Developing Meaningful Policies and Procedures

Having spent a significant part of my life employed in the healthcare industry, I have become accustomed to having a large collection of policies and procedures to guide the work of the business. Initially, I found policies to feel constricting. I recall as a brand-new nurse in the emergency department, my manager let me know that my brown leather shoes were not allowed as we were required to wear black, white, or navy blue. I thought the brown leather looked very nice against my mandatory navy-blue scrubs. My attire was professional, but it did not meet the policy.

The longer that I have worked in healthcare, the more I have come to recognize the value of properly developed policies and procedures—not to constrict people, but to set a standard and guide to the work that is being done.

Why have policies and procedures?

First, I am in no way giving or qualified to give legal advice. All ideas are meant to be pragmatic suggestions for policy writing. If there are legal questions or concerns, the school board should consult an attorney.

In the spring of 2020, I started to work for a national nursing home company. Two weeks after I started, the COVID pandemic shut down the country and all of healthcare. While I didn’t like or even agree with all of the policies, I found a great deal of freedom in not having to spend a significant amount of time wading through large amounts of information and opinions to determine what was credible and what was not. Further, I did not have to agonize how these policies would be messaged to the public and to the employees. These policies allowed me to spend my time concerning myself with day-to-day operations of the facility and ensuring the health and safety of the residents. Beyond that, if I followed the policies, I could not be held legally liable if there were adverse outcomes in the facility.

A year later we experienced our first outbreak within the facility. There was a lot of ease as we navigated setting up a COVID unit within the facility. The policies allowed us to serve our residents, patients from the hospital that needed rehab, and some residents of assisted livings in the area that did not have the resources to quarantine their residents. The work that went into the policies and procedures for infection prevention were very helpful. Because of these policies and procedures, the mortality rate within our facility was 80% lower than that of the national average in nursing facility outbreaks. This truly cemented my understanding of the importance of having policies that are meaningful.

There have been some who think that because we as Conservative Anabaptist are averse to using lawsuits to settle differences, there is not a need for policies to be written. It is my belief that this belief of nonresistance actually increases the need for policies within our schools. Beyond the potential legal benefit policies and procedures, there are three other benefits that I have noted as to why we should have clear written policies. While I do believe that policies and procedures are important, I believe that they should be meaningful and actionable. If the policy is not something that we want to have happen or it is not happening, we should discontinue that policy.

Clarity

One of the most important benefits of developing policies is that they promote clarity. There is something very freeing when it is clear to all involved what the expectations are and what the results will be if those expectations are or are not met. Clarity has a way of assisting with the relational aspects within organizations as well. When the expectations are clear, each person will understand their role and that they will not be able to manipulate the outcomes. While this will not fix strained relationships, it does assist in clarifying the situation and the path forward. Relationships are more likely to withstand disagreements when there is clarity. A lot of drama, rumors, and discission can be easily avoided by bringing clarity to situations.

Consistency

The second benefit of clear policies is that they create consistency within the school. With a clear set of policies, school administrators and principals have a consistent standard to follow when addressing various situations. Patrons of the school know that the way in which their child is being treated will be the same way that other children will be treated. This consistency assists with the reduction of nepotism and favoritism.

Consistency also gives the faculty the freedom to work through challenging situations without worrying about whether they were handling the situation in an equitable way. Recently, we had to make a difficult decision to suspend an employee and to investigate some findings. While this employee was a long tenured and generally respected individual, the policies assisted in working through the situation without anyone in or around the situation questioning the presence of favoritism. This consistency can help students and parents know what is going to happen in each situation. While there are always some variances in a situation, a policy is usually written broadly enough to cover many potential variances. This consistency stability to the board, faculty, students, and patrons alike.

Cohesion

Cohesion is a simple concept of binding together. Glue is an adhesive. It bonds to the materials to which It is applied to hold them together. While the chemical bonds that adhere two materials together are not visible, we see the results of those chemical reactions and we know that the bonds are present. While there is no algorithm to cohesion, there is no doubt when it is present due to the synergy that is created. In our schools and churches, we need cohesion. Cohesion happens in a safe environment that has clarity and consistency. When cohesion is present, organizations run with a greater level of synnergy, stability, and efficiency. This cohesion, while it must happen first at the board and administrative level, is quickly felt throughout the school and even in the church.

Limits of policies and procedures

Unfortunately, a good set of policies and procedures is not some magic pill that fixes all problems and challenges in our schools. It is also not the secret sauce to creating a perfectly positive environment that is free from conflict or challenges. There are always limits to even the best laid plans.

The first limit to policies and procedures is that they do not replace relationships, leadership, or organizational culture. If we try to rely on our policies to maintain relationships, we are sorely misguided. For policies and procedures to work well, they must have a foundation of strong relationships, leadership and school culture.

A second limit to policies and procedures is that they will not stand the test of time. Policies and procedures are living and breathing. For example, a policy about eight-track players is no longer relevant. However, a policy about cell phone use by students on school campus has become relevant. In the future, electronic policies will need to be further updated to reflect the ever-changing world of technology. Policies and procedures need to be evaluated routinely to ensure that they are relevant. Best practice suggests that policies be reviewed annually and signed off by the governing body or board of directors.

The final limit that we will highlight is that policies and procedures cannot address every specific scenario. There must be an ability to consider the substance of the policy and apply it beyond what is written. To write every detail becomes tedious and to only apply a policy to the examples listed becomes legalistic. Policies are conceptual and attempt to cover the overarching issues without digressing into the weeds of all the hypothetical situations a school may face. Policies are meant to guide and to create a bird’s-eye view of the school.

How to write policies and procedures

Each policy that we write must align itself with the central vision and mission of the school. If the policy does not support this aspect of the school, it should be retired. I believe that policies and procedures are very important. However, I also believe that they should be meaningful and sustainable. If the policy is not sustainable and we are not operating according to the policy, it is very important to retire the policy to ensure we are practicing what we say we are practicing. Out of date policies mitigate against clarity, consistency, and cohesion.

Writing a policy is not as difficult as it may sound. The first thing that we need to determine is what we are trying to accomplish by the action or procedure that we are going to set forth. For example, if we are implementing a policy and procedure for child safety, a school might start with a sentence such as:

“It is the policy of Local Mennonite School to maintain a safe environment for any person—student, faculty, or visitor—that is on the premises of this school”.

This is a very short statement. It defines exactly what we are trying to accomplish. A well-written policy is factual and to the point. It is not full of jargon, technical terms, or flowery narrative. This is the big picture idea that we promote.

Following this policy statement, we should include a list of definitions if there are terms that could be interpreted differently. This should include terms from any part of the policy or procedure. For example, one might want to define the term “safe environment” from the policy statement to ensure that each person knows what the school defines as a safe environment. This definition could be worded something like this:

“Safe Environment” refers to physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual safety for each person that enters the property and/or buildings of this school or participates in the activities of the school regardless of location.

While this too is a vague definition, it defines what areas of safety we concern ourselves with and what the environment is. The term safety is used because it is a broader term than abuse. While abuse certainly falls under the idea of safety, a lot of other potentially non-abusive behavior could also fall under this definition as well. There are other things that can cause an unsafe environment besides malicious actions. Young men doing donuts in the school parking lot after school may not be abusive, but it could be argued that they are not being safe. This policy makes it incumbent upon the school to ensure that the physical property and buildings as well as the events hosted by the school are safe for all that are present.

Following the definitions, we write the procedures that the school uses to provide for safety. While this is not all inclusive, an example of the procedure may look something like this:

1. The school will ensure that each teacher is interviewed, has appropriate background checks and references. References should not be immediate family members.
2. The school will ensure that all public areas are visible at all times. All doors must have an unblocked window with a full view of the classroom.
3. There will always be a teacher on the playground while children are playing.

Conclusion

It is without a doubt that a policy is simply a foundation for operations of a school or business. The policy itself will in no way take the work out of leading a school. But we can be certain that a strong leadership team with a strong organizational culture and well-written and managed policies and procedures will operate with more clarity, consistency, and cohesion. These traits will assist in running a sustainable and stable school for many generations. The work that is required to set up policies and procedures will be well worth the effort that is expended to establish written policies and procedures.

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