Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] – As a business that values knowledge, you might have come across this heavy term multiple times.
But do you know what this term really means and why every business today is particular about their SOPs?
Let’s spill the beans!
Standard Operating Procedures are the nuts and bolts of how a business operates. In fact, what really differentiates a finely-tuned business from a highly-scattered one is how meticulously their SOPs are created and implemented.
This blog will uncover all important aspects of a standard operating procedure, including its importance, benefits, types, and much more. We will also explore how to write standard operating procedures that never let your business fall apart even in the worst times.
Let’s go.
Defining Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs]
A Standard Operating Procedure is a written set of step-by-step instructions on how to successfully perform a particular task. It gives employees a clear path to walk on while working on tasks, leaving little room for confusion or misinterpretation. The primary purpose of a Standard Operating Procedure is to bring uniformity in how a company operates and its employees work.
Think of it as the Modus Operandi of how to perform routine tasks, core business functions, and achieve the desired quality level every SINGLE time.
SOPs remove guesswork and assumptions by giving employees a clear-cut direction and on-the-ground explanation of what needs to be done and how.
Why Are SOPs Crucial for Your Business?
What happens when you leave things to chance?
Working with this thought process is the worst thing you can do to your business. It is like inviting failure to your doorsteps.
Creating Standard Operating Procedures gives you the magical power to control how your business moves and grows. It systematizes your company processes and helps employees work in complete alignment to achieve your business goals.
When employees work cohesively with maximum clarity, they succeed in their roles, which has a positive snowball effect on your overall business growth and development.
There is a reason why Starbucks is able to maintain consistency in the quality and taste of the coffee it delivers across its 32,660 stores worldwide.
How does a coffee-chain giant like Starbucks provide a familiar experience at such a vast scale?
The answer lies in its Standard Operating Procedures. The brand’s SOPs have logical instructions for business functions like record keeping, manufacturing, maintenance activities, etc., that are sincerely followed by all its branches.
It’s now time to dig further into the benefits that building Standard Operating Procedures can bring to your business.
Key Benefits of Standard Operating Procedures
You might think that you are training employees to do their jobs the right way and you don’t really need SOPs. But that’s not true.
These benefits will explain how writing Standard Operating Procedures can turn the tables for your business.
1. Brings Consistency Across Departments
A business is made up of different moving parts. It’s only when these parts work cohesively, that a company successfully marches ahead.
For your business to work smoothly like a well-oiled machine, consistency plays a huge role. With well-written Standard Operating Procedures, teams across departments know what to do and how to work in the best and, most importantly, worst situations.
Every employee, right from an intern to an executive, has the same information at their fingertips. This is how you can guarantee consistent performance at all levels.
2. Boosts Employee Onboarding & Training
New employees have high expectations from their new place of work. These expectations are crushed when they are clueless regarding your work processes and have to constantly badger seniors and colleagues for help.
SOPs come in handy for new employees as they help them navigate daily situations with ease and give their best shot at work. A clearly-defined Standard Operating Procedure acts as a guiding light for new employees from day one, keeping them prepared for the best and worst times.
3. Keeps Blunders, Confusion, & Misunderstanding at Bay
Leave employees to their own devices, and chances are they will end up creating a mess by attempting tasks based on their understanding. They might have in-depth knowledge of the subject, but what really causes the mess is their lack of clarity on how your business operates.
SOPs provide employees a roadmap to follow for the most basic and even the most complex of tasks. They clearly state the “Right” way to get a job done, leaving little to no scope for any kind of confusion, misunderstanding, or errors.
4. Keeps You From Falling in Legal Troubles
No matter how hard you try, some things are bound to go off-track, leaving you in legal trouble.
What if an employee misses a key step while using a piece of equipment and ends up hurting himself?
Situations like these can damage your brand’s hard-earned reputation. Standard Operating Procedures guard you against such legal troubles. They prove that you did your bit in providing employees with a safe and healthy work environment. Moreover, detailed SOPs also help you prevent hazardous incidents from happening in the first place.
Different Types of Standard Operating Procedures You Should Know
Before taking the plunge into the creation part, it’s important to understand which type of Standard Operating Procedures will best suit your unique business needs.
Here are some of the main types of SOPs you can create:
1. Step-by-Step Instructions
Standard Operating Procedures in the form of step-by-step instructions are best to explain how your business processes work. These are mostly in bulleted form, with each step demonstrated using suitable images and How-to videos.
This format is appropriate for straightforward tasks that do not demand in-depth explanations.
For example, sign-up and log-in instructions, installation and set up process, etc.
2. Flowcharts
Another format for creating Standard Operating Procedures is flowcharts.
Flowcharts are best suited for processes where results are not static. Such processes or tasks can have several outcomes, which is why it is best to illustrate them using easy-to-follow flowcharts. They present the processes visually and give the complete context of how two steps are connected to each other.
With steps properly shown in the flowchart and the final outcome clearly defined, employees can easily identify the best route to achieve the right results.
3. Checklists/To-Do Lists
A checklist is considered one of the simplest formats of a Standard Operating Procedure.
Why are they given this tag? Because checklists or to-do lists are not only easy to write but a breeze to read and understand as well. It gives creators and readers an easy time understanding the SOPs and putting them into practical use.
For every procedure, you can simply create a header and then create a checklist of steps to follow or things to keep in mind.
You don’t need separate software to create the above-mentioned types of Standard Operating Procedures.
The best user manual tools in the market are equipped with modern features that help you create SOPs in a format of your choice.
These tools help you create well-structured Standard Operating Procedures, explained beautifully in multiple formats such as checklists, flowcharts, how-to videos, and articles.
Watch this video to learn about user manual tools.
How to Write Effective Standard Operating Procedures
Now that we are done with the theoretical aspect of SOPs, let’s get down to business.
Follow these 9 easy steps to create Standard Operating Procedures that will help you keep your business operations on the right track.
Step 1: Do Your Research Right
There are countless processes running an organization. Does that mean each and every process should be documented?
Not necessarily.
You can identify the important processes and tasks that employees regularly perform and create SOPs on them to make their work easier. Conduct surveys asking employees about the processes and tasks they take up almost every day. Ask them about which processes are extremely important and need maximum accuracy.
Once you create the list of processes to be documented, consult with department heads for any changes or additions before moving forward with the writing process.
Step 2: Set Your Goals
Before going down the writing path, ask yourself, “Is it worth documenting this process?”, “How will it impact our business?”, “Will it really ease up employees’ work?” etc. These questions will give you a headstart around what you should document and why.
Creating SOPs is a laborious process demanding the time and effort of your employees, so get your goals right before taking the plunge.
Besides, you should also consider identifying employees’ pain points with specific tasks and processes so you have a clear picture of how exactly the SOPs will be of help.
Once you have this valuable information at your disposal, setting goals for your SOP initiatives will be a lot easier.
For example, the goals can be:
- Boosting the customer support process
- Minimizing errors in a complex internal process
- Maximizing the productivity of specific teams
- Preventing hazardous incidents in the workplace
Step 3: Build a Team of Document Creators
SOPs are built for employees, so it makes sense to have their say in the creation process.
As SOPs are comprehensive, they demand significant time, effort, and deep knowledge of the subject. Identify employees who possess good knowledge of the topic and have the required bandwidth to contribute meaningfully to your SOPs.
The team can have C-level executives, department heads, as well as employees working at the ground level. While those at higher levels are likely to bring great insights and advice to the table, juniors can bring in fresh ideas that spark innovation in the existing processes.
Most employees might bring amazing insights but will step back when it comes to the real work due to bandwidth issues or lack of writing skills. From the bunch of people you involve, identify the ones who specialize in the subject and possess great writing and editing skills. Make them in charge of the writing process and let others focus on the administrative side.
If a writer goes wrong somewhere, the editor can pitch in and review the work, and the administrator can manage other activities.
Collaborative team effort is the basis of a content-heavy document like an SOP.
User manual software like ProProfs Knowledge Base can be of help here. Its collaborative features let you bring key knowledge holders on a single platform and let them work in a streamlined way to produce an amazing SOP.
Step 4: Know Your Audience
An SOP for a Marketing process will be used regularly by the marketing folks. If you create an SOP related to Sales, it will most likely be used by your sales staff.
On the other hand, if your SOP defines the process of catering to customer requests on social media, the document is created for your customer support team.
Different SOPs have different audiences.
You should have a crystal clear idea of who your target end-users are before beginning the writing work. Keeping the key individuals in mind will help you craft the content according to their specific needs and pain points.
To learn about your target audience, ask yourself questions about:
- The size of the team
- The knowledge they hold about the process
- The roadblocks they face while performing the process
This information serves as the fodder to build SOPs that are really relevant and helpful to your employees.
Step 5: Pick a Suitable Format for Your SOP
The next step is to choose an appropriate format for your SOP.
As discussed above, SOPs can be of three formats – step-by-step instructions, flowcharts, and checklists.
Remember that every format serves a different purpose. Understand the process you are going to document and the requirements of your target audience, and then pick up a format that is most suitable.
For example, if a process is pretty straightforward and doesn’t need a lot of extra explanation, Checklists can work great. But, if a process is complicated and can be performed in multiple ways, leading to different outcomes, consider creating Flowcharts for the same.
Step 6: Start Documenting Your SOPs
Now that you are familiar with the basics of SOPs, it’s time to get down to writing them.
As an SOP is a comprehensive document, it’s ideal to start with an outline and then dive deep into each topic.
An SOP’s outline must comprise of a:
- Home page
- The titles of all processes
- A table of contents
- The name of the department you are going to create the SOP for
- Signatures of all stakeholders
- The purpose of the SOP
To make this lengthy process easier, adopt a Standard Operating Procedures template that comes with a predefined format. Such templates will reduce your work to half. They give you ready-made structure, so all you have to focus on is creating amazing content for your Standard Operating Procedures.
When you finally start writing, remember that the simpler your content is, the bigger impact it will leave. The terms you use should be easy to follow. Turn even the most complex data into easy-to-digest information by breaking it down into small chunks of text and bullet points that employees can remember easily.
Strike the right chords by creating SOPs that feel more helpful and less overwhelming!
Step 7: Quality Check the Document
Human errors are inevitable.
“To err is human, to edit is divine.”
This popular saying conveys it all. While errors are natural to happen, if fixed on time, you can take the quality of your SOPs into your hands.
To keep the errors to a bare minimum, and even better, eliminate them all, deploy a strict and transparent review system. Make it mandatory for everyone involved in the documentation process to thoroughly review and cross-check the content before rolling it out for your employees.
Once the writers in your team are done writing, the editors with more experience and knowledge of the process can take up the review work – one article at a time. Since they know the process inside-out, they will be able to identify gaps, inaccuracies, and use their expertise to add more value to the written content.
Think of how hard and time-consuming this process would be if taken up manually?
That’s true. That’s why we recommend you adopt the an online documentation software. Most tools today come with a built-in review system that helps you set the status for each article and get them reviewed by multiple experts before publishing.
Step 8: Share SOPs With Your Employees
It’s finally time to officially roll out the SOPs for your employees.
Your job doesn’t end at creating Standard Operating Procedures. SOPs should be successfully shared with employees to be of real use.
Employees should be able to access the procedures conveniently on the devices they use – laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. You can even give employees the option to download the SOPs for future reference or use them in printed form – whatever they prefer.
Share SOPs on a centralized and safe platform like an internal knowledge base that employees can access 24×7, anytime, anywhere.
This way, they can make the most of your company’s processes in their day-to-day work.
Read More: How to Create an Internal Knowledge BaseStep 9: Revisit & Improve Your SOPs
Once your Standard Operating Procedures are out in the open for your employees to use, it’s paramount to keep a constant check on their relevance and usefulness.
With time, as your company progresses and processes evolve, the SOP should reflect these changes to maintain its relevance. For that, you need to regularly lookout for areas that lack meaningful content and make the required updates from time to time.
As your employees start practicing the SOP, they will have both positive and negative experiences. Tap into these experiences, understand where your SOPs fall short and make the necessary amendments to turn your SOP document into a highly-relevant hub of information.
The process of improving and updating your SOPs is a breeze if you have the right software.
The best documentation tools come with built-in reports and analytics that give you a peek into the most searched articles, failed searches, popular and poorly performing articles, and much more.
Watch this video to know more –
What Should You Include in Your Standard Operating Procedures Document?
Most SOP documents have the following sections:
✅ Table of Contents – This section summarizes the key content of the document. It gives readers a glimpse into what the document contains and helps them jump to the right sections quickly.
✅ Purpose & Scope – This describes the goals of the SOP, the benefits it will provide to employees, as well as, its limitations.
✅ Home Page – This page gives a brief overview of what readers can expect from the document. It comprises key topics of the SOP, FAQs, popular articles, etc.
✅ Signatures of Stakeholders – The document also has signatures of all stakeholders involved in the procedure building and approval process. It’s easy for employees to rely on a document that is signed by the relevant stakeholders.
✅ Roles & Responsibilities – The roles and responsibilities of key individuals involved in the creation of SOPs are clearly defined in this section.
✅ Procedure Information – This forms the major chunk of the SOP document. All processes are explained in detail with step-by-step instructions, images, and how-to videos.
✅ Glossary – Most of the time, employees are unfamiliar with complex terminology. The Glossary section has all terms and concepts defined clearly for the convenience of employees.
What is the Difference Between SOPs and Processes?
Both processes and standard operating procedures have step-by-step instructions to perform a specific task, yet they are different from each other.
A process usually shows the general way to complete a task. It doesn’t go into the nitty-gritties of the background and the outcome. An SOP, on the other hand, covers all aspects of a task, including the what, where, who, when, as well as how.
Another major difference between an SOP and a process lies in their outcomes. While processes give employees the power to experiment, interpret, and innovate, as per their understanding, SOPs do not have such scope. Standard Operating Procedures give predictable outcomes, leaving nothing to chance.
Common Challenges You May Encounter While Writing SOPs
Standard Operating Procedures offer some amazing benefits, but as they say, no gain without some pain.
The process comes with its share of challenges, which we are going to discuss in this section.
1. Stakeholder Involvement
You run the risk of compromising on the quality of SOPs if you don’t involve all the right stakeholders in the process.
Understand that a person at a higher level thinks differently than the ones working at the ground level. So it is crucial to involve people at all levels and have their say in what should go in your SOP document.
Executives would focus more on the goals and less on the process. This might pose problems for those at the ground level as they will not have the right steps to deal with specific circumstances. On the other hand, if the document is managed solely by the managerial staff, chances are they will miss taking into account the overall business goals.
This can create clashes, resulting in more confusion than clarity.
2. Inconvenient Access
Most of the time employees end up sticking to the old ways despite you creating SOPs.
This happens when the Standard Operating Procedures are not easily accessible and employees have to put in extra effort to get what they need. Employees consider this as an extra burden and prefer doing things the way they used to. And that’s how your SOPs go futile.
Scattered and hard-to-access SOPs are a big turn-off for employees.
The Standard Operating Procedures you create should instead be safely stored in a centralized setup that employees can access effortlessly on a device of their choice, whenever and from wherever they are.
3. Poor Quality and Low Maintenance
The best course of action to complete a task or perform a process may get obsolete tomorrow. As time changes, your organization changes too. Innovation happens, technology develops, and company processes evolve.
If you do not change the SOPs with time and your employees continue to use the SOPs you developed years ago, your business might flounder.
Your customer service team would stick to the old ways, while your competitors will be way ahead of you. Marketing folks would be using the same old processes at a time when others in the industry will have found a million new and better ways to market their brand.
You will end up doing more harm than good with poorly maintained Standard Operating Procedures that do not stand the test of time.
Take Inspiration From These Examples of Standard Operating Procedures
Here are two Standard Operating Procedure examples for your reference. Both of these are comprehensive documents covering the procedures from end to end. Have a look.
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Maintain Workplace Efficiency With Well-Written SOPs
By now you should have gained a complete idea of the importance of Standard Operating Procedures and how you can build one for your business.
It’s finally time to take your first steps.
Start by defining your goals, identify processes that need an SOP, and understand your target audience. Once the basics are sorted, build a powerful team and start documenting your company’s crucial procedures.
If you are confused about what is included in Standard Operating Procedures, go through the examples shown above. It will give you a glimpse into what typically goes into an SOP so you can take your next steps with confidence.
If you already have SOPs for your business processes, nothing like it. And if you are just starting out, we hope you find all the help you need in this blog.