Standard Operating Procedures - KISS

Standard Operating Procedures - KISSKnowing your goals
Have you taken the time to set business goals for this year? Whether you set daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly or yearly goals, there should be some sort of key performance indicators that will support the goal, essentially a way to measure the results. According to “3 Performance Indicators That Will Make Or Break Your Company” 2 of the 3 key performance indicators (KPI), financial and customer focus can make or break your company. A company of any size from a solopreneur, small business to a big corporation, one way to meet your goals is to align Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to the key performance indicators (KPIs).

Identify
Once you have established the goal(s) and the key performance indicator(s) for your business, identify your strengths and weaknesses. Know your personality to see if these goals are something you can achieve on your own or if you need to have someone assist. Best practice is to work in your zone of genesis or as the StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment states how you thrive in your own design.

Consider if a Standard Operating Procedure is something you can accomplish yourself. Ask these questions:

  1. Do I need to know how to do this process well?
  2. Do I need to be educated just enough to know that someone else, say an expert in the field, should do this process instead of me?
  3. Should this be a manual or software process?

Survey
Simply put a Standard Operating Procedure is a set of step-by-step instructions. Usually the SOP is written, however, documentation with screen shots and/or videos can be incorporated too. Creating the SOP is all about getting routine operations consistent and accessible for future reference. Implementing the SOP is a way to be more efficient, and enhance the quality of product(s) or service(s) offered by your business.

Survey how you currently do a process that is related to your goal(s) and KIP(s). Review current processes and see how they are established, if at all. Each entrepreneur is unique and has a specific way of completing a task and putting the SOP in place may not be what comes easy to your own design.

Standardize Your Process
Just like big business, a solopreneur or small business owner should look at integrating SOPs in these areas:

  • New Client Onboarding
  • Accounting Practices
  • Financial Procedures: Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Reports
  • New Team Member Onboarding
  • Computer and IT Procedures
  • Calendars for Planning; Sales i.e. Product Launch Plan, and Marketing i.e. Editorial Calendars
  • Security

Each of these areas should have detailed instructions written out on how the process should be completed. Identify who in the business will be doing these processes i.e. key players, you the business owner or maybe a team member or another business that can be paid for these services i.e. bookkeeper, accountant, website designer, marketing firm etc. Other information to include within the SOP would be requirements to implement this procedure like software, training, equipment necessary to complete the process. Describing the big picture of this process and its role within the business is important. Additionally, including information such as locations of files is very helpful with creating efficiency.

Interested in getting your processes standardized and not sure where to start with establishing SOPs, let Your Chaos Coordinator walk you through the steps to document your operating procedures and bring calm to your chaos. Email: .

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