You have graduated from college, are out in ministry and now you may even be the one “calling the shots.” How you respond to challenges in your organization will impact how it moves forward. One of the most powerful tools to an organization is a policy. Policies and their counterpart procedures are essential to mitigating risk and creating efficiencies within an organization. Policies exist on important issues like “how employees should deal with minors” to less important ones like “how many pencils an employee is authorized to have at one time.” A biology professor of mine once explained that anything taken to an extreme was poisonous. He demonstrated this with the example of the most essential item to human survival, fresh water. It would only take three days to die from dehydration if water was not available. However, if it surrounds you, you will drown. While God’s grace is an exception to this rule, policies are not. Even though the value of policies is undeniable, like most things, too many are poisonous.

Here are some great questions to ask before creating a policy…

1) Would training be a better option? Age, discretion and competency are important to consider. While you may not come out and say, “I do not trust you,” that is exactly what you should be thinking when creating a policy. This can be either reactive or preemptive. However, it should be intentional, and your staff will be justified in feeling less than trusted. So, ask yourself if training would be a better option than a policy. Can you make them more trustworthy?

2) Is this a problem for one or the whole? If only one staff member displays a flaw in decision making, there are other solutions outside of policies. Professional development, on-the-job-training, performance reviews, incentives and even disciplinary action are all tools to modify undesired behaviors. However, nothing reduces morale like being inconvenienced by a bureaucratic solution to a behavior that the majority of your staff has not displayed. So, don’t take the bad decisions of one employee and transcribe them on the others.

3) What is the impact on the people I serve? One of the biggest and most common mistakes I run into when examining policies is that organizations (whether churches, schools, or businesses) create policies that impact their members negatively to make it easier on the staff. Staff must understand that difficult customers exist, and typically they are the minority. If a policy is put in place to deal with one difficult member and is applied to all members, you may create a dramatic reduction in your member’s perception of quality and overall satisfaction. So, use focus groups and surveys to determine how the policy will be received.

4) Is the policy flexible? Your staff should be able to display common sense when applying the policy. Nothing is more irritating than to be negatively impacted by a misapplied policy, and your staff should have an option for when the application of the policy is not “right.” So, be careful not to allow your staff to perceive the policy as more important than the relationship with the member.

Policies are important. Having a staff that can make good decisions is essential.

Matthew Heavener has an MBA in International Business and is the Director of Development for all of Trinity’s Ministries. He has owned and managed several businesses, and also has served as an Intelligence Officer while in the US Army.