Why Are Standard Operating Procedures Important?
The critical task of writing policies and procedures rarely gets the respect it deserves. Most people recognize the need for standard policies, but standard operating procedures are often viewed as a necessary evil. Why is that?
The COMPROSE Policy and Procedure Pros devoted this post to concisely answering the fundamental question: why are Standard Operating Procedures necessary? Here goes:
Reasonable procedures and work instructions provide a way to communicate and apply consistent standards and practices within your organization.
GOOD procedures . . .
- save time and mistakes
- reduce training costs
- ensure consistent results
- empower the workforce
- get read and used
- support quality goals
- enable you to delegate work
But BAD procedures can be as disastrous as no procedures at all!
Flawed procedures . . .
- cause errors and frustration
- increase training costs
- waste time and money
- detract from quality goals
- don’t get read or used
It’s the flawed procedures out there that are the problem. And we’ve probably seen more SOP documents than anyone on the planet. Unfortunately, many poorly written, hard-to-understand, and frankly BORING documents clog up corporate America's shelves, websites, network drives, and beyond.
We’re on a mission to change all that. Watch our upcoming posts for tips and techniques that you can use for writing policies and procedures of the GOOD kind—the ones that deliver value—and keep away from the BAD type that doesn’t get read or used.
Our Zavanta software‘s authoring wizard and built-in Advice enable anyone to create GOOD SOPs in less than HALF the time of conventional methods.
