The easy part of writing a rough draft has been completed. The next step is revising your SOPs. We want to make sure our audience will understand the message we are trying to convey, which is why having clear and concise written instructions are key.
1. Reviewing and revising your SOPs.
Review the rough draft by reading it out loud. Reading out loud forces our mind to slow down so that we can catch our mistakes. In the back of our mind, we have to ask ourselves: does this make sense? If not, re-write it. Repeat this process until the instructions are clearly understood.
The next step is to evaluate how well the information is written and perceived by others. Give the instructions to someone who fits our target audience description – family member, co-worker, mentor, etc. – and see if they understand what we are trying to communicate.
The ultimate question we need to ask: How well can this person complete this task based on the instructions provided? If the answer is “not too well,” consider the following questions:
- Are there enough details?
- Does it have too many details?
- Does all the information pertain to this specific task? Or does it contain other information for other tasks?
- Are the steps listed in the order they need to be completed in (chronological)?
- Are there any phrases that could be more concise?
- Does it need pictures for clarification?
Continue this process until the instructions are clear enough to understand upon reading once or twice.
2. Revising your SOPs format.
Take some time to mess around with the format. If it seems too short, add pictures and diagrams.
If it’s too long, review the instructions to see if it can be shortened by rephrasing.
Use numbers when listing tasks in chronological order, and make sure they stand out. See the example below.
These instructions might be listed step-by-step, but it is hard to find the next step.
Because we transformed this into a list, these instructions are easier to follow along.
3. Practice.
It is very common to find important information that had been forgotten when we are actively using the instructions. Keep track by taking detailed notes about what needs changing and where so we can easily edit later on.
See more about keeping track to update your SOPs.
Now, hand over the instructions to the team for them to review and to use to complete the task. Before we implement new procedures, we want to make sure our team understands them. Also, they might have valuable insight and/or additional information that should be added that we hadn’t previously considered.
Repeat this process until the instructions are easily followed with little to no additional direction.
What are your thoughts on the matter?