4. Reduce Business Process Training Time

A policies and procedures manual is a functional guide for training new and existing employees. It prevents difficulties in performing duties due to lack of understanding or inconsistent approaches from personnel changes. And it will assist you in developing a consistent method in handling any task.

5. Improve Productivity and Decision Making

Policies and procedures speed up employee decision making by having a handy, authoritative source for answering questions. Well-developed and documented manuals can ensure compliance with regulatory agencies affecting your business, including Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), government contracting authorities and independent certification organizations (i.e. ISO).

6. Strengthen Organization and Quality

A comprehensive manual covering all departments within an organization can become a "quality" manual for whole company. This will help ensure optimal operations and consistent delivery of finest in product or service from company.

It will "empower” employees to make decisions independently without need or time delays of involving various levels of management. A well thought out manual will enable just about everyone in organization ability and flexibility to make right decisions in his or her job responsibilities.

For example, a customer service representative should be able to handle a customer's problem and have authority to resolve problem right on spot. In addition, a production team should be able to diagnose a quality problem and formulate and resolve problem in conjunction with engineering without having to go through various channels up and down corporate ladder.

7. Meet Objectives with Policies and Procedures Manual

The goal of policies and procedures manual is to identify ways and means of communicating, as well as getting service performed or product manufactured at least cost in minimal amount of time. Not only will it be used to empower organization, but it will have added benefit of increasing job satisfaction and employee morale.

Chris Anderson is the managing director of Bizmanualz, Inc. and co-author of policies and procedures manuals, producing the layout, process design and implementation to increase performance.

Unfortunately there are no tests for specific skills a company needs in a top leader. The only way to determine actual performance history for a candidate is to dig.

There are cases where incomplete due diligence has led to an inferior hiring decision. In one case, a company seeking a new CEO was interested in someone with a track record in forming global alliances. Less than 18 months later new CEO was out, after having botched critical relationships. As we found out in a historical review, CEO had relied on a director of his previous company – a powerful former ambassador – to forge international alliances that led that company into new markets. This specific information was not uncovered until after hiring decision was made.

Obstacles to Internal Succession When a company is performing well, there is a tendency to look to incumbent for input in choosing a successor. But issues of loyalty and obligation to a second-in-command, and a natural tendency to push like-minded candidates, make incumbent a less than objective analyst. The incumbent may also have some ambivalence about “passing baton” and concerns about how his successor will represent him in future.

There may also be a tendency to rely on senior management and HR for input. While it’s important that they not be cut out of succession process, they tend to identify good workers and implementers. While these individuals benefit any organization, they don’t necessarily make best leaders. In-house problem-solvers are also often considered for top posts, but good problem-solving ability does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with effective long-range strategic thinking.

Using Independent Insight for Better Decisions An independent search consultant can spend time necessary to objectively evaluate candidates’ strengths and performance records. An outsider can chart leadership development over decades, using exhaustive fact-finding and asking kind of pointed questions about observed, measurable performance that insiders might find difficult to ask. The right consultant can also provide increased assurance of anonymity and thereby increase likelihood of accurate assessments from superiors, subordinates and peers. Regardless whether a company limits itself to internal candidates or “goes to search,” an objective assessment is necessary. An independent consultant can assess candidates to ensure that all possibilities are considered, regardless of preferences of board members or sitting CEO. The consultant serves as an unbiased, independent “voice” for company, and has its interests as an exclusive priority.

Rather than attempting to fight natural forces of human nature, board members need to be aware of their own biases, especially as they develop relationships with other stakeholders in succession process. Using an independent consultant as an objective resource for identifying needs and analyzing candidate fit goes a long way toward demonstrating fulfillment of directors’ fiduciary responsibility to make best, impartial decisions in shareholders interests.

© 2005 Dr. Robert Karlsberg & Dr. Jane Adler