Implementing Policies

I recently went to my bank's drive-thru teller to make a deposit.  He sent back my deposit because I had not listed all the checks on the deposit slip - I just totaled them.   I had an interchange about this where I wondered if this were a new policy, he assured me it was not and I commented that in many years of using the drive-thru I had never been asked to do this before.

This made me think about all the policies in schools that are on the books - so-to-speak - but are either not enforced or are enforced periodically.  There comes a time when the head, or the trustees or a dean of students might decide that things have gotten sloppy and that the policy needs to be enforced across the board.  This often happens at the start of a school year or new semester, when there is a change in leadership or when there has been an egregious violation.  What leaders need to remember is that stakeholders may have a variety of responses to this "new" policy.  As with anything that is perceived as a change, you will have push-back, complaints and joy. It is not enough to just say that this is our policy and always has been. People are not reacting to whether it is a policy so much as to whether it has been a serious policy and carefully and consistently implemented or whether it has been perceived as one of those things that can be circumvented or unevenly administered depending on who you are. Implementation may not be smooth just because of the variety of reactions.  Be ready for them.  If you really mean to implement this policy and keep at it, expect the reactions and factor them into your plans.