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Business
Procedures
By
Tash Hughes of
Word Constructions
If you
have worked in the corporate world, you know that big
businesses have procedure manuals and policies for how
things are to be done. They may vary in effectiveness,
but they have been thought out and written.
Maybe you
consider this something that only belongs to big
business, but small and medium businesses should also
have some procedures written out.
A small
business will have fewer procedures and make not call it
a manual, they may be more flexible in their approach,
but the concept is the same.
Why
have procedures?
Many small
business owners, especially sole traders, know how to
run their business so don’t see any reason to write the
procedures done. But what happens when the owner isn’t
the one trying to carry out a particular task one day?
By having
procedures written down, someone else is able do the job
with minimal disruption to clients and the overall
business.
Here are
some the main reasons to have procedures written down
for your business:
-
Someone is able to fill in for you if you are sick
or go on holidays
-
Less
time is required to train new staff
-
You
have a system to sell, either as a franchise or if
you sell the entire business
-
There
are less likely to be human errors because someone
forgets a key step
-
Clients receive consistent answers and service
What
procedures do I need?
In short,
everything you do!
If a task
is repeated then it should be written down. So there
could be a large number of procedures for even the
smallest of businesses.
Think
about the person filling in for you when you suddenly
fall ill for a couple of months. Would they know how to
do things such as:
-
Record
sales
-
Prepare a quote
-
Hire a
contractor or new employee
-
Maintain your website
-
Follow
your marketing plan
-
Access
client information
-
Invoice clients
-
Package or present your product
How do
I write these procedures?
There is
no getting around the fact that it will take time and
patience to get all of your procedures written down in a
usable form. Even if you get a professional writer to
help you write the procedures, you will still need to
spend the time identifying the procedures to be
documented.
Like
anything, the easiest solution is to handle one
procedure at a time rather than all at once. It may be
worth keeping a list of all procedures and crossing them
off as you get them written.
The
following points can help with setting up your
procedures:
-
Procedures can include checklists
-
Procedures MUST include every step of the process
-
Procedures MUST be clear and simple enough that
other people can follow them easily
-
Start
by taking notes of what you do as you do each task
-
Consider a template for your procedures so they all
end up being consistent
-
Set up
a system to store the procedures so they are easy to
access and use. For instance, keeping them in a
hidden file on your computer may make it very hard
for someone else to access for you.
-
Include relevant details in the procedures. For
example, instead of ‘send to accountant’ write ‘send
to Jo Blow, 123 Accountants, 12 Main ST, Anytown’
Clear communication is critical to
the success of any business, but it is often left to
care for itself in many businesses. Tash Hughes is a
professional and skilled writer who makes technical and
otherwise boring information accessible for everyone a
business needs to communicate with. Next time you need
webcopy, articles, newsletters, reports or any other
business document, visit
www.wordconstructions.com.au to
see how Tash and her team can help your business
succeed.
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