Do You Have SOP?

Do You have SOP?

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) are a set of clearly written instructions outlining the specific activities needed to complete a task. This task may be simply closing the office at night or it could be to install the thingamajig in the whatyamacallit. These instructions or directions are written in simple language often with pictures so that all operations and employees required to perform this task are able to understand and do it. Simply put: procedures create standardized work with repeatable results.

Standard Operating procedures usually have the following characteristics:
• Idenitify where will this task be done
• Assign who has this task in their job description
• Idenitfy who will be responsible for the successful completion of this task
• The time needed to complete this task
• Define how this task contributes to the customer's satisfaction or profitability of the company
• Timeframe of when this task is done (many times per day, daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally)
• Actual procedures will be in simple language and often have pictures

Before you throw up your hands and say "I don't have time to do that", here are some of the basic reasons for doing SOP.
• Identify the flow of work from the beginning to the end.
• Error elimination or reduction.
• Provide a training manual for new employees/workers.
• Assists when solving production problems.
• Provide evidence of quality standards are in place.
• Provide evidence for excellence in the workforce.
• The MOST important tool when selling your business - you are selling a provable system with directions!

Businesses that implement procedures have also found that:
1) Creativity is increased because staff doesn't have to keep reinventing how to do something -- especially those tasks that are seasonal or not done frequently.
2) Stress levels are reduced on both management and labor because each knows what needs to be done and how; no more guess work.

If you are looking at your business and saying, how can I do this, start with the area of your business that has the most headaches. Putting standards there first will give you great feedback and results.

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
419-897-0528

Focus and Attention - It may not be ADD

10 Tips for Attention and Focus

Attention or Focus are described as selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things. A tough thing to do in this crazy stimulating world.
The interruptions of life from outside your office are many and I see the most popular as:

• staff
• family
• Incoming phone calls (landline, cell, fax)

Then there are the interruptions we create ourselves:

• Checking our mail - email and all other sources
• Checking our mobile device
• Checking the news/weather/market on the internet
• Daydreaming
• Outgoing phone calls

Most weeks are either the week we want, the week we schedule and the week we get!

Here are 10 tips to have a more "weeks we want":

1. Schedule time to do the daily tasks. Putting in your calendar that you will be checking and responding to your email at 8AM, Noon, and 3PM means you will be accountable to yourself to do it at those times. 

2. Set your daily and weekly priorities. Knowing what you need to do this week and today are key to getting work done.

3. Start each day with a review of what you will do today. This takes your priorities and creates a schedule for you to follow during the day. Understand the difference between Important and Urgent. Urgent means it must be done NOW. Important usually means it needs to be done. 

4. Control those distracting factors. That is where we started above with the distractions of life and the things that divert our focus. I am often reminded by teachers that say "Sam can't pay attention, yet this same Sam will spend 2 or 3 hours on the Gameboy." Recognize that not all important and necessary projects are fun. 

5. Create rewards for yourself. When you have successfully finished a project or task, reward yourself with something that gives you energy! Hear that clearly - gives you energy! Examples of "gives you energy" I've run into in the last month.

• 15 minutes shooting hoops
• Cup of Tea
• Taking a 5 minute walk
• Reading a chapter of a book
• Fresh brewed cup of coffee
• 10 minute power nap
• Messing around water/pond/river/lake
• What's yours?____________________ 

6. Pay attention to Daydreaming Moments. When you find yourself "off task" or daydreaming. Instead of getting annoyed and berating yourself. Take a moment and write down what you were thinking about. Often it may not relate to what you are doing right now, but to something else you brain is bothered about. Sometimes it can be a signal to take a break. Just learn to listen a little more.
7. Routine tasks. Use technology and others to help get stuff done. Let the voicemail work, forward all your emails to one account, find someone to do what you don't want to do or don't find energy from doing. Check out www.elance.com or www.odesk.com for routine tasks office tasks.
8. Stop delaying projects. Big projects usually can be split up into smaller projects. Take the time to do that and schedule when you will do each.
9. No - learn to say 'no'. Take a serious look at the work you do and identify those volunteer and networking projects that bring you energy. These are the ones that will be your key to sanity. Finding a charity or non-profit you can put yourself behind means when all the others call you have a great statement "I spend my volunteer time and money with _______." 
10. Finally, daily do PDCA! Plan-Do-Check-Act is the Lean circular system to obtain process improvement. Check and Act mean to review and make adjustments. At the end of the day take time to reflect and make sure what wasn't done is rescheduled for the next day.

Staying focused is a skill, those that seem to be born with it are usually good at knowing what they want and how to get it. You can train yourself for productivity one moment at a time.

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather

http://www.changinglanes.biz/

419-897-0528

  

Are You Passing the Baton in the Business Process?

This spring, I've enjoyed watching Val, my intern, lawn mower and granddaughter, run. She is a cross country runner and does spring track to stay in shape by doing the 800, the mile and two mile. Yes, as a freshman she earned her varsity letter! Yeah! Val.

One event that always gives me pause is the 4X400 relay that involves teams of four runners and a baton that must be passed in a 20 meter box or the team will be disqualified. Oh yes, you can't drop the baton AND it is passed three times during the relay. This really adds a level of coordination that challenges many runners. It is a process that has very clear desired outcomes for each runner.

Like a business process, the 4x400 is clearly defined in execution and has the critical step of passing the baton. A dropped baton has only two people that could be responsible. In any business, when a process goes astray the manager will be wise to manage the process first before placing blame.

Tips to help you manage relays:
• Make sure everyone knows the goal. To win is too big of a goal. If more than one team is involved, each team should have a process goal that is tied to a key goal. Usually runners will have individual goals for leg of the run.

• Provide easy access to effectiveness. If the team needs to know the cost or time of a process, this needs to be available in a time that makes sense. On the track, watch the runners time themselves and compare to the time keepers.

• Make sure outcomes are recognized - the good, the bad and the ugly.

• Avoid "Them" syndrome. Blaming someone for a defect or error may sometimes be in order but more often than not the process may be lacking. Before you train them, coach them, transfer them, or replace them, make sure they were the problem.

If you want to read more about business processes, Geary A Rummler has written several books on the subject that are considered key to understanding business processes and some are available on Kindle, too. Geary A. Rummler on Improving Performance

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather
http://www.changinglanes.biz/
419-897-0528

Knowing-Doing and Procrastination

Knowing-Doing Gap
Smart companies, big and small, sometimes struggle using knowledge in everyday work. A small service tech company I worked with had paid for a complete software application to track their inventory and vehicle maintenance schedule. The software was $12,000 and came with a one year service plan that was going to expire in 8 weeks. The software, easy to use, did require the drivers of the service vans to report back to the shop what they used on a service run and when the techs should get their van serviced. Consequently, there had been 25 days of vans not being operational and the estimate of getting to the job site without the proper inventory in the van was listed at 200 lost hours of work. So the $12,000 software had an additional cost of:

Van downtime - $1000 average lost revenue per day $25,000

Driving back to get supply $100/hour lost billing $ 2,000

Someone in this company KNEW that the software could save time, but the process of DOING was never completed. The knowing-Doing Gap is a documented growth factor for successful businesses. According to Jeffry Pffeffer of Harvard, statically, businesses that DO will surpass those that KNOW and fail to implement. In a Lean Culture, we often say:

DO SOMETHING because you can always do something else if the first DOING doesn't get the results you want.

What do you KNOW about your business that you are not DOING? Related articles.

Copyright 2011 Linda Lucas Fayerweather

 http://www.changinglanes.biz/
 419-897-0528
 linda@changinglanes.biz

Five Steps for Overcoming Procrastination
Overcoming procrastination will bring you joy and increase your bottom line. If procrastination in your life leaves you feeling bad about yourself, then it's time to implement a process for overcoming procrastination. Following the five step Conscious Transformation Process will make overcoming procrastination easier for you. The five steps are:

Announce - analyze your procrastination to gain clarity about why, when and how you procrastinate. Just don't make overcoming procrastination a procrastination technique that keeps you from doing important work! Download the Transformations Breakthrough Process to work through your own process. Once you've analyzed your procrastination patterns, determine how you will BE when procrastination is no longer part of your life. You may want to be productive, energetic, joyful, timely, relaxed, etc. Use this free tool Contrast Brings Clearness to help you gain clarity about your state of being as a non-procrastinator.

Align - adopt techniques that help you get back into balance when you notice that you are procrastinating. For example, you might use affirmations, visualization or journaling to return to the state of being you identified in the Announce step.

Act - create a plan of action based upon inspiration, incorporating activities that resonate with you. Some example actions that help with overcoming procrastination include: 

• Start each day with a plan and goals. Decide one thing that you are going to do to be productive that day and be specific. For example, make 10 calls to set up one-on-one sales appointments between 9 am and 10 am.
• Create a productive environment. Go someplace where you aren't distracted, turn off your Internet, or close your office door. Do whatever makes sense for you so that you can be productive. 
• Set a time limit. If you are working on a large project, decide to just work for one or two hours each day until the project is completed. Or maybe you just need 15 minutes a day. Choose the amount of time that seems right for you to complete your project on time.

Account - track your daily progress in applying the new actions you selected in the preceding step. Download the Daily Accountability Tracking Sheet from the FREE tools to help with tracking. Write down your commitments to take certain actions for overcoming procrastination, such as those listed in the Act step above, across the top columns. Monitor your progress for the days that are listed in the rows. At the end of your work day complete your daily accountability tracking sheet.

Allow - in order to succeed in overcoming procrastination, you must believe in yourself, detach from the outcome and be grateful throughout the process.

Be gentle with yourself and when you notice self-critical thoughts, stop those in their tracks and don't forget to reward yourself for making progress. Be grateful along the way.

There's no quick fix for overcoming procrastination, but if you follow these five steps, you will notice a slow but sure transformation from procrastination to productivity.

Copyright 2011 About the author. Pat Altvater partners with solo entrepreneurs to implement a sales and marketing process and plan that brings them joy and increases their bottom line. She is the author of Choose Success - Ignite the Power Within and President of Transformations Institute. Learn more about perfectionism and procrastination at her blog Patti Perfect's Perfectionism Blog http://pattiperfectsperfectionismblog.com/ and her Facebook fan page Patti Perfect Says http://www.facebook.com/pattiperfectsays.