The largest and most successful businesses understand the importance of written procedures. They have operations manuals that clearly outline all of the steps required for each job. These companies know that their continued success depends on doing things consistently and not leaving anything to chance.
Written procedures are a good idea for small businesses, too. Here’s why:
- How will everything get done if for some reason you’re unable to do it yourself?
- Procedures form a pattern of consistency so that customers know what to expect each and every time they deal with you.
- Documenting procedures requires you to think about what you’re doing and allows you to see where time and money-saving improvements can be made in your operations.
- Having procedures in place allows you to hire lower-skilled employees who are much easier to find and less expensive to hire than more highly-skilled workers.
- Standardizing your procedures also minimizes the expense and frustration of mistakes arising from poor decisions by inexperienced employees.
All of these lead to the number one reason to write operating procedures—more profits!