Why More Policies Won’t Fix Your Workplace Culture
“We need a policy for this.” Organizations often try to fix culture with policies, procedures, and initiatives when the real issue is leadership behavior. Employee handbooks do not create the workplace culture. The daily interactions, accountability, conflict management style, and communication strategies do.
Oftentimes, leaders become overly dependent on written policies and procedures because they lack the confidence and security to set boundaries and have difficult conversations respectfully. But if the leaders of today would only take a chance and communicate decisions confidently, address conflict head-on, and practice accountability across their teams consistently, they would find that even the most challenging situations become a little easier to handle with practice.
You see, employees experience leadership styles, good or bad, through things like the leaders’ communication choices and how they respond under pressure—not which policy they can point to.
The Dress Code Debate:
A department manager noticed that several employees had started stretching the boundaries of the organization’s dress code. Nothing outrageous, but enough that other employees began asking questions.
The manager felt uncomfortable addressing it directly, so he sent an email to HR.
“Do we have a policy on this?’
HR, responded back with the dress code policy. A few days later one employee challenged the manger.
“Well technically, the policy doesn’t specifically say I can’t wear this.”
Instead of having a conversation with the employee, the manager directed the employee to contact HR and he also returned to HR saying that the policy is not clear enough. HR reviewed it and agreed that there might be room for clarification in a future update, but the immediate problem had not changed.
The issue wasn’t the policy itself; it was that the manager was not consistently enforcing it. He was depending on the policy to set his expectations, communicate boundaries, and address concerns directly.
Eventually, after the advisement of HR, the manager had a simple conversation with the employee:
“I understand the policy doesn’t mention this specific item of clothing. However, this does not align with the workplace standard we are trying to maintain as an organization. For now, I need everyone to follow the expectation. I will share your feedback about the policy with HR as well.”
The discussion took all of 5 minutes, and the employee began following the dress code as it was written.
Put it into Practice:
When leaders are unsure, they often search for stronger policy, subsequently avoiding the present situation and broadening the scope of the issue. By doing this, they inadvertently send the wrong message to their employees while also setting a negative precedent that reflects poorly on organizational culture.
When cultural problems occur, organizations often launch new initiatives. But confidence, accountability, and communication cannot be written into the employee handbook. The antidote to cultural problems is not always new policies. Sometimes it’s a leader who is willing to communicate clearly and address concerns respectfully, and hold people accountable consistently.
Policies are important because they support culture. Leaders shape culture.
This week, before asking “Do we have a policy for this?” ask a different question: “What leadership conversation needs to happen here?” and then follow these helpful steps:
State the expectation clearly
Listen to the employee’s perspective
Restate the boundary respectfully and provide available options or alternatives (if applicable)
Follow through consistently with this employee and all others.
If the policy needs improvement, work with decision makers to improve it later.
Reflection:
Consider your own leadership:
Where are you waiting for policy to solve a conversation problem
What issue have you escalated when a direct discussion might have resolved it?
Are you looking for more rules, or are you building more leadership courage?
What message does your team receive when you avoid difficult conversations?
Take this with you today:
Employees experience an organization one interaction at a time, not one policy at a time.
Is your organization’s culture intentional, or is it simply a reflection of your current leadership habits? Next month, we’ll explore management vs. leadership and whether the leaders in your organization have the skills required for the responsibility they’ve been given.
Stay Joyful
