Standard Operating Procedure: How To Write An SOP

Want to know how to make sure your business runs smoothly without you?

There is a way, and having a “Standard Operating Procedure” for the processes in your business is the first step.

Once you understand what these are and implement them in your business, you’ll be able to create a well-oiled machine that just works!

In this article, we’ll break down everything that you need to know so you can get started. Let’s get into it!

What is a Standard Operating Procedure?

A standard operating procedure or SOP is a documentation of how a process works. It’s a step-by-step list of procedures that need to be followed to complete a process.

An SOP is like a recipe for your favorite dish. It provides all the step-by-step instructions you need to create that specific dish.

Standard operating procedures are created to achieve efficiency and uniformity in terms of performance. By reducing miscommunication, non-compliance is also lessened.

Since an SOP is for everyone’s use, it should be easy to read and clearly written. It should be brief, concise, and easy to follow. If you are responsible for creating SOPs, you need to write it from a beginner’s perspective.

Will you understand the document if you were a total newbie?

Will you be able to follow the steps if you have no experience using any app or program mentioned in it?

The rule of thumb is, the more basic and simple a standard operating procedure is, the better.

Why Is A Standard Operating Procedure Important?

So the question now is, why is a standard operating procedure important?

Honestly, there are several ways to answer this question because there are lots of reasons why SOPs are essential. Below are some of them.

Reduce Onboarding Time

Time is a very valuable commodity when it comes to business. You’d want to use time efficiently because every second you waste is money wasted.

That being said, you’d want to reduce the time you spend outside of operations, particularly with onboarding.

Let’s be honest. Onboarding a new freelancer, for example, isn’t exactly a walk in the park, especially without an SOP. Can you imagine repeating the same onboarding process for five more freelancers?

Not only will that be a waste of time, but it’s also a waste of money. You should be focusing your energy on growing your business instead of onboarding new people.

With a standard operating procedure in place, you don’t have to spend as much time and money. All you have to do is point the new freelancers to the folder where the SOP is saved.

Give them time to go over it and if your SOP is well-written enough, they should be able to proceed with work without much hassle. It won’t even matter whether you have five new freelancers or twenty.

This is probably one of the biggest benefits of having an SOP because it doesn’t take you away from your more high-valued task. Freelancers can start working on their tasks without the need for you to personally onboarding them.

That’s definitely a win-win no matter how we look at it.

Protect Processes With Evolving Roles

One of the harsh realities a business owner must face is that finding great talent is never easy. Perhaps a harsher one is that great talents come and go.

How many times have we worked with people who are both competent and efficient only to see them leave at some point?

Things like this happen whether we like it or not but the hard part lies in the transition. Can that freelancer’s replacement easily take over the role he or she just left?

Will you be able to immediately rely on them and minimize the impact of the other person leaving?

These are things you shouldn’t worry much about if you have a solid SOP in place. This is because a standard operating procedure ensures continuity. While there’s certainly no replacing top talent, SOPs help ensures that crucial tasks aren’t left unattended.

A well-created SOP ensures business continuity even if team members change. They can easily be handed off without the process blowing up. This is extremely important especially for a business owner who has a totally packed schedule.

Can you imagine the headache it will cause you if someone important leaves and you don’t have an SOP established?

It’s hard enough that you have to worry about replacement, what more if you still have to worry if they can take over or not?

Prevent Rogue Mistakes

A standard operating procedure also provides you a layer of protection due to the legalities involved in running a business.

Small blips could cause larger financial damages, like if a team member grabs a copyright-protected image from Google and uses it without permission.

The fact of the matter is, there is always a possibility of getting sued. It’s one of those things you should be ready for if and when it comes.

There’s no better way to protect yourself from lawsuits than to have your critical processes documented. They will come in handy especially if one of your processes is being scrutinized.

The truth is you don’t have a process if your process is not documented. That’s just it. You’ve got procedures that you perform in a rather disorganized way which is bad for the business.

Grow Your Business More Efficiently

Perhaps the most important reason to have a standard operating procedure is growth.

This is especially true if you started your business from the ground up. While you may have started it alone or with a few partners, an SOP comes in handy as your business grows.

You can’t expect your business to scale new heights without documented processes. Not only is it going to be difficult but it will also be chaotic, to say the least. It’s like driving a car without a destination in mind.

Sure, you’ll be able to handle everything at the beginning. Processing invoices, hiring and onboarding people, practically everything.

As the business continues to attract new audiences and clients, the amount of work will increase as well. The time will come when it will almost be impossible for you to perform all these. Without a documented process, you’re practically doomed.

More importantly, things won’t be too easy should you decide to outsource some of these tasks. You either allot time to create SOPs before hiring people or integrate them into the business without one.

With a standard operating procedure in place, everything almost becomes automatic. New freelancers can simply take over when you decide to outsource because they technically have an onboarding material to refer to.

This will then be just an ongoing process without you spending so much time organizing things because you already have a system.

Consider the long term benefits of an SOP especially when you’re just starting. Do the work early on so you don’t have to do a lot as the business continues to achieve progress.

How to Get Started

Now that we know what a standard operating procedure is and why it’s important, you are now ready to create one. While an SOP can take many forms, we will go with the most popular format which is that of a text document.

Establish the “Why”

There’s a reason why Author Simon Sinek wants us to find our “why” and that is because it gives us a sense of purpose.

Will you be motivated to do something you have no idea what’s for?

If you want to successfully create an efficient SOP, you have to start with “why.” So how exactly do we do this? Check out the example below:

Process: Blog Publishing

Lead: Noel Rosos

Purpose: Publishing a new blog post weekly ensures that the brand’s followers are updated and engaged. It also positions the brand as an expert in our chosen niche/industry.

The above example is simple and concise. By stating the purpose of blog post publishing, anyone who reads this SOP would understand why it’s important to come out with a new one every week.

Make sure to include information on who is responsible for maintaining the SOP so people would know who to turn to if they have questions.

Frame the Process

Apart from understanding the why, it’s also essential for people to understand where the process fits in the overall business picture.

When is the task usually performed and how often? Are there additional steps required before the process can be completed?

These are critical questions the SOP needs to answer for it to be considered effective and serve its purpose.

Process: Blog Publishing

Lead: Noel Rosos

Purpose: Publishing a new blog post weekly ensures that the brand’s followers are updated and engaged. It also positions the brand as an expert in our chosen niche/industry.

Frequency: A new blog post needs to be published every Monday which means it needs to be written, edited, and proofread at least a week ahead to give time for possible revisions. The blog post is then scheduled once all the necessary revisions have been made.

By stating these additional information, users become aware of the important dates as well as the tasks that needs to be done before the post gets scheduled.

Detail the Steps

The most important part of the SOP-creation process is the detailing of the steps or procedures. This is the part where you document the steps required to perform the process.

As mentioned, documenting the steps should be done in a simple and straightforward fashion. Make it easy for the reader to understand what needs to be done as much as possible.

Required Steps:

1. Log in to WordPress and click on Posts<Add New
2. Enter the title of the post
3. At the bottom of the page under “Yoast SEO,” enter the keyword to be used in the blog
4. Write the blog post, making sure to stay within the 1500-word requirement
5. Add an image at the beginning of the post by clicking on the “Add Media” button on top. Click on Upload, and browse for the image you would like to use.
6. Once you’re done, click “Status” at the upper right corner and select “Pending Review” from the drop-down

Try to be as detailed as you possibly can when documenting the steps. Work under the assumption that the person who will use the SOP has no prior experience using the app or program you use.

Add Screenshots or Illustrations If You Must

Sometimes, using text alone may not be enough to get your point across or if there are conditionals involved. That being said, don’t be afraid to add screenshots or illustrations when necessary.

A lot of people find it easier to understand a process when they are shown the actual steps just like what we see in screen sharing sessions. Visuals like the ones mentioned make it easier to locate buttons and other options on the screen.

This is especially true in the case of first-time users who have no idea what the program looks like.

Test the SOP

The best way to know if the standard operating procedure you built works is to put it to a test.

It’s not unusual for a person who creates SOPs to overlook beginner’s perspective which is why testing is necessary. Hand them over to a few people you know, preferably those who have zero knowledge of what you do.

If it made sense to most of them, then your standard operating procedure is good to go. Otherwise, you may need to make a few tweaks to make it more viable.

A Few Important Reminders

Once the standard operating procedure is complete, there are a few reminders you need to remember to make its implementation a lot more effective. It’s not enough to simply hand them off. An SOP’s distribution and maintenance should also have its own system.

Make sure to save the SOP somewhere accessible to everyone. If you work with freelancers, you can simply save your SOP in a Google Drive folder. Give people “read-only” access so they can’t make changes to it. This is important because your SOP can easily become useless once everyone starts maintaining their own copies. With a single master copy, everyone remains in-sync.

Review your SOP periodically. Programs and apps get updated all the time and you want to make sure that your SOP reflects these changes to avoid confusion.

Final Thoughts

A standard operating procedure is crucial to the growth and success of a business which is why documenting your processes is a must. Having an SOP in place is a good way to ensure that everyone is in-sync in performing their respective duties.

While it may take a bit of time to create one, the sacrifice is all worth it considering the benefits you’ll receive in return which we have provided above.

If there are still processes in your business that aren’t documented yet, the steps provided above should give you a head start. Get a pen and paper and start writing down which of these processes you need to prioritize. Start creating a standard operating procedure for each of them based on the steps mentioned.

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