Once again I'm packing up my hotel room so I can move everything to the main office and then go home once again for what always feels like a very short weekend. I absolutely hate the process of packing up my room, but last year I was paying for time that I wasn't here and it got pretty expensive. I have better ways of throwing my money away where I actually enjoy myself.

Fair Dealing
Giulia Forsythe via Compfight

The strange thing is that I never feel the same stress when I'm leaving home to go out of town. You'd think that pressure would be greater and yet it never is. There are two reasons for that. One, I know I can always buy whatever I need when I'm out of town so there's no big deal if I forget something. Two... I have a cheat sheet to help me pack.

I created it back in 2005 when I was doing my second long traveling stint. Because I drove, and of course times were different then, I could take everything with me in the car, which was better because things cost less at home than in Westchester County. Also, I was packing a suitcase every week as opposed to now, and I also did laundry every week as opposed to now.

Why don't I have a sheet when I'm out of town and it's time to pack? I don't really know. I realize that it might help cut down some of the stress, but I also know that when push comes to shove, I'll get it done, tossed into one of my two boxes, my laundry basket or my main travel bag, which I brought the first time I went out of town and have left ever since.

I tell this story because I know it's the story of so many businesses in this country, including where I'm working right now. There are standards that have been passed down over time but few actually written policies. There are some written procedures, but that's about it.

Why the need for written policies? Because things change and people change and interpretations change. Because most information gets passed down by someone who heard if from someone else who heard it from someone else... how many times can you say that? You also know it's true.

A lot of what I do comes down to interpretation. Suffice is to say that not everyone agrees with my interpretation of things because I don't agree with everything someone else says all the time. However, everything would go along much more smoothly if there were specific policies to address things as opposed to one overriding policy that, though it seems like it could be a good idea, is lacking because it really doesn't address the issue and leaves so many gray areas unattended.

In any case I did a video on the subject as well to help hammer out the issue. What do you think about having written policies and procedures? Helpful, needed, or just a waste of time? Check out the video, then let me know.
 


http://youtu.be/MVZuz1uZzLw