If you want a systematic approach of doing business that will enable you to repeat steps that bring success to your company and improve your business on an everyday basis you will need working procedures that your company’s staff will use.
If you know that your business is a system composed of many different subsystems in the form of processes that enables normal operations of the company, then you know that you need working procedures for each of the processes in place.
But, many times I have seen how entrepreneurs put high efforts in systematizing their company. They are creating and documenting all working procedures. But their staff members are not using them to bring results to the company. Simply, these entrepreneurs suffer to ensure that their staff will use already prepared working procedures.
So, how you can ensure that your staff use and will continue to use your working procedures? Let’s answer this question.
1. As a first, you need to have documented working procedures in your company
You can’t expect someone to use and implement the specific procedure in his work if he doesn’t have something official in his hands as the documented working procedure. Yes, as a first you will need to make documentation that will contain all working procedures.
It does not matter if they are on hard copy paper, or stored on the server in digital form. The more important is to be sure that they exist and are easily available to all staff who will need to use them. This is the first step you need to check if you want to start building commitment of your staff about your working procedures.
2. You need to have the procedure for using procedures
The next thing you need to use to increase commitment and responsibility level about working procedures in your staff members is to create the special procedure for using the procedures. Probably sounds crazy idea, but believe me, this is something that will help you in your efforts to develop the stable systematized company.
3. Your working procedures need to be clear enough to become understandable and usable for your staff
Yes, you can’t expect that working procedures will be used and regularly implemented by your staff members if they are not clear enough to be understandable and usable.
When you work on the creation of working procedures, have in mind that you will not implement them, but your staff will. Their level of education, experience, the way of thinking and behavior is different from yours. So, if you want to ensure that your staff will use the procedures, you need to ensure that they are clear and understandable enough. Not for you, but for your staff members.
4. Involve your staff in creating and approving working procedures related to their work
In my practical experience, individuals will accept something if they are involved in planning and designing of that something. On the other side, the persons who work every day on the implementation of working procedures are the persons who have high-level knowledge about the needs and requirements of the processes that they manage and operate every day.
Why not use your staff members to create powerful working procedures that your staff members will use in the future?
5. Ensure continuous improvements of your working procedures to be sure that your procedures work
First-time created working procedure will not be perfect. That’s the fact. Sometimes the lack of the perfectionism can create resistance to change inside your staff members. So, they will refuse to use these non-perfect working procedures. But, mixing this point in this list with the previous to start continuous improvement process of the procedures, they will quickly come close to perfect and will show to your staff that they work and help them in their everyday tasks.
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6. Explain your staff that if something goes wrong and the specific procedure is followed, it’s not employee’s fault it’s because of the bad procedure
If your staff know that when they are using working procedures correctly in the way how they are described, the possible mistakes will not be their responsibility, but procedure’s responsibility. In such a way you will encourage your employees to use the procedures. For each mistake will ask for improvements, so the same mistake will not happen again. So, the employee’s trust will increase.
7. Reward the staff members for their support in procedure improvements and their efforts for using the working procedure on the everyday level
Create and implement a specific reward system that will encourage your staff members to use and improve working procedures. This will increase a high level of awareness about the importance of working procedures to the success of your company.
Here is how you can reward employees while also improve teamwork experience in your small business.
