A fantastic way of injecting robust structure into your business is to ensure that you have a written Operating Procedure in place for each key function that is required to be performed.

Operating Procedures are a key tool to use to:

  • Set your team up to win. I believe that no person deliberately sets-out to do a “bad job” or work at odds with an employer’s expectations. Rather, I think it is more the case that when an undesirable outcome (i.e. an outcome which is not in-line with someone else’s expectations) occurs as a result of a person’s action or inaction, the person who set the framework for the work delivery failed to communicate clearly enough what was expected of the other person/ people. And by doing so, it was they who were actually responsible for setting the other person/ people up to lose (fall short of expectations).

 

  • Ensure that your business can continue to function well even if a person who is normally the designated expert to perform a certain role is away sick or on holiday.

 

  • Encourage the cross-skilling of members of your team who show an interest in wanting to learn a new role within the business. Operating Procedures provide these people with a reference point to refresh their memories as often as they like as to how a particular process/ function is expected to be performed.

 

  • Empower your team members – allow them to “stand on their own two feet” and feel proud about working as autonomously as possible in their appointed position.

 

  • Free-up the business owner/ manager – for them to then be able to concentrate their time/ energies/ effort working on a project/ plan which is designed to evolve/ grow the business further. i.e. allow greater/ better governance to be practiced.

 

The key to achieving effective Operating Procedures is four-fold, as follows:

  1. Use “concrete” language – Plain English vocabulary which is generally understood by a 12 – 14 year old reader.
  2. Use images/ graphics to support the written word – “a picture tells a thousand words”…and video is even better.
  3. Make the wording succinct (to the point) using a direct communication style, and ensure that the document is structured as a procedural document (i.e. incorporates a style such as “Step One:” “Step Two”, “Step Three”, etc.
  4. Wherever possible, to ensure that the written word indeed reflects current best proven practice, involve the person who is presently fulfilling the given role, in the process of at least drafting the related Operating Procedure. This measure will help instill a sense of ownership of the finalized Operating Procedure with the incumbent.

 

If your business operates with an intranet, it would be a good idea to post your Operating Procedures in your intranet for ready access and download by authorized internal stakeholders. This is a particularly good idea where your team use a mobile device (e.g. iPad) as a routine part of their role – and can therefore look-up an Operating Procedure as often as they need to via the company’s intranet.