# Intro to guides

## Guides describe how we do things in practice, but they're not legal documents like policies. 

### **Guides vs. policies**

**Guides describe what happens day-to-day for things to get done.** They exists to give detail and clarity about our agreed ways of doing things. By naming our practice we hope it's easier for people to get things done and understand our systems. 

Guides are **descriptive (**they describe practice) and **prescriptive** (they describe how we want things to happen). 

e.g. staff guide to sick leave contains up to date info on what to do when you're sick. It was written by the People circle based on a system that this circle developed. When this system changes, the guide will be updated. 

Guides can be changed by the circle who is responsible for that area of work/activity. 

**Policies** are legal documents which govern the running of the co-op and our rights as employees. They're higher level and sometimes go less into the practical detail of how we do things. To change policies requires sign off from the whole staff team and directors. 

e.g. sick leave policy tells you your rights. It doesn't give you a blow-by-blow account of how you'll be supported when you're sick. 

**Do our policies, guides and practices match?**

We need to pay attention to the difference between what we've said we want to do and *what we actually do*.  In other words, between our policies and guides (what we say we do/want to do) and our practice (what we actually do). For more [see](/staff-guides/policy-guides-and-practice.md).

### **How do I change a guide?**

In the guide heading it should say which circle is responsible for its upkeep and maintainance. Talk to that circle to suggest changes. 


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://handbook.thebristolcable.org/staff-guides/intro-to-guides.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.