Policies 101 - Practical Strategies for Success in your NDIS business.

You have started your business; you have customers that you service and all the practicalities of starting a company seem to be done. But what about your policies?

"Policy to Practice" is a term that summarises the process of translating policies, procedures, and guidelines into the concrete actions.

Internal Services	External Services
Internal services encompass interactions among employees and concern their experience with management and the relationship between employees and leadership within your company. This includes various policies such as Human Resources Work Health and Safety Payroll Procedures	Here are the policies that are in line with your customers and their networks, which may cover: Service Delivery Approach: This outlines how you will provide your services to customers. Operational Procedures: These detail the actions to be taken and specify how your employees will conduct themselves.

What is the importance of having robust policies in place?

Policy Development and Compliance:

• Registered NDIS providers are mandated to have policies and procedures aligning with the NDIS Practice Standards and the NDIS Code of Conduct.

• Even unregistered providers are held accountable to adhere to the NDIS Code of Conduct, highlighting the importance of compliance when working with participants.
  

Understanding Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines:

• Policies: Serve as foundational principles rooted in your companies’ values, offering a broad framework for expected conduct and decision-making.

• Procedures: Provide clear instructions outlining specific actions and steps to be taken in various scenarios or tasks, clarifying roles, responsibilities, and behavioural expectations.

• Guidelines, Processes, and Forms: Serve as supportive tools to procedures, aimed at aiding tasks, promoting consistency, and ensuring efficiency in workflow.

Putting policies into practice:

• Incorporating them into your Daily Operations: Execution of policies and procedures involves embedding them into the daily operations and routines of your company.

• Training and Education: Equipping employees with the necessary knowledge and understanding of your policies, procedures, and guidelines through training sessions ensures your employee’s are knowledgeable.

• Role Definition: Clearly defining roles and responsibilities within the context of policies and procedures safeguards an understanding amongst your employees, lessening confusion, and vagueness.

• Feedback Procedures: Establishing feedback pathways allows for ongoing assessment and improvement of policies and procedures based on real-world experiences and insights, not only from your employee’s but your customers as well.

• Continuous Improvement: Having ongoing improvement of your services and having a company culture that encourages all your staff to look for ways to improve your operations has a great flow on effect to your customers.

Benefits of Efficient Policies:

• Compliance: If you are registered provider, it helps you to ensure your adherence to the NDIS regulatory requirements and industry standards, easing risks of non-compliance.

• Consistency: Promotes stability in decision-making and service delivery, improving overall quality and reliability of your business to your customers.

• Accountability: Holds you responsible for your actions and behaviours, promoting transparency and trust.

• Quality Assurance: Assists in the provision of high-quality services that meet the needs and expectations of your customers, only improving satisfaction and outcomes.

• Customer Experience: These define the kind of experience your customers can expect when they use your support and services.
  

What does a good policy look like?

1. Simple Language: A good policy should be easy to understand. Consider offering easy-read versions for your customers.

2. General Yet Clear: Keep policies broad enough to cover various situations but clear enough to be applicable. Don't try to cover every possibility.

3. Relevance: Clearly explain why the policy exists, who it affects, the conditions, restrictions, and how it applies.

4. Compliance: Ensure policies align with NDIS regulations and other governing bodies. Check for accuracy and relevance.

5. Enforceability: Make sure policies can be enforced. Don't commit to obligations without the necessary resources.

6. Defined Roles: Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the policy. Ensure accountability for carrying out duties.

7. Conciseness: Keep policies short and to the point. Lengthy policies can be hard to understand and apply. If a topic requires more detail, like a mealtime management policy, go through it step by step with staff.

Sample of a Policy

What are some basic policies you should consider?

Basic Participant Policies	Basic Employee Policies	Basic Company Policies
Person Centre Support	Code of Conduct	Conflict of Interest
Complaints and Feedback	Workplace Bullying	Continuous Improvement
Service Agreement	Worker Health and Safety	Quality Management
Child Safety Policy	Compensation and return to work	Emergency and Disaster Management
Cultural Security for Participants	Leave	Information Management
Service Entry and Exit	Risk Management and Procedure	Business Continuity
Duty of Care	Social Media	Work Health Safety and Environmental
Privacy and Confidentiality	Manual Handling	Incident Management

Where can you find policies?

You can access resources online, such as the NDS, which offers ideas and resources to work from.

Additionally, you have the option to purchase pre-written policies from specialised companies. These policies can then be customised to fit your specific business needs.

Drawing inspiration from existing NDIS and Government policies can also assist you.

You can use our sample as the basic template of how your policies can be formatted.

If you want to explore the NDIS and their policies, hit the links:

NDIS Policies

NDIS Commission provider obligations and practice standards

We wish you well, as always

The Lama Care Team