Policy that sticks

Does anyone write corporate policies these days? By ‘anyone’ I mean ‘anyone with a heart that pumps blood’. If your answer is ‘yes’, why on earth bother? Our algorithmic allies churn out very reasonable policy drafts in seconds flat with a simple prompt.

What possible value can the human touch add to corporate policies?

My answer, coming after years of working to make sensible risk and compliance policy, is that only humans can make a policy that sticks. By all means start with ChatGPT – it's not cheating. But take what comes from the Intertubes and refine it with oxygen-breathing stakeholders to make it work in your organisation.

Policy making is an opportunity to understand the organisation better, not to tell it what to do. Reams of corporate policy are produced without insight and published without effect because the writer fails to collaborate and iterate. Sooner or later, the limitations of such shelfware are laid bare. Incidents and adverse audit outcomes reveal that people don't know and don't follow the rules.

Artificial intelligence can write a policy. Save your smarts to do what only humans can - working together to give the policy meaning, significance and power.