The special sauce in policy development

Often organizations want to build a strong policy development process, but struggle on identifying the how. My institution initiated a plan to develop a formal policy program based on our first policy on policies (POP). We went through various program designs, sponsors, and stops and starts. Until a project manager (PM) was assigned, developing clearly defined next steps (who, when, what, and why) was a challenge.  Our PM helped us develop a well-defined process with the following steps.

Project Management Process

Step 1: Identify the goal of the project.At the planning stage (following a presidential charge to develop a POP), our PM worked with the team to answer fundamental project management questions: What are you hoping to achieve? How will we measure that? What does success look like? After numerous planning meetings, we were able to identify our policy goals: 1) establish a university-wide policy review process to ensure strong guidelines to comply with internal processes and external regulations and 2) standardize the format and essential elements of all policies.

Step 2: Map out the scope.Our scope included an approval process to arrive at a new policy, the procedures, the marketing effort, committee structure, policy writers, comment period, and decision makers. Our PM made sure our project scope included the deliverables and the timeline for those deliverables.

Step 3: Develop a full outline. Your institution’s culture dictates this next step. Should the process begin all at once, a measured socialization process; or a slow rollout or some-type of hybrid? For us, the timeline addressed each area identified in our scope: policy (interim vs permanent), the procedures (public or internal), the marketing effort (website design, communication channels, and presentations), committee structure, policy writers, comment period, and decision-makers.

Step 4: Finalize your plan. All steps in the plan must be clearly identified and developed into a defined timeline. Our plan had to be vetted not only among the policy working group and concerned stakeholders, but also the senior sponsors to the program. Failure to keep all members involved in the final plan would inevitably guarantee a slowdown in progress.

Our Lessons Learned

1. Change is inevitable. Do not be afraid to readjust your plan. At our initial request, the PM designed the plan relying upon our request to work with a slow rollout in the hope we could gently socialize the process to all the stakeholders. However, this process created confusion and pushback in an uninformed manner. With the support of our PM, we were able to pivot to a full-roll out and we managed to get the project back on track quickly.
   
   
2. Avoid scope creep. Stick to the goals as set by the project management plan. One thing our PM consistently reminded the group: no scope creep! There is always lots to do. Ideally, the team should document the additional needs and schedule time/people to address independently of the current plan. At times, your project scope may change and/or expand. Revisit your plan from the top and adjust all steps accordingly.
   
   
3. Manage the delays. Delays may not be avoidable, but lapses in communications are avoidable. Our implementation rollout plan included a revamp of the location and look of the university policies, which resulted in a significant loss of time due to changes in team personnel. However, at all times, we kept the stakeholders and participants (e.g., marketing department, IT team) apprised of changes in the timelines.
   
   
4. Practice makes perfect. Recognize the need to spend time expounding the new process with the decision-makers and with those who will be tasked to employ the new policy regularly. Although the new process was reviewed and approved by the President’s Cabinet, we underestimated the need to “walk through” the first few policies. This caused a setback in comprehension and adoption as policy approvals inadvertently drifted back to prior processes.
   
   
5. Conduct a project postmortem. Assess how the policy development went from start to finish, including any bumps in the road you experienced. Did it run on schedule? If not, did you readjust/get back on schedule? What caused the delay? What would you change for the next policy rollout? Were there any major wins/lessons learned that will significantly impact your next policy rollout? You should also compare how your results fared with your initial plan. By taking this time to reflect, you will all but guarantee that your next policy under development doesn’t fall victim to the same mistakes.