How can you prioritize the most important policies in administrative policy development?

1 Assess the needs and risks

Before you start drafting or revising any policy, you need to assess the needs and risks of your organization and your stakeholders. What are the goals and objectives of your organization? What are the legal, ethical, and professional standards that you must comply with? What are the potential threats or challenges that you may encounter? What are the expectations and feedback of your staff, customers, partners, and regulators? By answering these questions, you can identify the gaps and issues that require policy intervention and the level of urgency and impact of each policy.

2 Align with the vision and values

Another way to prioritize the most important policies is to align them with the vision and values of your organization. Your policies should reflect and support the mission, vision, and values of your organization, and help you achieve your strategic goals and outcomes. You should also consider how your policies align with the external environment, such as the industry trends, best practices, customer preferences, and stakeholder interests. By aligning your policies with the vision and values of your organization, you can ensure that they are relevant, consistent, and effective.

3 Prioritize by impact and feasibility

Once you have assessed the needs and risks and aligned your policies with the vision and values of your organization, you can prioritize them by their impact and feasibility. Impact refers to how much your policy will affect the performance, quality, efficiency, or safety of your organization and your stakeholders. Feasibility refers to how easy or difficult it will be to implement your policy, considering the resources, time, skills, and support available. You can use a matrix or a scoring system to rank your policies by their impact and feasibility, and focus on the ones that have high impact and high feasibility first.

5 Monitor and evaluate

Finally, you should monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your policies on a regular basis. You should establish clear indicators and criteria to measure the outcomes and impacts of your policies, and collect and analyze data and feedback from your stakeholders. You should also review and update your policies as needed, based on the changing needs, risks, and opportunities of your organization and your environment. By monitoring and evaluating your policies, you can ensure that they are achieving their intended goals and objectives, and address any gaps or issues that may arise.