stages of development - International Business Growth Radio Network

(O)X Value Added SOP's - Wendy Dickinson

13/11/2020

Wendy Dickinson - "Catalytic Conversation$"

Introduction
It’s not surprising that our businesses thrive with SOP’s – Standard Operating Procedures. Systems and processes support the growth and development of our businesses.

SOP’s allow the aspects of the business – operations, customer/client sales, people within the company to expand capacity and capabilities. Profitability increases, a greater number of products or services sold flows exponentially, and the Owner Executive is able to grow proportionately.

Lately, a number of my clients have gotten stuck, playing an endless round of the refrain, “But, we’ve always done it that way.”

If you find yourself thinking that thought, please come to a screeching halt. Stop, breathe, and recognize that thought for the red flag that it can be. Today.

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Show Objectives - The Why
Our brains like routine. Our companies and our brains function well within the routines of SOP’s. Due to our brain’s handy Reticular Activating System, RAS for short, we tend to filter out the information that may indicate that it’s time for a change.

That is a problem! Your company is best served by SOP’s that are relevant, efficient, and offer the most cost-effective and productive delivery of your goods or services. The continuation of an SOP is not a given. Set each SOP up to be reviewed, maintained, and then revised if found to be relevant.

Key Issues - Owner Perspective:

SOP’s that deliver growth and profit in the early stages of the company are not always the best practices for a larger company.
Many owners find that changes to SOP’s challenge their Core Identity and their Relational Identity. Separate out the personal reasons for a particular SOP and look at the value added to the company.
Some SOP’s are not value added to the VALUE of the business. If an SOP is dependent on the Owner Executive, then that SOP is not attractive to a prospective buyer, a potential investor, reinvention efforts could be jeopardized, and sets up a future generation to fail.

What You Need to Know - The What

Potential Problems:

Businesses, and people, tend to practice patterns of behavior beyond when they benefit.
Owners, immersed in daily operations, bow to the limits of time, money & energy.
Owners fail to invest to keep current, increase efficiency & productivity by reviewing, maintaining, and revising SOP’s.
Dashboard full of metrics is incomplete.

E5.06.3 (O)X Value Added SOP’s

What You Need to Do - The How

Develop a list or chart of each function within the company. Who owns that function? What SOP’s are utilized within that function?
Create a situational map for each of the last 3 incidents where you, the Owner, had to problem solve. Identify opportunities to offload responsibilities.
Develop an assessment for both the external and internal factors that could impact the SOP’s during different scenarios.
Develop a process for reviewing, maintaining, and revising SOP’s with specific input from the people impacted by the SOP, including management input.
Create a constellation, or map, of each SOP. Identify ownership of each task. Include a SWOT analysis. Assign specific tasks with built in accountability.

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