Respectful Policies & Directives: How To Write Rules That People Want to Follow

Break the Mold of Negativity Around Rules

Often organizations claim to hold "respect for others" as a core value, but when you look at their rules documents, the story is different. Whether they call them "policies," "terms and conditions," or simply "guidelines," most of these rules sound like they were written by angry parents talking to naughty children.

Getting engagement under those conditions is an uphill battle. Compliance will improve when your rules sound positive and helpful. Your policies reflect your corporate culture. They can unintentionally reveal your weaknesses to your employees and customers--current and prospective.

This handbook will make you rethink the way you write policies, guidelines, regulations, and similar documents. You will see how the wording of your rules reveals the amount of respect you have for the people they are directed to--or betrays the lack of it.

Chapter 1 looks at the costs of bad rules in an organization. 
Chapter 2 explains policy basics. 
Chapter 3 gives you an overview of policy instruments.
Chapter 4 examines the organization of policy instruments.
Chapter 5 deals with the wording of policy statements. 
Chapter 6 explains how to word your policy statements so that they promote respect. 
Chapter 7 looks at a special type of policy instrument, the standard. 
Chapter 8 covers the portions of the policy instruments that are not policy statements.
Chapter 9 provides drafting tips.