A business, just like a house, has tasks that need to be done to maintain order and functionality. Now, let’s suppose every time you went to take the trash out, do dishes, laundry, etcetera, you had to come up with a way to do it. Seems crazy right?
Just as in your house, there are procedures in your business that are part of your daily routine. Ideally, performing those tasks is as straightforward as taking the trash out. You know how to do it and don’t have to spend any time thinking about how to do it.
Imagine you live with other people, maybe each of you washes the dishes differently and that causes arguments. This causes the process to take longer than expected and the conflict creates problems with your relationship. Transfer that into the context of your business; when you have multiple employees that perform the same task, you don’t want to have different efficiency or quality from each worker, and you don’t need them arguing about how the work should be done.
The purpose of having SOPs is to tackle the tasks in your business, make better use of your time and create consistency within your team.
What is an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)?
A Standard Operating Procedure is a step-by-step guideline for performing a process. There are many ways to format an SOP; written with numbered steps or formatted as flow charts, for example. Effective SOPs are complete, clearly written, and based on input from the person doing the job. When someone follows the SOP for a particular task, the idea is that they produce a product that is consistent and predictable.
SOPs have everything to do with documenting your business. When you document your business processes and systems. You can make more informed decisions when automating or outsourcing processes. SOPs are also valuable when you are looking to expand the company, or when adding new team members. Not only does it get easier to find the right team members, but it will also protect your valuable knowledge.
Building SOPs sets standards that can be used as a basis for decision-making processes When you decide it’s time to implement automation in your business; your SOPs play an important whole when choosing the right automation system for your company. It gives you a clear vision of what steps to take going forward; the types of team members to hire, what processes need to be updated, and where to invest your money.
Having structured processes and systems will provide support for the right people to achieve great results. Your team can be filled with talented people, and still be unproductive or less effective than it could be if it isn’t well structured. When you standardize your procedures, results get more cohesive and manageable.
What value does an SOP have for my business?
Consistency is the first value that comes to mind when we talk about SOPs. The ability to ensure a standard quality on your tasks, services, and products, regardless of which worker is performing them, makes your business reliable.
When marketing and selling your services you need to ensure you can deliver what you are offering. With well thought out SOPs, you know exactly what you are offering and how to provide it. It is this consistency that allows you to grow and expand without losing quality and excellence.
SOPs reduce errors and hazards during production processes, therefore ensuring quality control and a healthy workspace. It’s a win-win for you and your team members. This also allows you to provide customers with great experiences. If your company consistently provides clients with great service you end up getting a loyal community that trusts your brand, and that’s the best marketing you can get.
What are the benefits of SOPs?
A structured business is a productive business. When employees lose time figuring out how to proceed in each situation, the job ends up being exhausting and ineffective. Just like we talked about taking out the trash and doing the dishes, your employees shouldn’t be “reinventing the wheel” all the time. The structure provided by the SOPs saves time and allows for a smooth workflow so that the whole team becomes more productive.
Coordinating a team is often a challenging task. To have effective teams you need to guarantee everyone knows their job and how to best perform it. SOPs are a big help for making instructions clear and direct. They will remove doubts when it comes to who is responsible for what. This makes teamwork more efficient and easier to manage.
Once you provide your team with SOPs they have a manual they can refer to. When a problem arises they have a resource they can fall back on before they have to call on you. The result? Your employees will ask you fewer questions, freeing up your time, so that you can spend it on other aspects of your business.
Performance Management
Your SOPs will give you clear guidelines to hire the right people your business needs. Once you know exactly what tasks your new team member will be performing, you can go out looking for the perfect candidate with the right questions and expectations.
Analyzing performance also gets easier. Having a set of employees working under the same SOPs gives you the ability to see top performers. When your team are all following the same procedures you can measure them again the same standards. That makes noticing and assessing problems much more straightforward.
With that same thought, you’ll be able to see who needs help. Many times a person is talented but is having trouble fitting into the team. Being able to analyze your team’s performance gives you the chance to localize any members who are in need of a little help to be of great value for your company.
Save time on-boarding new team members
SOPs quickly provide autonomy to your team. Once the procedures are placed in your business, it will work like clockwork, where everyone is doing their job in synchrony. You will see your business culture form, generating results that are measurable, powerful, and repeatable.
When you introduce new team members into this well-established team, they will be able to quickly see this culture and, with the support of the SOPs, easily integrate into the system. That means you save time and money on training and adaptation, so scaling up your business is less stressful and more effective.
Following the SOPs your employees save time by flying through standard procedures, getting the opportunity to better focus on the atypical aspects of their job. They can do more creative work, come up with ideas and solutions once the daily standard tasks are performed effectively and without worries.
Would you like to set up some SOPs but don’t have the time? Get in contact, I’d be happy to help.
