Active or passive drafting of policies and procedures

Grammar describes how language works; Grammar can help us understand sentences even if we don’t know the meaning of all the words in a sentence. While there are many good grammar books out there, this article will focus on the importance of the passive and active voice for policies and procedures.

The passive voice is an obstacle to the clear writing of policies and procedures. Passive writing is easier to show than to explain. Take this sentence: “The work was written by the student.” With active voice typing, the award is written as “The student wrote the article.” See the difference? Which one do you like the most? I hope you like the last sentence. A sentence is called passive because its subject does not perform or initiate the active indicated by the verb. Rather, the subject receives the action.

Obviously, active writing is preferred over passive writing in policies and procedures. But this is where the buck stops. Active writing is more difficult than the passive, free-flowing style of writing. We can all write passively. But active writing requires thought. While active writing is great for instruction manuals (or desk procedures or work instructions), it’s not always the best way to write for business policies and procedures. I leave this choice up to you, but I advise you to test the waters to see if active writing would be better for your readers than passive writing.

Tea Red flag because the passive voice is a variation of an auxiliary verb (was, will be, has been, is being) plus a past participle (built, written, directed) plus by if the actor is mentioned. Then tell meWhich of the following two sentences do you prefer?

1. The new account executive was hired by the sales manager.
2. The sales manager hired the new account executive.

If you answered #2, then you are correct. This second sentence is in the active voice and is cleaner and easier to read. Now here’s the hard part; it is very difficult to write in the active voice all the time as is so obvious in my own books. Readers will love you if you can keep your writing active. Now, on the other hand, I doubt your readers will see the difference if you just show them passive writing. Sad but true.

And finally, the passive voice makes sense sometimes. To say that the passive voice is never appropriate is to misinterpret it. Here’s an example where the passive voice makes sense. If the person performing a particular action is unknown, then the following sentences are fine:

1. The accident occurred because the machinery had not been repaired.
2. Batteries are not included…sounds like a good name for a movie title.

My advice is to do your best to write in the active voice writing style, but don’t worry if you have to use the passive voice from time to time. And please don’t apologize for writing in the passive voice. And if you get criticism, ask them to join your team and help you write better.