About the course
Poor policies and procedures cost organisations dearly.
This elearning course teaches you how to write policies and procedures that people actually understand and follow. It's based on Cherryleaf's popular instructor-led training; now available online, whenever you need it.
We’ll cover the full lifecycle: scoping and stakeholder input, mapping workflows, choosing the right structure, and writing in plain language.
The benefits can be faster onboarding, fewer mistakes, consistent decisions, and audit‑ready documentation.
You can apply techniques to HR policies, IT and security standards, customer service playbooks, finance controls, and safety SOPs; across startups, nonprofits, and enterprise teams.
By the end, you’ll have a toolkit and a set of polished docs you can deploy immediately, plus the confidence to maintain them as your organisation evolves.
Video
Your instructors
Our journey began with a challenge few organisations face: nine government agencies merging into one.
Each member of the new senior leadership team knew their own agency inside out, but knew little about the other eight. We were engaged to capture, consolidate and improve policies and procedures from all nine agencies into a single, coherent set of online documents.
It was like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. We had to see the big picture while identifying the missing pieces: the undocumented knowledge living inside people’s heads, the inconsistencies between agencies, the inefficiencies, and the opportunities hiding in plain sight. We helped leadership see more than just what existed; they could see what needed to change.
That same challenge drives every project we take on today. We capture scattered information, bring order to complexity, make the unclear crystal clear, and surface the gaps that others overlook. Today it can also involve identifying opportunities to use AI and automation to improve processes.
It’s work we genuinely love, and we developed our training course so your team can do it too.
Cherryleaf has helped organisations across Europe build policy suites, SOPs, and playbooks that withstand audits, reduce risk, and actually get used.
In this course, we teach the same practical methods we use with clients: plain-language techniques, smart templates, and review/approval workflows that work. We're passionate about helping you create policy content people can find, follow, and trust.
Who is this course for?
This course is for anyone who writes or edits policies and procedures. It's ideal if you are:
- Struggling with documents that overlap, repeat, or contradict each other
- Dissatisfied with how your current policies and procedures perform
- Finding it hard to get colleagues to follow your documents
- Wanting to write more clearly and consistently
- New to writing policies and procedures
Past attendees of our live course have come from organisations including Avon Fire and Rescue Service, HSBC, the NHS, Shropshire Fire Service, Tate Museum, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the University of Southampton.
What you will learn
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Write clearly, even if writing doesn't come naturally to you
- Plan and structure documents that work for your audience
- Choose the right format for different types of information
- Use Microsoft Word effectively
- Review and maintain your documents over time
We developed the flow, learn, try, refine, so everything is organised, predictable, and useful. We guide you from first draft to polished, compliant results without the overwhelm.
Curriculum
What makes this course different
Over 50 interactive practice exercises
This course includes more than 50 optional practice exercises throughout. They're designed to help you apply what you're learning as you go - not just absorb theory.
Practice exercises you send to us for feedback
You’ll get feedback on these exericses from experts. You’ll discover what you’re doing right, and how you could make it even better.
Based on proven, expert-led training
This elearning has been adapted directly from Cherryleaf's instructor-led course. Cherryleaf has years of experience writing policies and procedures for clients including the NHS, Samaritans, and Clearscore.
Learn at your own pace
Work through the course in your own time. Pause, revisit, and practise whenever it suits you.
Practical
Turn complex requirements into clear, usable policies and procedures.
Comprehensive
Master end-to-end development, governance, and maintenance of policies and procedures.
Strategic
Align policies and procedures with your organisational goals, risk, and compliance.