Standard Operating Procedures

Have you ever taken a new supervisory position and wondered how anybody knew how to do anything? Unfortunately, many organizations utilize the sink or swim approach to training new employees. With the huge effort it takes to hire the right person for a position doesn't it make sense to set the conditions where they can hit the ground running? Developing and publishing how things are done is absolutely one of the most important aspects to consistent, quality performance.

The Army calls the written procedures for doing business Standard Operating Procedures or SOPs. If the actions required to execute your responsibilities are not clearly stated in SOPs you will never reach your full potential. Developing SOPs for your areas of responsibility accomplish several things:

1 – New hires have a ready “instruction manual” if you will on how to do the basic functions of their job
2 – Continuity
3 - Consistent and reliable output from your section
4 – Establishes baseline for counseling your people

Give new hires an instruction manual. Personnel turnover is a significant event so don’t let the situation compound itself by not having SOPs in place. This allows for the temporary replacement and/or the permanent replacement to quickly fall into the habit of following SOPs and will lead to minimal disruption of office requirements.

Continuity. Reduction in output is expected when new people come into an organization. Not by lack of their ability, but because the new hire is exactly that: new. Give them every advantage to excel from the first day. Give your section every advantage to not be disrupted during this time. Get your SOPs done!

Consistent performance. By your position you alone are ultimately responsible for SOPs and system development. The only change in performance your boss should ever see is improvement. Workload at the middle management level is extremely high as we know. Don’t think for a moment your boss’s workload is any less; it’s more. Endear yourself to your boss and your subordinates by establishing systems that produce consistent, outstanding results. Write your SOPs!

Counseling baseline. Another significant advantage of having your people write the SOPs covering their areas is that it also identifies most, if not all, of their responsibilities. Both you and your subordinates should have a clear understanding of their responsibilities to start with and SOPs will serve to reinforce and modify those responsibilities as necessary. Clarity is the goal here. The importance of counseling will be addressed in detail in a later post.

Final thoughts. You are not alone in the actual creation of SOPs. Don't get hung up on format for Pete's sake! Worrying about format is a stall tactic.  Force your people to actively participate in system and SOP development.  Here’s why: Outside of the reasons above, they are the ones that do the heavy lifting and should take ownership of procedures being taken care of properly in their absence. Who better than the subject matter expert to write the SOPs that cover their responsibilities? Who knows better how to start an IV on you in the hospital, the nurse or the brain surgeon?

Enough already! Let me know your thoughts.

Z