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9 Proven Tips to Improve Policy Management Blog-2021 Refining business operations, changing regulatory requirements, or threats to information security are just a few reasons you may be looking for tips to improve policy management. This initiative can include the entire organization or start with a single department. read more... about 9 Proven Tips to Improve Policy Management
Thursday, May 11, 20237 Proven Tips For Bringing Your Policy and Procedure Communication Into The 21st Century Blog-1050 Organizations that integrate clear P&Ps into everyday life realize improved quality, reduced training/turnover costs, and a more empowered workforce. (Results like 75% error reduction, a 50% reducti read more... about 7 Proven Tips For Bringing Your Policy and Procedure Communication Into The 21st Century
Wednesday, May 10, 2023How to Modernize Your Policy and Procedure Communication Blog-1003 Throughout our 30 + year company history, we have witnessed over and over how clearly communicated systems, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and policies can transform business results. read more... about How to Modernize Your Policy and Procedure Communication
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Policy Procedures – 7 Signs You Have Outgrown MS Word Blog-1005 If your method for developing SOPs and policies is MS Word® or MS Excel® you may be unaware that there is a better way! Don’t get us wrong, MS Word is a fantastic tool for general purposes—just not for SOPs. If you only have a handful of procedures that rarely change, then the “do-it-yourself” in MS Word approach may be OK. read more... about Policy Procedures – 7 Signs You Have Outgrown MS Word
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Zavanta Software Principles Highlighted in New Book "Secrets of Success with Procedures" Blog-1008 In his book Secrets of Success with Procedures , Jack Nicholas, Jr., BS, MBA, P.E., CMRP, CRL, internationally recognized expert in business operations and maintenance reliability and a decorated US Navy veteran and naval engineer, shares his experiences on the importance of written procedures to operations success. read more... about Zavanta Software Principles Highlighted in New Book "Secrets of Success with Procedures"
Wednesday, April 5, 2023What Hurts? Addressing Points of Pain with Policies and Procedures Blog-1012 Admittedly, Hemingway probably had something more poetic in mind than SOPs, but the advice still holds. Clients implement Zavanta software for a variety of reasons, chief among them are growing pains. Whether it is the confusion that seems to strike at around 50 employees, fast growth, or operations that are so borderline non-operational-it hurts. read more... about What Hurts? Addressing Points of Pain with Policies and Procedures
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Writing - the Foundation of Good Policies and Procedures Blog-1013 I spent a lot of time thinking about writing. I spend a lot of time reading about writing. And yes, I also write about writing. It is a baseline for most of my client conversations, because without writing you can’t get to the sharing and managing part of SOPs. read more... about Writing - the Foundation of Good Policies and Procedures
Wednesday, April 5, 20234 Essential Tips for Ensuring Policy and Procedure Compliance Blog-1017 4 Essential Tips for Ensuring Policy and Procedure Compliance For over 30 years COMPROSE has worked with organizations across all industries — commercial banks, credit unions, hospitals, labs, government agencies, non-profits – just to name a few. read more... about 4 Essential Tips for Ensuring Policy and Procedure Compliance
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Create user-friendly Policies & Procedures that work with Microsoft SharePoint ® Blog-1051 Now it’s even easier to integrate Zavanta® Policy and Procedure software with MS SharePoint® Watch Video Click here to access SlideShare presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/comprose/creating-policies-and-procedures-for-use-with-ms-share-point-44527853 There are hundreds of products on the market for “managing” content. read more... about Create user-friendly Policies & Procedures that work with Microsoft SharePoint ®
Wednesday, April 5, 2023SOPs -- Why Not Just the Steps? Blog-1053 This question comes up a lot in our Zavanta implementation sessions: Why not just list the steps for how to do a task? Clearly, the actions (steps) are the major part of any SOP, but not the only information that makes a good SOP. If you adopt a “just the steps” approach you are missing a lot of important information. read more... about SOPs -- Why Not Just the Steps?
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip: In Steps Use Powerful Verbs that Show Action Blog-1059 Nothing happens on a Hollywood movie set until the Director hollers Action! The same is true when it comes to procedures. Have you ever tried to follow a written procedure and work instruction and not been able to figure out what you are supposed to DO? It’s the actions that you want people to perform that make everything happen. read more... about Tip: In Steps Use Powerful Verbs that Show Action
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip -- Use S-V-O Pattern for Reader-friendly Procedures Blog-1070 If your goal is writing reader-friendly procedures and policies that get read and used consider how you write your sentences. In addition to using simple, direct terms avoid unnecessarily complex syntax. Subject verb object is the easiest sentence pattern in English to read and understand. read more... about Tip -- Use S-V-O Pattern for Reader-friendly Procedures
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Are Your P&Ps GOOD or Bad? Here’s the Definitive Test Blog-1077 Many companies have heated internal debates on this question: “Are our written policies and procedures (P&Ps) good or bad? “ How do you know? Some people measure quality based on whether P&Ps exist and are physically accessible to staff, whether they are grammatically correct, or how they look. read more... about Are Your P&Ps GOOD or Bad? Here’s the Definitive Test
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Don’t mix up Policies and Procedures (How tos) Blog-1079 We frequently see the same common errors companies make when writing policies and procedures. Mixing up policies and procedures information all in the same document is one of the biggest mistakes that can really keep your policies and procedures from getting read and used. read more... about Avoiding Common Pitfalls: Don’t mix up Policies and Procedures (How tos)
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Cut to the Chase! Avoid Pompous Words in Procedures Blog-1082 When writing policies and procedures for your organization keep this mantra in mind: Time is money and people are busy! Cut to the chase! When they read your organization’s policies and procedures, your colleagues and employees don’t want to be impressed with unnecessary big words and an inflated vocabulary. read more... about Cut to the Chase! Avoid Pompous Words in Procedures
Wednesday, April 5, 2023For Better Procedures Choose the Right Words Blog-1091 As we mentioned in an earlier post 4 Key Elements To Good Procedures , the audience is first element you should keep in mind for writing policies and procedures that your colleagues and employees WANT to read. As you draft the text, continually ask what your employee readers need to know and how they want to see information presented. read more... about For Better Procedures Choose the Right Words
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Key Elements To Good Procedures -- Understand Your Audience Blog-1104 Procedures exist to be read and used. The first step in writing a good procedure is to know whom it is you are writing for. As we mentioned in an earlier post 4 Key Elements To Good Procedures , the first element you should keep in mind for writing policies and procedures that your colleagues and employees WANT to read and is the audience. read more... about Key Elements To Good Procedures -- Understand Your Audience
Wednesday, April 5, 2023One Big Reason Your Procedures Don’t Get Used -- Forgetting Usability Testing Blog-1107 One of the biggest mistakes people make when writing policies and procedures, really doesn’t involve writing at all. The mistake is failing to test. If you want a recipe for policies and procedur read more... about One Big Reason Your Procedures Don’t Get Used -- Forgetting Usability Testing
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Organize Procedures Around the Reader's Needs Blog-1110 As we mentioned in an earlier post 4 Key Elements To Good Procedures , the second key element you should keep in mind for writing good procedures is pay attention to the order you present information in your document. If you understand the typical way readers interact with procedure documents you can arrange information more effectively and write a better procedure. read more... about Organize Procedures Around the Reader's Needs
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Should I Buy Boilerplate Policy and Procedure Manuals? Blog-1116 The answer depends on your situation and business need. There are tons of corporate policy and procedure examples on the web as well as many companies that sell pre-written company procedure manuals. However, most are Employee Manuals, not Operations Manuals and there is a difference. read more... about Should I Buy Boilerplate Policy and Procedure Manuals?
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip -- Banish Worn Out Cliches from Your Manuals Blog-1134 Clichés are those tired overused phrases you hear a lot but don’t communicate much anymore. Cliches are often just verbal clutter and can make your writing boring or annoying which won’t help the readability or credibility of your company procedures manuals and training guides. read more... about Tip -- Banish Worn Out Cliches from Your Manuals
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip -- Be SPECIFIC when Writing Step by Step Instructions Blog-1135 If your goal is writing policies and procedures that get read and used, pay special attention when writing step by step instructions. Tell the reader exactly what to do when you give instructions. Do not assume that your readers will know what you mean. read more... about Tip -- Be SPECIFIC when Writing Step by Step Instructions
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip -- Beware Acronym Overload Blog-1136 Acronyms are short hand abbreviations for longer terms and phrases. e.g. IRS is the acronym for the Internal Revenue Service. Although there’s nothing wrong with using acronyms—they can save time and ink—beware acronym overload and use acronyms with caution. read more... about Tip -- Beware Acronym Overload
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip -- Provide both the ACTION and the RESULT of Steps Blog-1137 Here’s another tip for writing policies and procedures and employee manuals that get good results. Provide the RESULT as well as the Action in your steps. This is an simple but powerful way to keep people from taking a wrong turn and getting confused, or worse still making a costly error! Unless you tell your readers what to look for, they will not know if the result they get is correct or not. read more... about Tip -- Provide both the ACTION and the RESULT of Steps
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Tip -- Use Specific Rather Than Abstract Words Blog-1138 If your goal is to have your organization’s employee manuals and training guides read and used, keep this tip in mind when writing policies and procedures. Don’t be vague! Abstract terms are harder to understand and frequently boring and lifeless. read more... about Tip -- Use Specific Rather Than Abstract Words
Wednesday, April 5, 2023Answers: Is it a Policy, Process, Procedure, or Work Instruction? Blog-2006 In a previous post, "Do you know the difference between policies and procedures...? " we gave the following list of topics. What is each one? Policy , Process , Procedure , or Work Instruction ? Answers are below. read more... about Answers: Is it a Policy, Process, Procedure, or Work Instruction?
Wednesday, April 5, 2023