Policy Management Framework and Governance Documentation

Course overview

Course outline

1. 1Day One: The Role of Policies in Governance

   • How policies connect strategy, risk appetite and operations
   • Policies, standards, procedures and guidelines distinguished
   • Consequences of poor policy management
   • Regulatory expectations for documented controls
   • Assessing the maturity of a policy framework
   • Policy management roles across the organisation
   • Exercise: assessing a sample policy library
2. 2Day Two: Designing the Policy Framework

   • Creating a policy on policies
   • Policy hierarchy, taxonomy and numbering
   • Ownership, sponsorship and accountability
   • Approval levels and governance committee roles
   • Templates and mandatory document elements
   • Policy management systems and central repositories
   • Workshop: designing a policy framework
3. 3Day Three: Writing Effective Policies and Procedures

   • Principles of plain language policy writing
   • Structuring policies for clarity and usability
   • Writing procedures, flowcharts and work instructions
   • Making requirements specific and enforceable
   • Avoiding duplication and conflicting requirements
   • Consulting stakeholders and legal review
   • Exercise: rewriting a poorly drafted policy
4. 4Day Four: Governance Documents and Delegations

   • Board and committee charters and terms of reference
   • Designing a delegation of authority framework
   • Financial and operational authority matrices
   • Sub-delegation rules and documentation
   • Keeping governance documents aligned with structure changes
   • Testing adherence to delegated authorities
   • Workshop: building a delegation of authority matrix
5. 5Day Five: Life Cycle, Communication and Compliance

   • Review cycles, version control and archiving
   • Managing policy exceptions and waivers
   • Communicating and training staff on policies
   • Staff attestations and policy acknowledgements
   • Monitoring compliance and reporting breaches
   • Auditing the policy framework
   • Personal action plan for policy management