“SOPs are pointless!” We’ve heard business gurus and creatives share this sentiment, but we couldn’t disagree more. 🙅♀️
Most small businesses have around 200-500 processes that help them function. But that’s why SOPs are important. They allow you to document what you do, how you do it, and when to take action.
Sure, you can memorize every process, but that’s like a “cooking without a recipe” challenge. There’s a better way to run things, aka creating guidelines for your team.
Some entrepreneurs argue that SOPs constrain their creativity. In reality, SOPs help direct your creativity, so you can focus on your priorities rather than tedious tasks that don’t require innovation. 🧠
Without SOPs, you dedicate even more brain power to figuring out how to do A, B, and C in your business, limiting creativity altogether!
Press play to watch our rebuttal, or check out our post below, where we’ll discuss:
- Why SOPs are important
- The purpose of SOPs
- An example of standard operating procedures in the workplace
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What’s the Big Deal About Standard Operating Procedures
Maybe you’ve heard of SOPs before, but that’s the extent of your knowledge. If that sounds like you, let’s unpack common questions about SOPs and their benefits! 💡
What Are SOPs and Why Are SOPs Important in the Workplace?
SOPs act like roadmaps, detailing how to successfully complete tasks and navigate daily operations.
Standard operating procedures are essential in streamlining what you do and how you do it, so you can delegate tasks to any employee and feel confident knowing they can achieve the desired outcome.
👉 We talk more about effective ways to write SOPs in this post!
What Are the Benefits of Using Standard Operating Procedures?
While documenting processes may seem “over-structured” for creatives, the pros easily outweigh the cons. ⚖️
Here are 8 benefits of standard operating procedures that are impossible to ignore:
✅ Improves your team’s efficiency
✅ Ensures consistent and quality output
✅Streamlines communication with staff
✅ Strengthens employee training
✅ Finds gaps in your business systems
✅ Sets a standard for how to run your company
✅ Saves time for crucial tasks
✅ Allows for fewer micro-decisions
What Are the Disadvantages of Not Having Standard Operating Procedures?
Don’t have a frame of reference? Prepare to wing it and see what happens next. We don’t know about you, but we’d rather not fly by the seat of our pants! 👖
Some of the cons of not following an SOP include:
❌ Challenges with basic tasks and work mistakes
❌ Lack of consistency in areas like customer service and internal workflows
❌ Overall lower work quality and morale
❌ Less autonomy within your business
❌ Time wasted on unnecessary problem-solving
❌ Bottlenecks and new issues piling up
❌ Disjointed departments
Why deal with an endless list of headaches when you can conserve your creativity for the critical parts of your business?
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Check out our complimentary Systemization Snapshot™ quiz to assess your business' efficiency!
Why Is It Essential to Have SOPs?
The purpose of SOPs is to provide direction and maintain a standard across your business operating system. Think of standard operating procedures as a way to stick to the main road without deviating from the path.
When you have all the necessary processes mapped out, your team doesn’t need to second guess themselves or try a new approach every time.
Instead, they can move through the workflow with ease and confidence. 💪
What Types of Businesses Use SOPs?
Standard operating procedures are helpful in many industries, such as restaurants, healthcare, manufacturing, and creative agencies.
For instance, restaurants may use SOPs to maintain health standards and safety regulations, while healthcare facilities may have specific patient regulations. 📝
As for creative agencies, SOPs help manage factors that require little innovation, like invoicing clients.
How to Write Effective Standard Operating Procedures
Does the idea of creating a thick binder of SOPs sound unappealing? We get it! Who wants to read through a lengthy manual anyway?
Your standard operating procedures shouldn’t include a 45-page document! Instead, the best SOPs are…
👉 Short and sweet
👉 Straight to the point
👉 Easy to read
If you want to ease into SOPs, be sure to read this post, where we share our secret for creating them in 15 minutes or less! 👀
As you begin your SOP journey, keep the following in mind:
✔ Write step-by-step guidelines as if the reader is new to the process.
✔ Avoid using too much jargon and simplify your language.
✔ Assign ownership over SOPs and areas in your business.
✔ Use visuals, links, and any relevant resources.
✔ Review the SOPs and update them over time.
Why SOPs Are Important: A Workplace Scenario
An employee steps into a new role to manage support tickets. They will likely focus their energy on customer requests without prior knowledge.
However, they may make assumptions during the process that lead to mistakes because they have no additional context. 🤔
Not providing any guidance sets the new employee up to fail and pushes your customer service back to the basic level.
In contrast, if you offer a policy binder and an SOP that explains the best practices you’ve learned over the past 10 years, the employee can dedicate their energy to:
✅ Making the process more efficient
✅ Fixing areas that aren’t working well
In this case, the benefits of using standard operating procedures:
⏰ Saves time: The employee doesn’t need to resolve old issues.
📝 Establishes consistency: Processes will remain the same no matter who engages with them, like customer service.
👐 Allows for delegation: When changes occur, it becomes easier to allocate tasks to any team member.
Newsletter Storytime: Why SOPs Are Important (06:27)
Let’s dive into how SOPs can save the day in the workplace. 🦸♂️
Jane is in charge of scheduling newsletters. Before she started, Jane’s predecessor always missed details and made mistakes.
So, Jane wanted to turn over a new leaf–she started documenting what to do and what not to do with the newsletters. With its guidance, she was able to make the company’s newsletter error-free and the reviewing process less stressful. 🏆
One day, Jane wakes up with two sick kids. The problem? She had to send the newsletter. Jane decides to call in sick because she’s physically exhausted.
Fortunately, her team members step in and send the newsletter by following the steps from the SOP. Yay! 🎉
Jane and her colleagues can rest easy knowing the audience will still receive an error-free newsletter in their inbox.
SOP Objections: Disadvantages of Standard Operating Procedures
We’ve witnessed SOPs positively impact thousands of small teams over the years. Still, some entrepreneurs say that standard operating procedures are pointless. 💬
It’s time to debunk common arguments we hear online.
📢 Complaint #1: As a team of creatives, SOPs will restrict us!
That’s not true. There are many parts of a business that don’t require creativity, like:
- Paying your taxes
- Answering support tickets
- Proofreading newsletters
- Hiring and onboarding
- Qualifying leads
- Publishing blog posts
You don’t need to waste creative energy on tedious and necessary elements like these. If you want to build an efficient machine that can grow over time, SOPs will create a solid foundation so you can lend your creativity to what you want to do.
🗝️ Free resource shoutout: Learn how to use SOPs to operate more effectively with our guide, 109 SOP Topics Every Team Needs!
📢 Complaint #2: I stopped my business for a month to write everything down in policy binders, and it didn’t work!
Do we recommend taking off an entire month to document your processes? Absolutely not! In fact, it’s easier to write SOPs while working.
Here’s an alternative approach:
- Set up a centralized digital space to store your SOPs.
- Make sure the SOPs are accessible to all team members.
- Create a strategy and plan of action for implementing the SOPs.
📢 Complaint #3: SOPs take too long to be worth the effort.
Good news! You don’t need to block out an entire afternoon to work on your SOPs. Instead, you can write them in under 20 minutes with our approach. How’s that for efficiency?
📢 Complaint #4: If I create SOPs, no one will use them. My team hates this stuff!
Fundamentally, humans love SOPs and structure because they allow us to achieve the same result without working extra hard.
If your team isn’t a fan of your SOPs, it’s likely because:
🤷♀️ It’s not helping them in a way that makes the process easier.
🤷♀️ The SOPs are helpful, but people don’t know about them, e.g., they don’t have access to the documents or they’re unaware of the SOPs.
📢 Complaint #5: My business is new. Why should I write SOPs before knowing what I’m doing?
This is a valid point. Yes, SOPs can conserve your time and energy, but that doesn’t mean your business is ready for them.
Systemizing during the experimental stage may slow your business down, especially if you’re scrapping things as you go. 🧪
If you’ve started a new business, get familiar with how you want your company to function. Then, document away!
Why SOPs Are Important for Your Small Business
This guide covered the benefits of standard operating procedures and how they can support your daily operations.
Not sure if SOPs are right for you? Consider taking our free Systemization Snapshot™ quiz! This resource will analyze business efficiency and provide a diagnosis to improve it. 📈
Whenever you’re ready to implement SOPs, revisit our library of blog posts to support you every step of the way.
Let’s bring creativity back into the equation and enjoy the process!
ProcessDriven helps small teams turn chaos into process. The ProcessDriven Approach™ combines software expertise with practical process-first strategies that have helped 2,020+ teams build a scalable foundation of business systems.
