Writers of policies and procedures will always face resistance and negative reactions to the finished product. Change can be difficult and can cause fear in employees. This chapter offers suggestions on how to lessen the resistance you undoubtedly will experience.
Campbell states, “The single most important thing you can do to combat negativity is to involve users upfront. Don’t end with involvement. Start with it.” One of the steps included in the original planning process was to talk to people and to get their input. Cooperation can be increased by involving people in the process from the beginning, even though it can be time-consuming. Even for those who still remain negative, by communicating with them early in the process, at least you will know who they are. “Forewarned is forearmed.”
As the writing process evolves, continue to gather input. Update potential users on the status, ask for opinions, and keep talking. Take the time to truly listen and to explain. Avoid portraying the message, “Trust us; we know best.” It will help to improve the final product and may also help to convert some of the resisters.
Final implementation will be less of a shock to users who have been included and educated throughout the process. For those who are unhappy, it is helpful listen to and acknowledge their feelings in a respectful way. Encourage questions. Let people vent. Enlist the help of those who are supportive of the changes. They can help to explain their positive reaction to those who are not happy. Some people will never be accepting of the change. It will be necessary to let them know that they are still expected to follow the change or to accept the consequences of non-compliance.
Grace periods can help to quell some resistance. The gradual transition period gives people time to adjust to the initial notice and allows them to ease in to the changes required. Reinforcing the message by repetition—in email, by posting it on a message board, by discussing it in staff meetings—will help to transition employees to the changes.
When the policy or procedure will be unpopular, “preempting” and “taking the heat” are two steps that will help you to deliver the bad news. “Preempting” involves anticipating objections and presenting them to the group before they have a chance to do so. By doing this, you can then follow up with a rebuttal response that addresses the objection and “steal(s) the objector’s thunder.” Patiently listening to objections and negative reactions, or “taking the heat,” can diffuse resistance as well by convincing users that you are willing to acknowledge negative reactions and to accept responsibility for them.
The chapter discusses common resistance factors towards policies and procedures and provides suggestions for dealing with them. For example, a policy might come across as being negative, unfair, pointless, or restrictive. It can be helpful to avoid negative words and to try to present things with a more positive spin. “Don’t take extended breaks” could also be written as “you must observe the scheduled break times.” Trying to see things from the users’ point of view, making sure that the organizations words and actions are consistent, and helping users to see how the policy might benefit them are ways to counteract some of the resistance factors.
And what if you strongly disagree with a policy or procedure that you have been asked to write? It can be valuable to acknowledge your own concerns, to even write them down. Then focus on the circumstances that are being addressed by the policy and the reasons behind them. Write these down as well. But ultimately, as a professional, you will need to abide by the policy, as others will. When writing the policy, give it your best effort and when implemented, help others to overcome their resistance.
When the process is over, take some time to review the policy or procedure. Is it working? Has anything changed? The process is not static, but is ongoing; things will eventually change, sooner, sometimes, rather than later.
(Team 5: Karen and Keeley)
12 comments:
I found some helpful points in this chapter, though they aren't necessarily specific to writing policies and procedures. With almost any change at work, I've found it useful to play devil's advocate and think of reasons why it won't work before trying to make it work. It helps to have other people you trust to do that too so that you can work the kinks out before you present it to a larger audience. Also, some resistance isn't easy to overcome, such as when the resistance is from a person in a higher status position. I wonder if that happens often to others who do technical work, that managers or others who may have been around for a while and who may not be comfortable with technology, resist changes recommended by those down the chain from them or outside their departments.
When it comes to policies and procedures, it can be hard to accept change. I was used to completing my tuition reimbursement forms at work one way, and they recently changed them. It's going to make it more work for me and cause me to wait longer to receive my reimbursement, which I'm not happy with, but I was given appropriate notice and reasons for the change, so that it is understandable and not so hard for me to accept and adapt.
Everyone at some point in their career will deal with some change in policy and procedure change. The way the book goes about it is great. Volunteering to be on the committee would be super and also enlising the help of employees would be even better. Getting the message out in the workplace without causing problems is going to tricky, but the book gives good ideas and helpful hints. New policies don't have to be a pain, they are meant to help a business move forward.
I agree with Jane: this chapter deals more with overall perception and change management that can be applicable to any process. THis info has been halpful to me, however, although it was more a reconfirm of what is going on at our company. We doubled in staff during the last 3 years, from 30 to 75 employees. The "old dogs" want to keep doing it the same informal way "we have always done it" while some of the new hires are from large corporations and are used to preoper documentation and reporting.I have come to realize that this growth process with come with growing pains and it will take time to establish the new corporate culture, a mix of old and new.
Not much to say here. I agree with the others that the chapter isn't near as applicable as those that deal with writing and design principles. I suppose one could take away the idea that as communicators, we need to be able to help management make the policies and procedures we write palatable for the employees. Simple word choice and avoiding those bad words (won't allow, can not, will not tolerate...and the like) are some of the ways we can be better communicators of company policy.
I would like to see a little more discussion about what to do when you really do need to fight against a particular policy or procedure. The stated advice is basically to suck it up and keep moving forward, but sometimes shouldn't a stronger stand be made? There's a hint in this chapter that some of these techniques will help you put out fires, but maybe some fires should be encouraged. What then?
The information was a bit generic to be ultra helpful, but I think some of the suggestions were good reminders about the process of change.
We recently had a major scheduling policy change. Our administration sought faculty opinion, but when all was said and done, administration rejected all of the faculty's suggestion and implemented the policy as originally presented. This same type of scenario may pose problems for technical communicators because the writers will not be able to implement all recommended changes.
As others have previously stated, this chapter was not as applicable to the work we are doing in this class, but I still feel that it is an essential chapter. It reminded me a lot of Barker in the emphasis on getting the user involved in the process, but replacing the users of a software document with users of a policy/procedure. It's kind of the same idea that a document will be more effective if those who will be using it get involved at an early stage.
Just to add to everyone's comments; Changes need to be explained and backed up well for less resistance to occur. I wonder if people behind the changes often know why the policy is being changed or implemented? What is the rationale? If so, they need to provide as much information as possible as Campbell state. Of course, this is not what happens usually in the organizations.
Our agency has currently undergone some changes to its policies, so this chapter resonated with me. I saw some of the management do what Campbell encourages. They included employees in the discussion process and tried to keep us involved and listen to our suggestions. I appreciate the communication when it was forward and honest.
I also agree with others that have commented about this chapter’s relevance. I don’t know if this chapter is ONLY applicable to the writing process-in our situation it wasn’t the policy writer that needed to explain the changes-it was the management and the directors who were making the changes.
For me the most important point in this article was to include the people in the decision making who will be affected by the procedures. Early buy-in helps them claim ownership for the procedure, and thus adoption.
This chapter shows just how critical the process is for developing procedures.
This chapter feels like another way to stress the importance of audience. I do believe that change is both inevitable and crucial. It is so obvious that every aspect of the writing of policies and procedures will adapt to changing conditions--that's just the way it goes. The technical writer must realize that this inevitability is part of his or her job.
While the chapter isn't really one about applying practice, it does serve as a reminder to us that our careers as technical writers will always be needed, and we need to evolve in order to make our jobs most effective.
Post a Comment