Procedure

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).  When did this become a negative thing?

I have heard people say SOP in frustration when things are not changing or have become overbearing.  It is used when a desire to be free of the constraints of yesterday meet the confinements of current practices.  Some think and act as if all procedures are somehow bad.

But we all have them.  I bet you have a standard way of brushing your teeth, driving to work, creating documents, filing those documents and so on.  We develop procedures (whether written down or not) because we tend to fall into patterns of behavior, methods of process or guidelines for productivity.

I admit that I lean way into procedure, process and standardization.  That is just my bent.  I try not to have it tie me down or limit my innovative flare, but usually fall into patterns that I refine and improve.

A Leader uses procedure to help:

Unify Efforts: getting everyone on the same page and moving in the same direction.  Create files here, call them this, store them there…

Eliminate Errors: if the procedure is detailed enough and followed correctly, it should produce the desired results most of the time.  If it is not doing that, then adjust the process.  If it causes problems, refine it until it does not.  Use process to minimize errors.

Encourage Creativity: What???   How can some mindless procedure enable creativity?  By reducing the mundane to a quickly repeatable process so that you can spend your time on other things.  No need to think about how something is done – use the process.

But…

Don’t let it become so entrenched that it never changes.  Rethink what is needed.  Jettison the unnecessary.  Do not create a procedure for things that are not repeated or going astray.  The best way to avoid being trapped by process is to not create too many.