How To Write A Petition In Your Organization

How to Write a Petition in Your Organization © 2007 by Bob Hurt, All Rights Reserved

Introduction People of an organization often seek a favor or permission to execute some project. By plaguing seniors with undocumented requests, they unnecessarily distract seniors from other important work. Furthermore, they often fail to give seniors sufficient information to allow them to make an informed, prudent decision. And so, the seniors rightly disapprove the favor or project. This article describes how to draft a proper petition to your seniors so that it has the best chance of approval, and how to make sure the organization remembers it.

Principle 1 – Put it in writing. An organization has no memory other than the documents inside its files, whether electronic or hard-copy. One might axiomatically say “If you didn’t put it in writing, it didn’t happen,” or “unwritten = untrue.” Suppose you ask orally for a favor to work on a project outside your normally assigned duties, your senior orally grants it, and you get busy working on it. Then, a month later, your senior gets fired. Your new senior looks at your job description, looks at your present activities, and demands to know why the mismatch. You cannot prove that your old senior allowed you to work on that project, and so your senior immediately begins to distrust you, or possibly discharges you. Bottom line, the organization does not remember your unusual project assignment because you and your senior failed to put it in writing. Therefore, always put it and/or get it in writing.

Principle 2 – Keep your own copy, and put one in the org files Now suppose you had requested in writing to work on the project, and your senior modified it somewhat, then signed approval, and kept the only copy. The senior dies a month later with your approved project document in his personal effects at home. His wife tosses it in the trash. Your new senior demands to know why you have wasted a month on the unauthorized project. You get fired. Why? You failed to keep a copy of the authorization signed by your senior, and you failed to ensure the company files had a copy.

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Therefore, always put one in the company files and always keep a copy of your own, both at work, and (if security permits) at home. You might wisely keep your home copy in a fire-proof safe.

Principle 3 – Petition with Situation, Data, and Solution Preface your petition with a summary statement such as: “Petition to raise money to fund summer camp for the members’ children by buying and reselling flags.” As you can see, the above example reveals three important elements of the petition in a single sentence: 1. It implies a situation or problem - insufficient money for summer camp. 2. It asserts a benefit – letting the members’ children enjoy summer camp. 3. It asserts a solution – buying and reselling flags at a profit. Therefore, in order to keep from overwhelming your senior with the disorganization of a non-standard petition format, or with a lot of unnecessary discourse, confine your written petitions to three topics, as follows: 1. Situation – explain simply the problem or difficulty that provokes you to make the request. 2. Data – explain the reasons approving the request makes sense and either provides a benefit to the organization or your senior, or avoids the worsening of the situation; show a comparison of alternative decisions and solutions; include here any cost or other technical analysis to support your assertions. 3. Solution – make the request for a specific activity that solves the problem of the situation in accordance with the data.

Principle 4 – Don’t make matters worse You can and should apply common sense about human relationships to the drafting of your petition: 1. Don’t accuse, threaten, disparage, insult, intimidate, or unduly upset your senior by using foul language or impolity, or by expressing disdain, condescension, anger, irritation, annoyance, resentment, hatred, or any other negative attitude or emotion. 2. Don’t ramble on or include unnecessary or irrelevant information – stick to the business of getting your request approved.

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3. Don’t fail to show specifically how your proposed solution gives tangible or intangible benefits to your senior, in down-to-earth terms – remember that most people make decisions or choices purely out of self-interest. 4. Don’t overdo it by asserting or implying unrealistic, inaccurate, false, immoral, unethical, or illegal benefits or solutions. 5. Do keep your petition factual, honest, honorable, above-board, accurate, and upbeat.

Principle 5 – Make the Response Easy and Instructive Make it easy for your senior to approve or disapprove it, showing the reasons for disapproval. Let your senior know that you approve the petition. A disapproval can instruct you so that you can reformulate your petition, correcting any errors or omissions, and resubmit it so your senior will approve it. For example, put the following at the end of the petition: Please signify below your approval of the foregoing petition, or your disapproval, stating your reasons there for, apply your execution signature and date, forward this executed document to me by hand or mail, retain a copy for the organization’s files, and notify other personnel who have need to know, as appropriate. I, , DO approve the foregoing petition. Sincerely,

I approve the foregoing petition. I disapprove the foregoing petition. My reasons and/or comments:

Signed _______________________________ Date _____________

Example Full Petition See an example of a full petition on the next page.

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To: Darryl Dollars, CEO From: Galena Gold, Product Manager Subject: Petition to modify the Automated Fortnight Counter to as extend its market life and earn more profits. Situation: Monthly sales of the Automated Fortnight Counter have dropped to 10% of forecast, causing a negative profit (net loss) 5%. Data: Three months ago our main competitor introduced a new star-bright display of counted fortnights on their Automated Fortnight Counter, allowing customers to read the display at night. I surveyed 15 of our distributors, of which 14 told me their customers did not want our product any longer because they could not read the display at night, and that otherwise their customers would have far preferred our product because of its other advanced features. They also said they wanted a new weekend counter on the product. Our engineers told me they could add the weekend counter and a dual-brightness night time display for a production cost of only $1.50 per unit, plus a one-time tooling charge of $300. The manufacturing manager said he can retool and have the new version in production within 2 weeks. We have a 2-week supply of the current product in inventory. We have in inventory a 6-month supply of the necessary parts, and suppliers can deliver more parts within a week of receiving our order. We can increase the cost of our product only $5, and at my projected sales volumes (see attached) pay for the changes within 3 months, and restore after tax profits to 12%. Our Ad manager has developed the attached advertisement for the updated product, which can immediately replace current ads at no additional cost. Solution: Revise the Automated Fortnight Counter by adding the weekend counter and dual-level brightness display. Increase the price $5. Implement the new ad. Send ad slicks and notices of the availability and price to all our distributors. Schedule initial shipments for one month from now. Start accepting orders the first of next week. I, Galena Gold DO approve the foregoing petition. Sincerely,

Galena Gold

I approve the foregoing petition. I disapprove the foregoing petition. My reasons and/or comments:

Signed _______________________________ Date _____________ Darryl Dollars, CEO, Weeky Widgets Inc.

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