People Over Policy!

Policy is defined as a course of action, guiding principle, or procedure considered expedient, prudent, or advantageous.  In other words a policy is supposed to guide things and make them overall more advantageous.  The problem with policies is that although they’re intended to make things more expedient for an organization, that expediency may be to the detriment of the people the organization is attempting to serve.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people use the company line and say “We don’t or can’t do XYZ, because it’s company policy.”  Policy is fine and dandy as long as it is not the 100% trump card over people.  There are times when your organization’s little written policy should be trumped by the need of the people the policy is intended to serve.

From time to time you will be faced with a situation where you feel that in order to do the right thing and serve the needs of people, you should do “Do ABC.”   On the other-hand applicable policy insists that you should  ”Do XYZ.”  When faced with these situations, I think that it’s important to consider some version of “ABC.”  In other words put People Over Policy.

People Over Policy is not an excuse to be someone that breaks all the rules.  People Over Policy is an excuse to be like Jesus, break the rules from time to time and embrace the notion that sometimes People Trump Policy.

People Over Policy!

What do you think?  Share your thoughts about a time where People Over Policy was or should have been utilized.