How does your company’s standard process turn into a roadmap for business success?
A standard operating procedure or SOP is more than a documentation of steps involved in a process. Although it reads like a how-to manual for tasks, processes, or operating procedures, it carries a weightier significance to organizational success.
However, to realize the full benefits of your SOP, it needs development.
What Is Standard Operating Procedure Development?
Standard operating procedure development is a strategic approach to creating step-by-step instructions for your company’s routine activities, from operating procedures to job-specific tasks.
In SOP development, the planning stage covers the evaluation of your business’s existing procedures or if they’re already implemented, current SOPs. The detailed review may uncover gaps as they relate to industry best practices or according to standard compliance requirements. Once completed, management and process owners must look over the SOP review and agree on what needs to be changed or improved.
For SOP creation, business consultants may be brought in to lend expertise. You can hire a business consultant to prepare your SOP documents. It may start with process mapping to identify the what (i.e., the steps that have to be taken to complete a task or procedure) and the how (i.e., the specific approach to performing those steps).
Beyond the what and the how, SOP developers also determine why certain processes are done a certain way and how those steps can improve the process. By covering these concerns, management, process owners, and consultants can refine the steps.
The development stage for SOPs is not only about detailing the process steps, It’s also about finding the best way to communicate and implement the SOPs.
The steps must leave no room for misinterpretation, which could create confusion and complicate the process. Without or with minimal compliance, the efficiency, productivity, and safety of the process may be compromised, diminishing the competitive advantage of a company.
What Is the Primary Purpose of SOPs?
Companies design SOPs to ensure consistency in all processes. By establishing uniformity in how tasks or procedures are carried out, a company creates an environment that maintains product or service quality, letting them meet customer expectations.
Overall, an SOP serves the following purposes:
- Ensures the consistent performance of processes because it standardizes them.
- Captures task completion knowledge in anticipation of employee turnover. SOPs ensure a smooth transition, minimizing business disruption.
- Ensures proper employee training, providing a clear and constructed guide as they learn the business processes, their jobs, and their responsibilities,
- Process execution supports scalability plans, ensuring a seamless integration of new employees and providing a roadmap as a business grows.
SOPs are compliance documents for businesses in highly regulated industries. Businesses in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, oil and gas, financial services, food industry and similar sectors need SOPs to meet regulatory requirements. These SOPs identify and mitigate risks by including safety measures.
SOP Development That Aligns Strategy With Operation
Your business may have hundreds of processes for multiple departments or teams. Developing SOPs for all of them simultaneously will likely exhaust your resources.
If time is of the essence, the technical expertise of business consultants will help move the development along by prioritizing which processes need SOPs immediately.
Business consultants will work with your management team to create a high-level list of processes and their SOPs. This determines the scope of the SOP development, making the work a lot less overwhelming and more strategic.
The priority levels could be specific to processes that are at high risk, which means compliance requirements (for businesses in regulated industries), or processes that will deliver high returns on investment (e.g., sales processes, client management SOPs, employee retention, etc.,)
Once a priority list has been created, drafting the SOPs must cover their purpose (i.e., their relation to business objectives), scope (i.e., if multiple procedures may be combined in one document), management (i.e., how the SOPs will be maintained and implemented), and distribution (i.e., how the SOPs will be organized and how users will access them).
Whether the SOP drafts are done in-house or outsourced, they need to be written for their audience. They must also be in the right format, such as checklists, technical illustrations, or flow charts and diagrams.
Internal and external reviews follow to determine if any gaps exist. Drafts of the procedures will need to be tested to ensure each step is understood. When the testing phase assures SOP developers and management that no further changes or modifications are necessary, they can be posted for implementation.</p>
Standard operating procedures are more than a list of steps, detailing what needs to be done and how they must be done. When SOPs are crafted to align with your business objectives, they can provide a roadmap for success.