Documenting Your Standard Operating Procedures Can Set Your Business Free

Documenting Your Standard Operating Procedures Can Set Your Business Free

How often is your daily workflow interrupted, slowed down or held back by a lack of consistency? How much time is wasted bringing new hires up to speed? How often does productivity drop while costs rise due to lack of efficiency? The answer is most likely, "Too often!"

Consider these workplace scenarios:

Scenario #1 - Jane handles customer service issues but she is out sick today so Mary is filling in. Although Mary has customer service experience, she is not familiar with the way Jane usually handles returns and has made a number of errors that will take hours to rectify. Additionally, Mary provided incomplete information to a customer, causing them to call again for clarification, keeping her from serving other customers.

Scenario #2 - Alex and Chris began working in identical roles at the company on the same day but with different trainers. Alex’s trainer taught him to process orders by one method, Chris’ by another method. When bookkeeping was balancing the receipts, the inconsistencies had led to errors which cost the company money and more billable bookkeeping hours.

Scenario #3 - There are numerous steps to fulfilling a client project. It seems every time Michaela manages a new project, she forgets one of the steps and the project gets derailed because of it. Progress lags behind, an efficient and productive workflow is lost and costs rise.

Situations like these can be greatly alleviated by establishing and documenting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), which increases your company’s all-around efficiency, consistency and productivity by taking the "guesswork" out of the workflow. SOPs document the proper operation of your business, providing detailed, ordered instructions as to how tasks and activities are to be performed. They serve as an employee how-to guide so everyone in the workplace is on the same page when performing the various duties that take place in your business. SOPs ensure that work is done uniformly and correctly which enhances the overall quality of your output. It’s easy to recognize that the guidance and consistency SOPs can provide relieves a lot of the burdens that are part and parcel of a business’ day-to-day operations.

In addition, SOPs can:

• Streamline (possibly with automation) complicated processes by ensuring every step is performed, and properly, every time
• Standardize training and onboarding procedures so everyone has equal knowledge about how to perform their job
• Ensure that verbiage is consistent and on-brand across company communication
• Spell out and explain company policies
• Relieve employees of the need to "reinvent the wheel" when approaching repetitive tasks, allowing them to perform higher level functions
• Ensure that no one in the business proves "indispensable" - work can go on as usual despite absence
• Increase employee satisfaction because they will feel empowered and successful by knowing - and knowing you know - precisely what their job entails

Commonly SOPs are documents, but they can also be created as (or enhanced by) videos, audio recordings, diagrams, screenshots, checklists or spreadsheets. When writing your SOPs, use plain language, free from technical terms or industry or jargon so that even new employees can understand them. Once they’re assembled, run them past those already doing the job to ensure that each SOP is complete and accurate. It is prudent to keep them in a logical location, like a centralized file, easily accessible to employees who need to refer to them. Review your company’s SOPs regularly so they can be updated as necessary and are always accurate.

Once you’ve deployed the powerful tools that are SOPs, your company’s "machinery" will run more smoothly, freeing everyone to be able to think big, do more and scale the business.

Could your business benefit from some standard operating procedures?