What are some of the reasons you need procedures? Be honest. Is it because:
• You need them to meet legal, regulatory or accreditation requirements
• Your business is a jumble. You’re not sure who’s doing what or how
• When new people start you don’t know how you need to train them
• Everyone does the same job in different ways and you know not all of them are the best way
• You want to lean up your business, cut costs and unnecessary work
• There are too many stuff-ups and you want to prevent them
• You want to be able to sell your business and you need to show how it operates
• You want to see what you’re doing that adds the most value and focus on that
•Experienced people are leaving and taking their knowledge out the door
• You want to highlight hazards to improve safety or minimise incidents
Whatever your reason, the path to clarity and order is the same. Identify the tasks each employee does, write clear concise visual procedures or work instructions and train and assess your people against them.