The common mistakes we make when drafting policy documents
An explainer by Team FP
Developing impactful policy documents, including submissions, requires us to consider context, policy settings, windows of opportunity and the advocacy strategy of the organisation.
But often, we launch into writing without planning, limiting our ability to produce compelling, engaging and impactful pieces of work.
To help to overcome this, we’ve identified six of the most common mistakes that are made when drafting policy documents.
- Burying the lead – When it takes six or even sixteen pages to get to the main point of the document, we’ve lost our audience and our chance to highlight key messages. Including key messages up-front increases our chance to make an impact.
- Being too wordy – Sentences shouldn’t be as long as whole paragraphs. Read over documents to remove any repetition and use tools like duplicate word finder to check your text.
- Using pointless sentences – Just as we can add words that aren’t needed, we can do this with sentences. These filler sentences pad-out our writing, but don’t add value. To avoid this, randomly read sentences throughout the document to see if it works as a stand-alone piece of text.If it doesn’t, consider deleting the sentence.
- Creating lists of stats without context – Data is important. But statistics listed in bullet-points without context or a narrative does not add value to a policy document or submission. Weave data throughout the document and always provide information on what the data means and why it matters.
- Using their language – There are common lines and phrases that are used by people and entities that are actively working to oppose the very things we’re advocating for. By using this language, even when we trying to counter it, we are reinforcing it. Instead of using their language – focus on reinforcing your key messages.
- Using too much jargon – Every sector and sub-sector has its own language and own acronyms. When using these, it’s like communicating using the code of a secret society that no one else can access. This is hugely unhelpful when we’re trying to communicate our position and demonstrate that solutions are readily available and easy to implement.
By being aware of the common mistakes that are often made in policy writing, we can monitor for these when drafting documents and try to avoid them.
For Purpose holds training on Policy Writing.
21 March 2025
