Are you facing the challenge of documenting policies and procedures? Perhaps you want to improve your day-to-day processes, scale your business, or create instructions for client training. While this might seem straightforward, the reality is both simple and complex.
Have you ever tried to assemble furniture only to give up because the instructions were confusing? It's incredibly frustrating. Whether documentation is for your use or for others, it should be easy to follow so that it enhances—rather than hinders—the ability to complete tasks.
It's important to document processes in general, but it is especially helpful for complex or infrequently performed tasks and also for cross-training purposes. There are many benefits that come from documenting processes, such as:
Documentation can come in a lot of different forms. Policies and Procedures are the collection of various ways you may document your processes. Policies are high level whereas Procedures (sometimes called Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Process Flows, Job Aids or Quick Reference Guides) are more specific and often include instructions. At times these are referred to as Job Aids or Quick Reference Guides. In addition, you may also have Worksheets and Templates. Let's start talking about how to document your processes.
Here are the 5 steps you should take to document processes.