Listening to Brenee Brown’s interview with James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, I was reminded about the necessity for policies to be an atomic habit in health, social and education services.

Goals are the results we want. Policies and procedures provide a system to get there. But too often policies and procedures are relegated to compliance. We forget their relevance to our goals. So how can we keep reminding ourselves?

Better still how we can make referring to policies and procedures an organisational atomic habit?

4 criteria for an atomic habit

James Clear proposes four criteria for building a new habit. These can be used to help build a policy-use habit in your organisation.

The four criteria are that the habit is “obvious”, “easy,” “attractive” and “satisfying.”

Make it obvious

Stone composition on the beach.

If you want people to do something, they’re more likely to do it if it’s there for them – they see it, remember it etc. Conversely, out of sight, out of mind.

Policies are often not “top of mind” when they should be in a organisation and that can reflect that they are buried in a mass of other organisational files and business.  It seems easier, “more obvious” in this context to ask your manager about what to do rather than refer to the relevant policy.

To make using organisational policies an obvious choice for staff, the organisation at all levels needs to promote and actively encourage its member to use the policies:

• when staff come to you with questions, refer them to the policies
• each time policies are reviewed and updated and when relevant to discussion go through them with your team.

Make your policies and procedures visible to staff so they are reminded of them. For example, in the Policy Place online service, all the policies and procedures are obvious as a lefthand menu. By clicking on a policy category, staff can view relevant policies.

Make it attractive

checking her home finances online

Policies rarely conjure an attractive picture. They’re more likely to be associated with dusty old manuals and text-heavy documents/

But at the Policy Place, we show it can be done. Policies can be attractive. Our members’ policies carry their own branding. We include pictures and youtube links to videos and use hyperlinks and pages to reduce text.

We want people to use the polices so let’s make them as attractive as possible.

Make it easy

Organisational policies should help your agency give practical effect to and comply with legislative and regulatory requirements. They should make things easier.

But the challenge with policies is that it’s not just a one-off exercise. You have to keep them up-to-date with law and regulatory changes etc and review them regularly to keep in line with practice.  This can be hard when you have many other operational priorities.

But if policies aren’t kept updated, it becomes hard for staff to trust that they provide correct and reliable guidance. At the Policy Place we also see policies that have become complex and confusing because people have added to them in a hurry to address an issue without considering the ramifications for other policies.

Make it satisfying

For staff to become habitual policy users, they need to derive some benefit from using policies. If policies are simple and provide clear guidance without undue restriction then staff will benefit from using them. They will have the reward of an answer to their question in the immediate sense. Longer-term, as they get used to referring to policies, they will feel safer and more confident in their identity as practitioners.

At the PolicyPlace we’re always dealing with busy people, who often feel overwhelmed by the job of having to do and updated policies. We understand and want to help. That’s why we have our online policy system.

Contact us to join our online system. You will get your policies online. Even better, we keep the policies reviewed and updated.

It’s time to celebrate the first language of Aotearoa with Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori. 

Kia kaha te reo Māori!

Te reo Māori is a taonga protected by the Treaty of Waitangi. The Crown and its funded entities like education, social and health agencies, has a duty to actively protect it.

What does active protection mean?

The duty of active protection has been considered by the Waitangi Tribunal in a number of its decisions, including in its report on the Kōhanga Reo claim case and its more recent report on Oranga Tamariki – He Pāharakeke, he Rito Whakakīkinga Whāruarua.

Put simply, it means that if, as a country, we’ve caused harm (eg by suppression of Te Reo Māori; policies and procedures embedding institutional racism), we have to take active steps to address the impacts along with steps to prevent future harm.

Steps can, of course, be taken in different ways depending on what your agency does and who it serves. But it’s an important starter that you have a statement of commitment with some key steps you’re going to take laid out in your organisational policies and procedures.

A plan can help

Another way to support your progress and to counteract Anglo-centrism (ie using only English) is to specifically plan with staff about how the agency will fulfill its duty to actively protect and nurture the language.

We’ve suggested this previously as a way to keep a focus on and progress with building capability in te reo Māori.

The plan should be supported by your policies and procedures. It should be included in your regular planning and reviews as an organisation.

Accreditation and compliance for health, disability, education and social service purposes require cultural competence, cultural safety and performance of obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Learning and developing competency in te reo me ngā tīkanga Māori to the extent we can should therefore be a priority.

Some food for thought

Here’s some questions to consider when developing and/or revising your plan or strategy to progress Te Reo Māori in your workplace:

• What’s the level of competence and comfort with the use of te reo me  ngā tīkanga Māori across board and staff?
• What’s the language of the area/rohe?
• How is usage encouraged and supported within the organisation and promoted more widely?
• How do Māori know they are welcome and have a right to speak te reo when engaging with the agency?
• Is there opportunity for you to check for and respond to people’s cultural preferences (in terms of practice and language)?
• How is language and culture expertise valued in recruitment and performance reviews?
• What are some kupu Māori that can be used as part of your agency’s everyday language/terminology?

Some strategies

If you’re short on ideas for what to include in your plan, you could consider including some or all of the following:

• policy and procedures supporting kaimahi/staff and volunteers to pronounce kupu Māori correctly, particularly the names of people and places and frequently used phrases
•  incentives for staff to commence or further their learning of te reo
• stronger provision in policies and procedures for cultural supervision and cultural advice
• making the reo more visible in the organisation (eg signage, labels)
• remuneration for competency in te reo me ngā tīkanga Māori and recognition of expertise as a core job competency
• supporting national promotions of te reo (eg Te Wiki o te reo Māori).

So … kōrero Māori and enjoy 

Enjoy Te wiki o Te Reo Māori and let’s commit together to building our ability to nurture and protect the beautiful language of Aotearoa!