Most small businesses run on memory. The owner remembers how things are done, a few staff remember parts of it, and every new person learns by asking. That works until the owner is away, the best staff member leaves or the business grows.
A standard operating procedure, or SOP, fixes this. It is nothing more than the steps for one job, written so that someone new can follow them without asking you.
The template
- The name of the job
- Who does it, and when
- What you need before you start
- The steps, numbered, one action each
- What "done well" looks like
- What to do if something goes wrong, and who to call
Write it like this
Use plain words, as you would explain it to a smart friend. Keep each step to one action. "Open the stock sheet" is a step. "Handle stock matters" is not.
You do not have to type. Do the job once while you record a voice note or a screen recording explaining each step, then turn it into a numbered list. Read and correct it before anyone else uses it.
The test that matters
Give your SOP to someone who has never done the job and watch them, without helping. Every place they pause or ask a question is a place to improve the SOP. Fix those, and you have a real system.
Start small
Choose one job that goes wrong often: packing an order, opening the shop, replying to a new enquiry. Write one SOP this week. Then another.
If you want a guided path from idea to systems, the Build The Machine book and course take you step by step.
Written by Mark Nii Barnor Adom. About the author