Your policies and procedures

If you don’t like the way people at work treat you, do you think it might be your fault? Each day you educate those around you about what you would not tolerate and what is acceptable.

Companies write manuals of their operating policies and procedures.

These are the rules that govern how the company will operate, what the company expects and what the company will not tolerate. {{more}} If companies do this, shouldn’t you have your own policies and procedures that govern the way you work, what you expect and what others need to know when they want to interact with you?

Although the idea may seem far-fetched and rigid to some people, you already have your personal policies and procedures. If you are pleased with your relationships, you communicated in some way what is acceptable to you. If you are unhappy with your current interactions with your colleagues and boss, you communicated to them as well that it was O.K to treat you in a disrespectful manner.

So how do you change? First consider what is it that you would like to change by examining the behaviors you simply would no longer put up with. These behaviors could be things you do or things people do to you.

It’s important to write your policies and procedures and place them in a visible location as a reminder of who you are and what you stand for. It’s easy to get side tracked as we’ve seen from the many business scandals over the years.

Please remember you cannot change the way people will behave but you can change the way you react to their behaviors and that is the key to changing the way people treat you.

Here are a few of my personal policies and procedures:

1. Honesty is the only policy in matters of finance.

2. I will not engage in activities, or conversation that degrades, hurts or violates another person.

3. Losing my temper especially in public places is not an option

4. Time is one of my most valuable currencies. I will always be on time or even early to all meetings and appointments regardless of who I am meeting with.

5. No work on Sundays. Email or voicemail is not checked and friends and clients know not to call and discuss business.

Once you have decided what your policies are, it’s important to stick to them and take them seriously.