Writing Effective Policies

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Writing Effective Policies Procedures

• Carmen Afghani
• Michelle Stipp

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Introduction
Carmen Afghani Consultant Financial Aid
Services Michelle Stipp Student Finance Training
and Communications Manager DeVry University
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What is a Policy?

• Organizations official position
• Guidelines
• Control conduct of people
• Position statement
• Must have a clear sense of what the policy is
  trying to accomplish

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What is a Procedure?

• Policys work-horse
• Protocol
• Tells how-to
• Step-by-step procedure

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When do you Need Policies Procedures

• Government laws and regulations
• Customers
• Finances and resources
• Image or reputation
• Health and safety
• Productivity and staffing
• Create clarity and uniformity

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When do you Need Policies Procedures

• As a training tool
• As a reference guide
• Misuse of unwritten policies

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What to Include

• Header/Footer
• Table of Contents
• Index
• Glossary
• Appendix
• Tables/Illustrations
• Disclaimers
• Statement of Confidentiality

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Development of Policies Procedures

• Planning
• Analysis
• Research
• Prewriting

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Planning

• Break down project into component parts,
• whos responsible, and timeline.
• Select team members
• Establish ground rules
• Agree on assignments
• and responsibilities

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Analysis

• What is the goal of the finished document(s)?
• Who is your audience?
• Impact to the organization

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Research

• Start with the difficult areas
• Meet with content experts
• Meet with others who hold
• valuable information

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Prewriting

• Important but often overlooked step
• Helps to organize the material
• Mindmapping
• Organization
• Flow

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Example of Mindmapping
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Be a Word Miser

• Dump pompous, stuffy language
• Speak to the reader
• Think in active voice, present tense
• Never sacrifice clarity for brevity

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Be a Word Master

• Say what you mean and mean what you say
• Use specific language
• Be extra careful with sentence structure,
• grammar and composition
• Use jargon carefully

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Components of a Policy

• Heading or banner
• Purpose (or policy statement)
• Body of the detailed policy
• Applicability
• Definitions
• Cognizant offices (where to go for help)
• Policy authority (who owns it)
• Related policies/references for more information
• Implementation procedures

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Components of a Procedure

• Heading or banner
• Overview/Procedure Description
• Areas of responsibility
• Procedure details
• References
• Help page

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Format Options

• Narrative
• Outline
• Playscript
• Flowchart
• Question Answer
• Troubleshooting
• Matrix Table
• List

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Create Visual Appeal

• Avoid visual clutter (stuff in
• the garage)
• Use chunking
• White space
• Use graphics, justification, fonts, etc.
  sparingly and wisely
• Remember Rule of Three

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Wrapping it Up

• Verification
• Validation
• Editing
• Proofreading
• Approval

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Avoid Recreating the Wheel

• www.NASFAA.org
• Click on Management Tools
• Click on Policies and Procedures
• (Oh, yeah, you have to be a member.
• Join up! Its worth it!)

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Thank you for your time.
Carmen Afghani Consultant Financial Aid
Services Telephone [phone] Email
cafghani_at_financialaidservcies.org
Michelle Stipp Student Finance Training and
Communications Manager  DeVry University Telephone
[phone] Email mstipp_at_devry.com