Episode 78: Streamlining Your Small Business: The Importance of Standard Operating Procedures

Unlocking Efficiency in Small Business: The Power of Standard Operating Procedures

As a small business owner, it can be challenging to manage all the different aspects of your business, especially as it grows. With new team members coming on board and new processes being implemented, it can be easy for things to become disorganized and inconsistent. This is where standard operating procedures (SOPs) come in.

SOPs are the backbone of any successful business, especially in the service industry. They ensure that your team members are clear on their roles and responsibilities, reduce errors and inconsistencies, and help maintain quality and consistency even when you're not there. In short, SOPs make it possible for you to scale your business and maintain a high level of service.

So, what are SOPs, and how do you create them?

SOPs are simply a set of documented procedures that explain how to perform a particular task or process. To create SOPs, start by identifying the key processes in your business that need to be documented. This could include your billing process, customer service procedures, or inventory management, to name a few.

Once you've identified the processes, break them down into specific steps and create a detailed guide for each step. It's important to involve your team in the SOP creation process to ensure that the procedures are effective and practical. Consider holding team meetings to gather input and feedback from team members on the new processes.

After creating SOPs, it's essential to implement them effectively. This means training your team, measuring performance, and continuously improving your processes. Consider creating a system for tracking compliance and regularly reviewing your SOPs to ensure they are up to date.

Implementing SOPs can be time-consuming and require effort, but the long-term benefits are worth it. SOPs make it possible to run your business more efficiently, maintain consistency, and scale your business.

In summary, SOPs are a crucial aspect of any successful small business. They provide a structure for your team, reduce errors and inconsistencies, and help maintain quality and consistency. Creating and implementing SOPs requires a structured approach, involving your team in the process, and regularly reviewing and updating the procedures.

Don't miss out on our upcoming episode of the Collab with Kiva podcast, where we'll dive deeper into the importance of SOPs and provide actionable tips for creating and implementing effective SOPs in your small business.

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva.

See you next time!

Are you ready to take massive action in your business and harness the power of data in your decision-making? Let’s chat 👇🏽

Podcast Transcript:

Kiva Slade 0:01

Welcome to Collab with Kiva, where we let our inner nerd geek out on all the non sexy parts of your business. I'm talking data and operations. Neither as flashy or glamorous, but both are foundational to your business growth. I'm your host, Kiva Slade, your strategy and analytics guide here to break down what feels complicated, so it is understandable and executional. Let's dive in. Hello, and welcome to another episode of Collab with Kiva. I'm your host, Kiva Slade, today we are going to talk about scaling your business with SOPS, that's right, standard operating procedures. These are some strategies for maintaining quality and consistency. So if you followed me for any time, you know that I made a joke and one of my emails are you down with ChatGPT was a play on naughty by nature's are you down with OPP which we're not trying to be down with, but I really was talking about it in relation to SOPs and SOPs sometimes get a bad rep. Let's be honest, just like OPP, but that's a whole another conversation. So it's really about creating documented systems in your business that will replicate outcomes that are repeatable, and standardized, basically, like, it doesn't matter if Sally or Jane or Bob is completing this particular task, because of an SOP, all three of them are going to do it the same way you're going to get the same outcome. And that's why I don't think that SOPs deserve their rep that they get.

Kiva Slade 1:54

So as your business grows, documenting your processes becomes essential to maintaining consistency, ensuring quality in training new team members. So today's episode is all about SOPs, why they are important how you can create them, and implement them effectively. I don't want you creating them. So they're sitting in Google Drive in your project management tool. In some other software application, they need to be used and remember, their living breathing documents, they will also require revisiting and updating. So let's get started though the importance of them in your business. And you know, as a small business owner, and I don't care if you are a team of one, or you have more than that. Creating SOPs is, again, crucial for maintaining consistency and ensuring quality. If you're a team of one, when you bring on that first person that VA or someone else who's going to help take some things off your plate. If you've created no loom videos or something written SOP, then you're going to be frustrated, because you're like, Why did I hire this person, they're not able to help me, they're not taking things off my plate, you've not documented it, they don't know how to do it, that means you're gonna have to train them to do it, which is gonna frustrate you, because why you got to spend time training them to do the thing you wanted them to do, and that's what you're paying them for. So it is important to have SOPs, they can help your team, understand the roles and responsibilities, reduce errors and inconsistencies. And basically just ensure that your business runs smoothly, even when you're not there.

Kiva Slade 3:44

Gas by note, taking time off reality, it can really become your reality with SOP. So I really want you to think about the importance of them. Just last week on one of the one of my clients teams, we spent a large portion of our team meeting going over a new SOP we were crafting it basically as we went because we had an old one. And some systems had changed in the business in terms of what we were utilizing some ways we added a different key personnel who was going to take on a different role. And we didn't have that when the initial SOP was created. So we took the time during our team meeting to flush it all out with everyone present to understand and what's great because we have a team member who isn't really involved in that part of the business. However, her freshness to that process. Her questions were gold. They were so amazing because they helped us see through some things that we might have assumed and what that would be like for someone who was totally new to the process to grasp to understand to carry out so we literally went through the entire SOP.

Kiva Slade 5:02

So everybody was aware of it, everybody was clear on what the steps are, what the process is. And now we can move forward with everyone being clear. And that right there is so critically important. Because if you have things being done, some people are following the old ways. Some people are following the new way. Some people are making up their own path. You're lacking that consistency, you're lacking quality. And I know, SOPs are not sexy. They are not the things that you make, make you feel are your moneymakers. But that's where I tell you, you're wrong. When you can start having SOPs and creating consistency and ensuring quality, that's gonna lead you to more money, a heck of a lot faster than you dancing and pointing on some video on Tiktok. I can guarantee you because you're setting up repeatable systems in your business. And again, you are also enabling your team empowering your team to think through the process to deliver the goods, and you're getting yourself out of that day to day minutia. It's so many of you are stuck in.

Kiva Slade 6:25

So you want to dance though dance, but trust me, you really should focus on some SOPs. So with that being the case, let's talk about creating SOPs. And we can go back and forth dosey doe around what that can look like, okay, and it looks different for every business. However, there are some things that are pretty similar. So when you're thinking about it, you want to identify the process, like what processes are going to be documented in your business. And let's just take one for example. And oh, calendar management, okay, you want to break down the process into steps, creating a detailed guide for each of the steps. So if you, your VA is going to manage your calendar, you probably have certain times on your calendar that are blocked off like so you want them to check for that. Maybe you have where you want a 10 minute buffer between meetings and on the front end and the back end. So that needs to be in your SOP because that way when they're looking for time to set up a meeting, they know that you're going to need 10 minutes on the front end 10 minutes on the back end as the buffer. So they can't just squeeze you squeeze something into spot that it doesn't really fit. Okay, in addition to that, like no meetings on holidays, or no meetings on Mondays after 12 or something, whatever your parameters are, those things need to go into that SOP.

Kiva Slade 7:52

Okay, if you run a marketing agency, maybe you want to create an SOP about social media and social media posting, like the process for your agency, because it's different for everyone. Like there's a different process if you're using Hootsuite versus later versus Publer or whatever it is that you might be utilizing metrical. So you want to identify the process again, break it down into steps like create the content calendar, write the captions, scheduling the posts, then like create a detailed guide for each of those like literally outlining the best practices for them to go through as it relates to that, like this is really the net. Like, what's that bread and butter of the process is really documenting it out. And I'll give you a tip. I talked earlier about loom, we use loom, record the process. That loom generates the transcript. And then we put that into ChatGPT and we tell it to act as a technical writer and write out a detailed step by step based on the transcript. Use technology. Again, SOPs aren't sexy, but they don't have to be complicated either in terms of getting them started. So take the video and the transcript, put it in the ChatGPT let it do its magic. And give your team or yourself a starting point with that SOP in really it has served wonders for our team and the teams that we serve.

Kiva Slade 9:37

Because it's that first part that's like getting out of the way you know, and so now the team can go in, they can compare between the loom and what ChatGPT has put out, make any necessary corrections in boom bam, you have your SOP. So again, this time doesn't need to be a complicated process. Use tech in a way that helps you finish the process faster, and utilize your team's skills and strengths better. It's just an easier way to do it. So once you though have, you know, understood the importance of SOPs, and then you've created some, it's really now about implementation. Again, we're not creating them to sit in a Google Drive, where no one can find them. No one can access them. But they're like, I know they're there. They're there somewhere, you know, or even in your project management tool. Oh, I haven't been Asana. I haven't been Clickup. I haven't been Trello. Yeah, but is anyone using them there? Does anyone else know that they're there besides you. So really, it's creating it is it's truly like the first step in the process. But after it's created, you have to train your team on it. That's it, if it's not walked out, it's literally just that it's just a document. It's not serving any purpose, it is not going to create consistency. And it will not ensure quality. Because no one is using it. Nobody knows it exists, or they know it exists, but they're not checking it.

Kiva Slade 11:16

So having your SOPs as part of your onboarding process, again, taking time during a team meeting to hey, let's go through this one time we looked it over again, with a fresh set of eyes, let's go through it as we're on this call, really going through that way you can maximize the performance of your team. Also, you're like continuously improving your organization and your processes through those kinds of reviews. We change tech platforms, we add in people, maybe there's a different layer in your organization that comes about whatever it is. SOPs are living, their breathing, they need updating, they need revisions, they need someone to periodically go back and check them. So that hey, is this accurate? Is this still how we do this? If not, let's update it. And so when you have that, like, implementation process on it, you want to again, familiarize your team, you want to train them in that process. You want them also basically, you want to measure performance, like to ensure compliance like, team, we've done this, like you start seeing people deviate from the SOP, ding, ding, ding, it's time to have a chat. Like, oh, what in this SOP? Are you not understanding because like you're over in left field. And I don't know why. Because we have an SOP.

Kiva Slade 12:44

So you use it as a tool to redirect team back to the standard. This is how things are done here. And then now let's be real, if they can't, like you've redirected them two, three times, and they're still off in left field, it's time to let them go be in someone else's field. Just saying, because there's obviously something there that's disconnected either a they're not reading it, or they're not reading and adhering to it or they're just Rebel Without a Cause and don't believe in following standard operating procedures, whatever that case is. Again, it's a way to help you measure performance and ensure compliance. Again, you're also continuously improving the processes in your business. And, like recently, my team we're about to finish up in the next month, a four month project that we've done with a client. It's a management consulting firm. And we've done literally an SOP project with them. And see here for those who catch this we've been using System ology by David Janis is kind of like our kind of guide in the sense of interest me, it's a hodgepodge in the sense of the SOPs I'm using it's a different kind of format than what he suggests, but the way we store them is different than he suggests. But really having someone like in this organization, we have a systems champion, someone who works inside that company, whose job it is to be the cheerleader to be the rah rah, get everybody going, we're going to do something not fun. We're going to document processes, yay, you know, someone has to take on that role. And then also designating what are called knowledge workers. Who that person or those in some cases, it really is one person, or those people on the team who have that.

Kiva Slade 14:47

The knowledge base for this particular you know, processes being documented. You know, like, who's the best who's the smartest person about this thing? You know, and so we actually had two sets like a team back During what we call like an admin batch, because there's things that the CEO does that the rest of the team, obviously, you know, invoicing, accounts payable, different things like that that's not related to the team. And then we have the team one, so we really just broke it down. And it's about, we were doing 20 SOPs, just get them really going. And it's been a great experience we have, like I said, we broke them down, it's about two per week. And so all their team has to do is do the videos, like then they send it to us, we do the actual written SOP, we send it back to them, they do edits, modifications, we clean it up. And then they file it and make sure that everybody on the team who needs to know it has it. And it's been a dream. And I don't say that just for ourselves, actually got an email, will actually, the CEO emailed my team and thanked them saying they, she wanted to drop a quick note of gratitude, she was reflecting with her husband about the difference are they experience with the amazing operations management and systems documentation support provided by The 516 Collaborative, because we also do have an operations project with them as well. And it says folks talk about quote, unquote, game changers. And you are certainly that for small businesses, such as ours who are intent on setting a strong foundation to maintain, grow and sustain over the long haul.

Kiva Slade 16:34

Like, this is such a beautiful message, because they literally are already seeing the benefits of the work that we're doing with them around that systems documentation. And, you know, we've had the conversation with this client, like it doesn't continue, like it can continue where we continue to do it for you. But honestly, you really want to bring that systems work in house, you really want to bake it into the process your team is doing. Like it becomes part of their work like, Oh, we're doing something new, we need to document this we need to record a loom or Google. Google meet video, because they use a lot of Google products, and it just escaped me. But you know, record that video, the transcribe it and read write out the SOP, review the SOP by the knowledge worker, all the processes that we're doing, we want them to start taking those in house and baking them into what they do. So that it doesn't go like another, I don't know, four months, eight months, 12 months where nothing has happened since the 20 that we did we want this to continue. So we tell that to clients all the time, because this really needs to become a part of how you do business, how you train team members, how you again, can measure performance, as well as ensure compliance is something that needs to be baked into your business. Again, I don't care if you're one person, you will not always be one person in there will be a time you will want someone to help you, you want to avoid the frustration that comes with having someone help you have some SOPs, then they are actually empowered to do the work that you want them to help you with. Without it, they're not in your boat frustrated. So it's such a lovely message knowing that also that, you know, we know that we're making a difference. But we also know we're tackling something that is not normally like a top priority for a lot of business owners. So when we're able to do that, and this is a seven figure business,

Kiva Slade 18:49

You know that these are important things to continue growth trajectories, we know that these things are important and we you know, partner with and collaborate with some amazing business owners to make them happen. So all that said, let's have some actionable takeaways. So again, the first thing I want you to do, identify the key processes in your business that need to be documented, create a plan for creating those, okay, so whether it's around billing, customer service, inventory management, whatever it is, I want you to identify those key processes and really be serious about developing a plan for creating the SOPs to involve your team. If it's just you, that's fine. involve someone in your family or biz bestie and say, Look, I know you don't know a lot about what I do in my business. Can you watch this video and tell me if it makes sense to you, give them Starbucks, give them you know, whatever it is that they have an interest in for helping you out or barter and do something for them in their business. Maybe you become SOP buddies, you know If you have a team involve the team in that creation process, as I said, we just did that for another client of mine, you know, through our team meeting, but you really want to make sure that the processes and the procedures are like they're effective and practical, don't go creating, I don't know, an SOP on something obscure that, like, that happens once in a blue moon in your business, you know, like, That's not the thing.

Kiva Slade 20:27

And to be clear, people, I think, get afraid of SOPs, because like, oh, my gosh, I have to document everything in my business. It's really an 80-20 roll. If you document 20% of the things in your business and guarantee you your business will be doing 80% Better. So don't get freaked out saying, Oh, my heavens, I have to do all this work. No, what are those critical ones. And for the one client, we literally we, we had a strategy intensive, and we talked about the operations and their business as well as systems and really documented, it outlines what those top 20 would be, in terms of critical areas in the business, that need it to have team informed about in order to again, create consistency, and you know, ensure quality, but then also things that the CEO really needed to get off of their plate, and spread that that work around. So again, involve your team. And then thirdly, implement the daggone things like they need to become a part of the training for your team, measuring performance, ensuring compliance, and just the continuous improvement of your organization. So I want you to try and you can create a system for tracking them, like when ours include dates as to when it was created, and then another date for when it's updated.

Kiva Slade 22:04

So you want to make sure that you keep them up to date, maybe quarterly, you review those that are related to marketing, and then next quarter, you bring you those that are related to admin. And the next quarter, you review some other aspect, whatever it is, you want to again, they're not a set it and forget it. They're living, they're breathing. And we're not just trying to create them for the sake of grading to say that we have them if no one's actually utilizing them. So definitely implement them in the work of your business. So again, creating and implementing SOPs is essential for the success of your small business, I want you guys to rock out the SOPs. They're so valuable and so often overlooked. So again, they help you maintain consistency, ensure quality, you know, training new team members, and all of the goodness that comes with that. So if you have any questions, feel free to reach out if you want to tackle an SOP project, feel free to reach out. But also thanks for tuning in to this episode. And I really hope that you find it totally actionable, like you have marching orders, go forth and conquer and I want to hear about those amazing SOPs that you're creating. Talk to you later. Bye. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva. I'm wildly cheering you on as you go forth and execute data and operational efficiencies in your business. If you need additional support, connect with me via my website, the516collaborative.com. Your reviews on Apple are appreciated. See you next week.

Meet Kiva Slade - the Founder and CEO of The 516 Collaborative. With a unique background in high-power politics on Capitol Hill and sixteen years as a homeschooling mama, Kiva found her calling in the online business world as a trusted guide for entrepreneurs looking to build the business of their dreams.

Kiva's work began behind the scenes, orchestrating the back end of businesses and managing teams. But her inner data diva couldn't help but notice that small businesses needed help harnessing the power of data for growth. So she and her team set out to uncover and tidy up the data required to enable clients to grow their businesses confidently and easily.