Why Your SOPs Are Failing: The Secret Framework You Need Now!

Authors, coaches, and consultants, are you tired of your business feeling frantic? Tired of waking up and not truly knowing where all of your projects, clients, and team members are in the process? Maybe you don’t even have a process mapped out!

Not having business systems that map out the way your business is supposed to run leaves everyone, including you, in a constant state of franticness. Concerned due dates won’t be met? Is the delivered final product up to the standards that your clients expect?

I started in the business world by trying out various multilevel marketing businesses. In that business, there is only 1 thing that sets you apart from everyone else who is selling the same product: YOU. I still believe that today. Going one step further, your business systems are part of the YOU that sets you apart from other businesses and competitors. Only you can cast the vision that your systems are created around, and only you can make sure that vision is executed through the systems you put into place.

Now that we have decided on the importance of the systems you create for your business, let’s talk a little bit about how to get those standard operating procedures completed for your manual. In order to get a great final draft, you must start with a first working draft.

What if I told you that there is a framework out there that can teach you the skill of effectively writing standard operating procedures? Would you want to learn more?

You have likely run into ineffective SOP’s at some time in your career. All of us usually work for someone else before we work for ourselves. Do you remember anyone even showing you where the manual was to set the standard for your work? I am not talking about the employee manual. I am talking about the actual procedure manual. Do you remember the frustration you felt when processes were unclear, and you had to ask a boss for clarification, maybe more than once? How about being given two separate sets of instructions on how to complete the same task? That happened to me more than once while working for others. All these things and more are just some of the reasons people quit their jobs. The mindblowing truth! All of these things can be fixed with a well-written standard operating procedure.

Do you remember me talking about a framework that can teach you how to write standard operating procedures that actually work? Before AI was a big thing, I was looking for ways to help me create systems for my clients. After struggling through a couple of onboarding processes for a coaching client, I started to create a simple system that I could use each time to help me. Once I got the system on paper, I realized that the same system can be used over and over by myself and others to create effective standard operating systems. I call my framework the Business Productivity Framework.

My framework includes four main phases or steps. First, we assess your current systems. Once we have completed the Substeps of that phase, we move on to implementation. In the implementation phase, we do things like put the new system into your project management system and add any automations that may be needed. Once your SOP has been created, tested, put into your software, and streamlined, then and only then do you train your team. Training is the 3rd phase of my framework. Most people would want to quit after that and consider it done. The truth is, your processes will need to be revised frequently. Most frequently in the beginning, while you are testing them. I look at my business and its processes as a living, breathing thing that is separate from me. That means they will need continual maintenance. For this reason I made phase 4 repeat the process.

When most people sit down to write a standard operating procedure, they don’t know how or what to do to begin. They don’t know what a final draft should look like or include. I see it over and over again with entrepreneurs. They try to create a checklist and then shove it into their “tool” and get angry when it doesn’t fit or work the way they want it to. Tools are meant to complement strong systems, not be the end-all be-all of them. My favorite tool is ClickUp. I love ClickUp. Just like other tools it has its drawbacks. You can not dump every little step into ClickUp and expect it to work as the entire system. I answered a distraught business owner the other day who was upset that ClickUp couldn’t hold her entire system. I told her that for me personally, I have had great success creating a standard operating procedure that contains the system in its entirety, then using necessary steps in ClickUp itself. I also told her that linking the standard operating procedure to the task in ClickUp solves the problem of not having enough space for the entire system. She did not seem pleased with my answer. I hope she learns that before you can shove a system into a tool you must first have clarity around the process you are trying to build.

If you are looking to turn your SOPs into a magical document that can help you focus on productivity and profit, the Business Productivity Framework will help you do exactly that.

Remember, without a framework, scattered processes never become a system. The Business Productivity Framework fixes that.

If you are looking for a simple exercise to move your business forward, this week’s Profit Insight will help you get started.

Feel free to comment below if you have questions about your own systems or just want to share a weekly win with us.