Process Documentation is Smart Business
Some of us love process: process documentation, process creation, process improvement. Some of us would rather visit the dentist.
But there are so many reasons why this is important.
Knowledge Transfer
What happens when you lose a team member? You don’t want what they do to be in their head. You want the next person in that role, or you yourself, to see documented processes on the things they were doing and how to get that done.
Quality Control and Quality Improvement
You want your team to produce good product every time.
Documenting the process to be followed by multiple people throughout your organization ensures that you have consistency. This leads to quality improvement and quality control.
On top of that, it is a great way to determine efficiencies, or conversely uncover the inefficiencies.
Where are you or people on your team wasting time or doing unnecessary extra steps?Are there places where things could get better?
When you sit down and think about the steps, it’s a great way to revisit old processes and renew and reinvigorate them — make them better.
Increased Business Value
This is also great for selling your business. Documentation is an important part of your business package, so whoever you’re handing it off to feels they can pick it up quickly. This will dramatically increase the value.
Reduced Training Time
For small biz owners, when you’re ready to bring people on, having a documented process means you spend much less time in training. Your new Assistant can get up to speed right away.
How do you do it?
Make a List
Carve out some time to really think about it. Review determining your key processes. You can usually begin with the big things like marketing, operations, sales, finances, technology. Ask yourself what are the things that you’re doing over and over within your company? Those are where you start.
Pick a Tool (Keep it Simple)
You don’t necessarily need a new tool. Use something you’re already using. If you’re heavy into use of Word, use that. All you need is a checklist. You might want to add some pictures and images in there, but you don’t need to get fancy.
Already have a project management tool? This is an excellent place to document and track your processes.
Test it Out
Once you write a simple outline of the process go through the steps. What steps did you miss? Which steps were unclear? Were any steps out of order?
You don’t have to get it right the first time. You can refine it and eventually you’ll have something that you can easily hand off to someone else.
Need support with this?
Strategic Assistants get excited about process documentation.
Contact us today if we can help.