Use plain language and make things as easy to understand as possible. Communications packed with jargon and ‘legalese’ will instantly turn people off. It’s not always easy, but with some thought, care and attention it is possible to develop an effective policy communication plan.

Comments

[Jasbinder]

So many well intentioned, well thought out policies can fail because the communication programme was not planned early enough. Because compliance is vital, most policy communication efforts tick the 'think' and 'do' boxes of effective communication. Making sure that you can bring the policies to life through, say, best practice case studies or first-hand accounts of non-compliance is an approach that could help localise important messages and show employees what's in it for them. Even when properly communicated, enforcement and reward for both non-compliance and compliance is important.