Policy is needed whenever neither giving feedback or an operational (one-time) decision seems effective and efficient enough. One can think of policy as short-cuts. Imagine all individual decisions were made by getting everyone together and hearing everyone until everyone understands everyone else’s needs. That would take too long. So instead, we make an effort to understand all the needs at play and make policy, trusting that all needs are considered and that everyone in the organization trusts that being accountable to existing policy means to be able to act with consideration without having to solicit everyone’s thoughts on everything.
For more information, check out our handbook Many Voices One Song section 3.1 and chapter 3