What’s the Difference Between Policies and Procedures?

We talk about policies and procedures all the time, but you may be wondering what is a policy and how does it differ from a procedure?

A policy is a guiding principle used to set direction in an organization. A procedure is a series of steps to be followed as a consistent and repetitive approach to accomplish an end result. Together they are used to empower the people responsible for a process with the direction and consistency they need for successful process improvement.