In a business set up Standard Operating Procedures commonly referred as SOP’s are instruction manuals that can help lead your setup into an efficient working system that can strive forward.
4 Quick Tips on how to create an SOP
Standard operating procedures refer to the step by step instruction manual that helps your business organisation run its operations efficiently. The step by step instructions are designed differently and separately for every task that has to perform in a company. All SOPs must be clear, concise, and easily understandable so that the tasks can be performed in an efficient manner without time being wasted in confusion upon technical terms or unclear descriptions.
Now let’s talk about the tips.
- Good and effective communication with department heads
Different tasks have different merits and different requirements. There is no one shoe fits all while working in an organization. Talking to the department heads gives you insight on all the activities and special events that are going around in the company. Every department head is well acknowledged with the nature of those working under them. Consulting them can give you the best ideas on how to construct the SOPs with the best practices and methods that can help handle challenges and situations. It’s a good practice to take disagreements as positive outcomes of meetings as they jus help u gain more knowledge on how to go about to avoid further problems.from the communication with the heads you can outline the most essential policies that will allow you to smoothly run your business and achieve the desired level of profits.
- Organizing the outline you’ve made
Organizing the outline in a logical manner is very important. The most effective way in many cases is to number them out. This is of major help as it instantly references major and specific policies from different sections in the document. Having clear numbering with subsections is a great way to collect everything in one place in an organized manner. Having a glossary is useful so that all terms are understandable to all. Having an index can also help to look for specific sections in the document.
- Assess the clarity of your SOP document.
Before making a final document and circulating it within the organization it is important that you make sure that all policies and instructions are clear and easily understandable to all. An easy way to make this assessment is to check whether a newly hired employee can understand the instructions that are quoted on the document. If new employees have problems deciphering it and continuously make errors you may need to revise your document so that it is less confusing and more effective.
- Consult with your counseling firm.
Having a counseling service review your document can help a lot as they have experts that can review your document and guide you on what you need to do. They can more easily identify where you are making errors and can help guide you with how to create processes and procedures that are designed as manuals for payroll, HR sales, purchases, etc. They also provide guidance for initiating internal laws for staff training.