• support@bizmanualz.com
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Help
  • My Account
Policies and Procedures Manual Template WordPolicies and Procedures Manual Template WordPolicies and Procedures Manual Template WordPolicies and Procedures Manual Template Word
  • Policy
    Procedure
    Manuals
    • CEO 9-Manual Set-45% Off
    • CFO 5-Manual Set-34% Off
    • Policy Procedure Software
    • Accounting Manual
    • Finance Manual
    • IT Policy Manual
    • HR Policy Manual
    • Sales Marketing Manual
    • ISO 9001 Quality Procedures Manual
    • AS9100 D Quality Procedures Manual
    • ISO 22000 Food Safety HACCP Manual
    • Production Operations
    • Medical Office Procedures
    • Nonprofit Procedures
    • Construction Procedures
  • Document
    Management
    Software
    • Product & Benefits
    • OnPolicy Software Overview
    • On-Policy – 30-Day Free Trial
    • Testimonials
    • Resources
    • Subscribe to OnPolicy
    • Software, Procedure Manual Bundle
    • OnPolicy Help Introduction
  • Free
    Procedure
    Samples
    • Free Sample Policies and Procedures Template
  • How To
    Business
    Articles
    • Save Time Writing Procedures
    • Write Better Policies
    • Writing Procedure Manuals
    • Write Better Procedures
    • Strengthen Your Financials
      • Set Better Objectives
      • Tighten Accounting Controls
      • Improve Company Governance
      • Simplify Compliance
    • Obtain ISO Certification
      • Make a Process Map
      • Implement ISO Quality
      • Improve Quality
      • Improve Management Systems
      • Increase Customer Satisfaction
      • Make Your Business Lean
    • Solve Business Problems
      • Organize Your Business
      • Improve Business Communication
      • Be a Better Boss
      • Empower Employees
      • Making Change Easier
      • Grow Your Business
      • Find Business Improvements
      • Improve Business Processes
      • Increase Innovation
      • Better Sales and Marketing
      • Better Project Management
    • Leverage Technology
      • Automate Policy Management
      • Improve Your Social Media
      • Increase Productivity
  • Lean ISO
    Consulting
    Training
    • Improve Your Training
    • Customer Testimonials
    • ISO 9001:2015 Classes | Internal Auditor Training | Virtual
    • ISO 9001:2015 Classes | Lead Auditor Training St Louis MO
    • ISO 9000 Help | Lean Consulting Training St Louis MO
    • ISO Writer | Writing Policies and Procedures Training Class
    • Lean Training Class St Louis MO
    • FREE Quality
      Audit* Offer
0

How to Review Business Policies

Categories
  • Write Better Policies
Tags
  • business
  • policies
  • review
Policy Deployment Framework

Business Policy Deployment includes your strategy, policies, procedures, and work instructions.

Much has been made of procedure writing, both here at Bizmanualz and around the Internet, but very little is said about an equally important part of design and development — the policy review process. 

Many problems with procedures that crop up after they’ve been implemented are traceable to inadequate or no review.

Let’s say a procedure as written describes an ideal process, performed under ideal conditions (i.e., real-world conditions aren’t taken into account). If this isn’t caught in the policy review process, the end product will meet requirements only through luck. Luck being notoriously unreliable, inconsistent, and uncontrollable, you’re clearly better off if you review business policies.

An Effective Process to Review Business Policies

Why do you review anything? To ensure the accuracy and completeness of whatever it is you’re reviewing and to make sure everyone has the same understanding of the policy, process, or situation. In short, to ensure effective communication, which will lead you to the desired outcome.

Effective communication is a big reason why the international quality standard, ISO 9001, mandates design and development controls (clause 8.3.4). If you don’t review, you risk missing any number of product requirements, both stated and unstated, and you risk losing customers.

Need another reason to review policies and procedures? No one is perfect and no process is perfect. No one will write the perfect procedure the first time, every time.

Furthermore, no one — NO ONE! — can multitask. Your technical writer wears several other hats, right? That person is bound to temporarily lose focus on the policy or procedure they’re writing when other projects and other managers are continually demanding that their stuff is mission critical, “…so drop everything and work on this.” (Now, where was I?)

We all agree, then, that policies and procedures have to be reviewed, right? So, how’s it done? Well, one method that works is based on speech evaluations as done by Toastmasters. For a Toastmaster, learning how to evaluate a speech – or a written document – is as critical as learning how to give a speech or write one.

Policy Review Objectives

With the policy review process, start with objectives or requirements. Were they clearly communicated to the technical writer? Did he/she understand them? Do you? Were the objectives prioritized and categorized? Were they SMART objectives?

Policy Achieved?

Did the technical writer achieve the stated policy objectives/requirements? (Have a list of the objectives in front of you as you review the document.)

Also, list some important, yet unstated, review objectives. For example, correct spelling and good grammar are often taken for granted. Don’t make that mistake. Make up a Seven C’s checklist for often overlooked items, like “Are important terms defined?” and “Is ‘active voice’ used?”

Did the tech writer go beyond the stated objectives? For example:

The procedure mentions a packaging machine that a first-time reader may not be familiar with. The tech writer includes a long shot (photo) of the machine and a closeup of the control panel. The pictures aren’t a requirement; furthermore, they (and additional photos) push the document beyond the stated requirement of “six pages, maximum”.

Which is the SMARTer objective, user understanding or document length?

Policy Review Feedback

review business policies

In your policy review process, whether its written or oral, be sure to lead with those aspects of the procedure where objectives were met or exceeded. If critical procedure review objectives were not, consider possible explanations for that (the writer’s level of experience, competing projects, the amount of information provided them, clarity of the objectives, etc.).

The point is not to let the writer “off the hook” (or to find a hook to hang them on). It’s about encouraging the writer – praising what they did well and asking them to do better. Tell them, “Here’s what you did well.”

Don’t be vague or insincere, either. Don’t fish for compliments — you’re not helping them by telling them that their capitalization was great, or they had all the commas in the right places.

Be truthful, be specific, and give them something to build on.

Procedure Flow

Tell the writer exactly what you see in the procedure (ex., will the reader know who’s supposed to do what, when, and why?) Restate the review objectives and indicate which were met, which were exceeded, and which weren’t met. Use a numeric scale in your review (rarely is anything “black or white”).

Beyond that, does the procedure “flow”? Did they use the PDCA model correctly? Did she or he use words, voice, style, grammar, etc., effectively? Does the story – and the message – come across clearly?

Tell them what they did well and point out specific opportunities for improvement. Hand the document back to them with another objective: you need the revision back for a “final” review by a specific date.

Remember that the policy review process is an integral part of a design and development process. After you’ve reviewed the document, the writer will probably have to make some changes. After the writer has revised the policy procedure document, review it again for errors.

Don’t review it to death, however. Four or more reviews of the same document should tell you that the review process has broken down…somewhere. It might be time – at least temporarily – to bring in another pair of eyes.

As a reviewer, you’re obliged to:

  • Be sure that stated and unstated objectives were met;
  • Be fair;
  • Be consistent;
  • Be thorough; and
  • Point out strengths and opportunities for improvement in the document and in the process.

Now you can reduce problems with procedures that crop up after they’ve been implemented using an adequate policy review.

More Articles from Bizmanualz...

  • Why Use Policies and Procedures Manuals?Why Use Policies and Procedures Manuals?
  • What Business Policies Does Every Company Need?What Business Policies Does Every Company Need?
  • How Small Businesses Can Attract Top Employees OnlineHow Small Businesses Can Attract Top Employees Online
  • What Does It Cost to Write Policies and Procedures?What Does It Cost to Write Policies and Procedures?
  • How to Build a Business Ethics ProgramHow to Build a Business Ethics Program
  • How to Migrate Your Business to the CloudHow to Migrate Your Business to the Cloud
  • How to Create Policies and Procedures StrategyHow to Create Policies and Procedures Strategy
  • Guide to Writing Policies and Procedures TemplatesGuide to Writing Policies and Procedures Templates
  • How Effective are Policies and Procedures?How Effective are Policies and Procedures?
  • What is the Policy Review Process?What is the Policy Review Process?
Share

2 Comments

  1. Tayo Adedokun says:
    September 17, 2015 at 3:27 am

    Nice write up.
    I have been following your post for more than a year now, one point I noted was the model you frequently used on your procedures write-up. This model is the PDCA. From my experience, this model best work on Quality control Procedures. Is there no other models that suit both quality control process and other management process?

    Also, the write up is an academic base not a practical base because, I could not sight samples on objective assessment, faulty flows, etc. Where this sample intentionally kept silent with a purpose?

    Reply
    • Chris Anderson says:
      September 18, 2015 at 10:47 am

      PDCA is THE MODEL. It is used as the learning loop in education, the scientific method in science, and as a best practice in managing processes — any process not just quality. I am not sure what your second question was regarding “samples on objective assessment”, perhaps you could clarify.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Products

  • AS9100 D Quality Procedures Manual AS9100 Quality Procedures Manual Rev D | ABR217M Aerospace Quality Procedures Manual $ 395.00 $ 297.00
  • Accounting Policy Procedure Manual MS-Word Template Accounting Policies and Procedures Manual
    Rated 4.60 out of 5
    $ 495.00 $ 397.00
  • Human Resources HR Policy Procedure Manual HR Policies and Procedures Template | ABR41M
    Rated 3.89 out of 5
    $ 495.00 $ 347.00
  • Sales Marketing Policy Procedure Manual Sales Marketing Policies and Procedures Manual | ABR44M
    Rated 3.67 out of 5
    $ 495.00 $ 347.00
  • Finance Policy Procedure Manual Finance Policies Procedures Manual | ABR42M
    Rated 4.75 out of 5
    $ 495.00 $ 347.00
  • it standard operating procedures IT Policies and Procedures Manual
    Rated 4.40 out of 5
    $ 495.00 $ 397.00
  • Security Policy Procedure Manual Security Policies and Procedures Manual $ 395.00 $ 297.00
  • Disaster Recovery Policy Procedure Manual Disaster Recovery Planning Manual
    Rated 4.00 out of 5
    $ 395.00 $ 297.00
  • ISO 9001 Procedures ISO 9001 2015 Procedures | ABR211M
    Rated 4.60 out of 5
    $ 495.00 $ 347.00
  • ISO 22000 Food Safety Procedures Manual ISO 22000 Food Safety Procedures Manual | ABR213M
    Rated 3.83 out of 5
    $ 395.00 $ 197.00
 Free Sample Policies Procedures

Get to Know Us

About Bizmanualz

Our Customers

Our Contributors

Featured Products

Free Policies and Procedures

Privacy Policy

FAQs

Risk Free Guarantee

Process Improvement

Contact Us

Recent Posts

  • What Are the Benefits of Lean 5S System?
  • How to Adapt to New Challenges in the Catering Sector
  • What Are the Customer’s Requirements?
  • How Small Businesses Can Attract Top Employees Online
  • How Can Businesses Improve Cybersecurity?
  • How Can Digital Marketing Help Businesses?
  • How to Cope with Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
  • What are Financial Internal Controls?

Business Procedures

Accounting Manuals Template

Finance Procedures

HR Procedures

IT Policies and Procedures Templates

Sales Marketing Procedures

Quality Assurance Policy Statement and Procedures

Medical Office Procedures

Employee Handbook Manual

Aerospace Procedures

Food Safety Procedures

Security & Disaster Plans

Production Procedures

Procedure Writing Guide

Featured Manuals

  • Alt Text CEO Bundle and Document Management Software Package $ 3,485.00 $ 2,847.21 now,
    then $ 990.00 / year
  • St. Louis ISO auditor training class ISO 9001:2015 Classes | Lead Auditor Training St Louis MO $ 2,395.00 – $ 3,270.00
  • 9-Manual CEO Company Policies and Procedures Bundle | Save 45%
    Rated 4.50 out of 5
    $ 2,495.00 $ 1,997.00
  • CFO Responsibilities Financial Accounting Procedures 5-Manual CFO Internal Control Procedures Bundle| Save 34%
    Rated 4.64 out of 5
    $ 1,695.00 $ 1,497.00
  • AS9100 D Quality Procedures Manual AS9100 Quality Procedures Manual | ABR217M Aerospace Quality Procedures Manual $ 595.00 $ 499.00
Copyright ©1999-2020 Bizmanualz, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Sitemap | Privacy Policy
0
  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Help
  • My Account