6 Essential Questions to Ask When Creating SOPs
SOPs are a crucial element to every business’s processes and procedures. They help to guide operations within a company, improve efficiency, and increase productivity. SOPs also help to reduce confusion within an organization and help reduce the amount of mistakes or accidents that may be occurring.
If you’re not sure what an SOP is, it means standard operating procedure. It is a set of step-by-step instructions for how to perform a specific function. They are helpful for streamlining and perfecting operations so that tasks can be completed in the same way every time and integrate seamlessly into the company’s routine processes.
Using SOPs in your business will help to keep things clear, simple, and easy to follow, especially when first starting out or implementing a new service. They will also help keep things clear and easy to follow when you start building your own team and have others perform those tasks. It saves a lot of time and frustration for both the business owner and the new team member when a clear SOP is written out and can be easily followed.
“In order for any business to succeed, it must first become a system so that the business functions exactly the same way every time down to the last detail”
- Rick Harshaw
When creating SOPs for your business, it’s important to first ask yourself a few essential questions before diving straight into it. Answering these questions will help keep you focused on what your SOPs are for, how you want the tasks performed, and how you want to implement your SOPs. Doing some initial brainstorming will make the process much easier and less time-consuming when putting your SOPs into place.
Take a look at the questions below and take some time to think about what your answers are. You might even want to grab a piece of paper and a pen and write it all out!
What needs to be completed?
Think about the tasks or functions that need to be completed in your business every day or even just within a project. Think about the steps you take or the process you follow to complete those tasks. Write that out according to the order of the steps or the flow of the process so that you know exactly what tasks you’re creating the SOPs are for and then the specific actions that are taken to complete them.
How long should it take?
You want to have a clear understanding of how long a particular task or function should take to complete so that there is no confusion and processes can run smoothly. This will help keep everything on track for the organization and will avoid disruptions and slow downs. A good place to start with this is to think about how long it normally takes you to complete the task and ask yourself if that’s a reasonable amount of time for the task to be completed in. Do you want the task to be completed more quickly? Can the task be completed more slowly? Write this out and determine what you want for your business.
What are the expectations?
Having clear expectations written out for how functions should be performed within your company is an extremely important element to ensuring accuracy, efficiency, and productivity. Having these written out is important for yourself and your team members as it serves as a good reminder for how you want the tasks performed and as a guide for what to do/what not to do when working on the tasks. Think about the results you’ve gotten from performing these tasks, how they support business operations, and the way in which you want the tasks performed. Then write down all those expectations and make sure they are clear.
Who needs to complete it?
This one is pretty straight forward. Who will be completing this task? Is this something that you want to take full responsibility for or is it something that you want to pass off to someone else? Will it be one specific person every time or will it be a team of people? Think about what this task needs to be done correctly and who would be the best person to complete it. Now, write it down!
What information is needed to complete each task?
Knowing what information is needed to complete the task in question is an important element to completing the task accurately. If someone doesn’t have all of the information they need, they won’t be able to perform the task to the best of their ability or to your expectations. It’s important to dive deeper into the details of the task because, oftentimes, we become so accustomed to performing a specific task that we forget what information we really need to complete it. This is crucial to have for new team members who may not know the specific information that is linked to the task.
What can I trash or improve to make it more efficient?
There’s always room for improvement. How can this task in question be performed better and more efficiently? Think about the steps you’re taking to perform the task and ask yourself if there’s anything that could be cut or performed better in order to make the process easier and more efficient. Do some extra research to see if there might be a better tool or procedure available that you could adopt and implement into the workflow for those tasks. Improving the efficiency of various functions in your business now will save a lot of time and headache in the future.
SOPs are a vital component to every organization’s operations, even small businesses. They don’t have to be complicated but they do need to be clear, straightforward, and easy to understand. Set up SOPs for your business today and increase your efficiency and productivity with our SOP Starter Kit.
Learn how to:
- How to streamline your business with systems
- How systems can help your business
- Proven steps for documenting, implementing, and maintaining systems within your business
Still having trouble creating your SOP? Schedule a VIP day with me to go over your business structure and processes and discover the best method to create your workflows!