What is the purpose of policy in an organisation?

There is no one purpose of policy in an organisation although many organisations see it that way. Their only purpose is to have a document so that they can say "yes, tick that box. We've developed our policy on whatever the topic." In those instances, the main and sometimes only purpose of policy development is compliance. The government or some other authority dictates that one must have a policy about bullying, interview protocols or occupational health and safety and the workplace complies.

As someone who has helped to draft many policies, I still believe that policies have another and more laudable purposed.

Policies can be what I call 'the beacon on the hill'. They can inspire people to want to achieve goals that are going to remain out of reach for a while. Policies can aim higher than merely complying with the basics. Policy documents so often sit - or stand

• on shelves gathering dust until the mandatory review time. That's

because they were never readable, never written to reach the hearts as well as the minds of the people governed by the policy. Most policy documents are dry and uninspiring and therefore can never be put to the noble service of inspiring the people, from the Greek Word 'polis'

to live their lives in a better and more considered way.