Setting rules and regulations in business

The books of Exodus to Joshua shows how God led the Israelites to the promised land. God didn’t just expect the Israelites to behave a certain way —He showed them how to behave when they get there. He made rules and regulations to guide the Israelites into the expected behaviour He desired.

In addition to the 10 business commandments, every Christian entrepreneur should have on the wall in their organization. You also need to lay down the rules and regulations that govern your business no matter the size of your team.

In fact, the moment you begin your first hire to join your team, you need to make it known what is expected of the team in the organization.

Many new or small organisations can’t afford human resource personnel to draft their rules. However, you need to put something together yourself, this post will guide you in doing that.

The books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy spelt a lot of God’s regulations for the Israelites conduct. 

To establish a standard of conduct for your team, rules and regulations need to be established. Also, the employees manual can state the dos and the don’ts. It will ensure every new employee read, understand and agree to abide by them before onboarding them to the team.

Again, writing and documenting rules and regulations cannot be over-emphasized. I have heard some business leaders of small teams complain about the behaviour of their team members. When I asked what is their laid down rules for such behaviour, unfortunately, they don’t have any.

One of them once told me, “she believes the employee should know what to do” — that’s a big challenge where the leader is expecting certain behaviour from a team member who may not be aware of such expectations.

Rules and regulations in business help to increase productivity, reduce complexity and improve compliance and consistency.

Rules and regulations should cover all of the following areas;

1. Behavioural conduct within the business
2. Behavioural conduct with customers/clients
3. Behavioural conduct between employees 

Every business should determine which rules are important to them to function properly. Don’t copy and paste rules from another business without understanding how it applies to yours. Of course, you can have similar rules as another but you should draft to suit your peculiar situation.

When you get started your rules and regulations don’t have to be robust. You can start with the basic ones, as you move along based on experiences you can add or adjust them.

For example, some companies at regular interval update their terms and conditions which they send to their customers or clients to read and accept if satisfied with it.

Consequence of disobedience 

It’s believed that to enforce a rule, there is a need to layout the consequences of disobedience to ensure compliance.

The book of Deuteronomy 28: 15- 68 spell out the consequence for disobedience to the rules and regulations that were given to the Israelites.

“However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you.”

Deuteronomy 28:15

It is also important to clearly spell out the consequences for failing to keep the rules and regulations in your business. This will keep your team on their toes to keep to the rules.

Reward for obedience

Just as the consequences are spelt out, also reward your team for their faithfulness. One best form of reward is giving thanks to them regularly as discussed in this post. 

Throughout the scriptures, we see how the Almighty God rewards those who are faithful to Him. As in Deuteronomy 7:9;

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Deuteronomy 7:9

Beside eternal life reward God give to all faithful ones, He also gives an earthly reward.

“If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers…”

Deuteronomy 7:12-13

Same way, as a business leader beside paying salaries you can give special rewards to those who are faithful. This reward doesn’t have to dig deep into the business pocket. Nevertheless, employees will most often appreciate a little thoughtful treat once in awhile.

Also, you can give shares to your first employees after they have proven their faithfulness to the business. This will make them truly become part of the business not just as employees but owners.

Most times, business owners overlook giving shares as a means to keep good early employees they can’t afford to pay their full worth.

God gives us shares to His kingdom by making us His children through His son Jesus Christ.

“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.”

1 John 3:1

Jesus also teaches us about the great rewards in the sermon on the mount (the beatitudes) in Matthew 5:1-12. This tells us the various rewards we get in keeping our beautiful attitudes towards serving God.

Takeaway: Rules and regulations are necessary to build a sustainable business. Your team need them as a guide to know what is expected of them. You can learn from God who set out written rules and regulations to the Israelites for them to inherit the promised land.