Process documentation is a tedious task and a daunting thought for most leaders. However, good documentation is critical to the success of any company. It promotes operational consistency, reducing errors that create outrageous customer service internally and externally. It empowers employees to do their jobs without getting stalled or being held back waiting to ask and stops employees from making their way of doing something. Documenting processes often reveal discrepancies in how people do things, show redundancies, and provide opportunities to eliminate unnecessary steps. If you are in a regulated industry, it helps compliance and reporting, avoiding penalties and fines.
Documentation preserves the company’s knowledge as people transition and provides valuable training documents, ensuring new employees learn your way of doing business. The preservation of accurate documentation also prepares the business for sale and can increase the sale opportunity and value.
Here are some best practices to begin documenting your processes and eliminating the feeling of an overwhelming task.
Process Documentation: Where to Start
Process documentation is high-level and done by department and core processes. Document 20% of a process that yields 80% of the results. Capture the basic steps in the process, what needs to be done, and not every detail. Every detail gets into procedures and telling people how to do something. Most processes don’t require telling people in detail how to do something. If you are hiring the right employees, they need to know what to do, not how to do it. Please note that each business must determine the value and need to document 100% of the process in detail, as it may be necessary in some industries.
Make the documentation easy for anyone to follow. See the sample Standard Operating Procedure form in the resources section. Refrain from stating specific people in a document as employees change. Reference titles or departments. Use only common knowledge words, less jargon, and ensure any acronyms are written out at least the first time. Link to or identify the location of any procedures/checklists that support the process.
Having one large document for all your documentation is not advisable. It’s cumbersome and not user-friendly for the employee to look for a specific process and may make training confusing. Further, there is a greater chance of accidentally losing all your processes than perhaps just one. Create documents by core processes. When you have individual documents for different processes, you can easily avoid confusion by clearly defining the required information. Whenever there are similar steps in the various processes, it’s best to structure or template the documentation to make it consistent across the organization.
Refrain from trying to create documentation for all your processes at once. It becomes overwhelming and seems like an endless goal. Instead, set a goal to focus on a single department or an important process applied to the entire organization. Involve all the people associated with the process so no major step is missed; the team is united on what the process is and has buy-in to any changes. Start at a very high level, for example:
HR – Hiring High-Level Process:
- Search
- Interviewing / Hiring
- Onboarding
Step 1: Search
- Refresh existing or create job description located XXX
- Determine salary range
- Post job through/on XXX and other platforms
Step 2: Interviewing / Hiring
- Complete position scorecard located XXX
- Determine telephone screen questions from scorecard criteria
- Review applications – accept or reject
- Telephone screen – accept or rejectInternal interview – accept or reject
- Second interview, if necessary – accept or reject
- Check references – accept or reject
- If accepted, send an offer letter
Step 3: Onboarding
- Proceed with your standard onboarding procedure
Final Tips for Successful Process Documentation
Refrain from getting hung up on perfectionism and overthinking every detail because processes are intended to be constantly revised and improved. Processes are to tell people the major steps that need to be taken – the “what” of the job. Some processes require significantly more detail. Keep breaking down and detailing each process and step further, or create separate procedures, checklists, visuals, or flow charts as necessary.
Test your process document. Have the team follow the process as documented and ensure it represents how the work is done. Make any corrections and test again until it is correct. Ensure you eliminate any steps that do not improve efficiency or customer experience. “This is how we have always done it” is not a reason to keep a process or steps in a process. Processes and steps must provide the value intended—consistency, efficiency, and customer experience.
Once created, leadership ensures that the entire team and organization follows the process.
Establish a schedule for reviewing your process documentation at least annually. Keeping documentation focused on key steps, not minor details at the onset, allows for easy changes and edits. Determine the process owner and incorporate controls on who can make edits to your critical documents. Determine the value of tracking changes and/or version history. Ensure easy sharing of the updated documentation with your team members.
