Puffed Up Policies: Tackling Bloat in Organisational Policies
Have you ever been asked to create an organizational policy in response to the latest 'must-have' legislative provision or in the wake of a sudden 'I wish we'd had one' realization?
Creating such policies can be daunting. We often have to make do with scant guidance apart from a few basic
pointers from new legislation. Or, we're given access to regulatory guidelines, fact sheets, and a wealth of information about “best practice” - but little insight on who is actually observing it.
In these circumstances, we delve into the topic area, pull out what we think is needed (based on our subject matter expertise, or lack of it), and do our best to create something that doesn't leave anything important out.
While doing this, there's that nagging awareness in the back of our minds. We know regulation is made
up of rules, exceptions, exceptions-to-exceptions, glosses, and interpretations. We understand that a proposition that is 70% right is probably 30% wrong and that's where our policy stakeholders are likely to get caught out … there and in the space where they will only ever retain 20% of what they read … if they read it at all.
Not surprisingly, we often fall victim to policy bloat. After all, who ever got sacked or sued for providing too much information in an HR policy? And if somebody wants to take out one of our meticulously drafted inclusions, then on their own heads be it!
So, this week, let’s tackle policy bloat – the phenomenon of creating policies that have grown so complex and extensive that they deter, rather than encourage, understanding. I want to talk about how we can apply learning design principles to craft policies that effectively communicate their purpose and expectations to the audiences they are intended for.
What's your take on this? Are there some types of organizational policies that are more susceptible to
policy bloat than others? How are you managing them?
I invite you to share your experiences and strategies for dealing with policy bloat in the comments. Let's get this conversation started!
ACW - In collaboration with OpenAI's ChatGPT
This piece was co-created to bring you the best of human & AI insights.
