Over the years, we’ve stressed the benefits of having standard operating procedures (SOPs) for everything that a business does. As a reminder, here are nine reasons why SOPS make sense.
1. They help you develop a system for doing things.
2. If you don’t manage by a system, you manage by events - and events keep changing.
3. Your competitors all use SOPs. Try manufacturing a car without a system.
4. In developing SOPs, focus not just on what you do, but how you do it. For example, every secretary might be responsible for answering phone calls. The Standard Operating Procedure shows how they should do this task.
5. Developing the “how’s” of your business requires sharing “best practices.” In the example above, all of your secretaries would discuss how they answer the phone, and through agreement, you would determine the best way to do the job.
6. SOPs make it far easier to delegate. If your $100/hr person is doing too much in the way of $30/hr work, or if your $30/hr person is doing too much in the way of $10/hr work, it’s time to delegate. The easiest way to do this is through written documentation. If mistakes are made in the process of delegation, you should first determine whether an SOP covered this item. If it didn’t, incorporate the procedure for future reference.
7. SOPs help you set performance expectations more easily. Make sure that job descriptions, performance appraisals, and other performance tracking tools are directly related to the SOPs.
8. SOPs help you grow your business. Do you think that McDonald’s or Southwest Airlines could have grown without them?
9. SOPs provide an instant orientation for new employees and a cross-training mechanism for teams