Seth Godin post a brilliant snippet about policies.
Not only does he make a great point, and share a good idea; he also succeeds in getting you to relate to the topic right from the start. (Story tellers will rule the world one day, I swear!)
Who has not lived thru one of these as a customer? Libraries (some) are intent on writing policies, as soon as ONE event or customer steps off the beaten path. We love policies. I want to speak up, (really, sometimes I want to scream!) each time I see pages and pages of minute, complex, "overthought" narrative trying to predict every single possible scenario relating to the use or feared abuse of one of our resources. We do this with the best intentions too. We want to ensure fairness, prepare our staff for all possibilities, remain ready for all eventualities etc., etc., etc. Right now, trying to justify the creation of a MySpace account for MPOW... Well, this will require a policy right?
Really, then when we start trying to "empower" our front line staff, we end up writing layer after layer of exceptions, increasing complexity and good reasoning each time.
I do enough training to know what it can do to a new employee. Here the rule, here's how/when you should break it... Frankly I would rather spend my time making sock puppets.
Why not THROW AWAY the rule once it no longer serves a purpose, or if it never did.
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