Business Policies and Procedures: It's All About Perspective

When do business policies and procedures fail to deliver effective, efficient solutions? It's a question I found myself pondering recently, courtesy of a package from Amazon.

The first time Amazon sent me a photo of a delivered package sitting on my doorstep as proof of delivery, I was impressed. It was genuinely "outside the box" thinking (yes, pun intended), and a simply elegant answer to a common problem with deliveries.

But poor execution can derail even an elegant solution. The proof-of-delivery photo for another recent Amazon package showed nothing but a tight close-up of the shipping label and its barcode. The "Tell us what you think about this photo" link underneath is what prompted me to share the story.

What's Missing in Your Business Policies and Procedures?

What was missing from that photo, and what may well be missing from your own business policies and procedures, is perspective. A close-up of a label tells you nothing about where the photo was taken or where the package was placed. For all I could tell, it was taken in the next state over. As it turned out, the package had been delivered to one of my neighbors, who was kind enough to bring it over. I am just glad I did not have to go out searching for the package "well armed" with that photo.

Three Lessons the Photo Brought Home

The picture did "bring home" to me (yes, another intended pun) several important points:

• Perspective drives problem-solving. If you are not given adequate perspective, you will be quite challenged in solving your problems.
• Purpose drives execution. If your employees do not understand why a policy or procedure exists, they may be ineffective in implementing or maintaining it.
• Controls get circumvented. Our house is hard to find, and the delivery person may not have wanted to document a delivery to the wrong home. That label close-up was potentially an employee working around a control rather than following it.

Keeping an Elegant Solution Effective

The bottom line: sufficient perspective, a clearly shared purpose behind your business policies and procedures, and set rules that keep people from circumventing them will keep any elegant solution effective.

About Inglewood

Since 1983, Inglewood has delivered valuable business acumen to help clients meet a wide range of business challenges. Inglewood principals bring their wide-ranging experience as interim and full-time CEOs, CFOs, and board chairmen to craft effective solutions for each client's needs and circumstances. The firm specializes in business performance advisory, business turnarounds, interim management, M&A due diligence, expert witness work, and project management.