If you own a training program, knowledge base, or system—or determine processes and best practices for your team—standard operating procedures (SOPs) are as good as gold. 🥇
Think of SOPs as detailed documents that teach people how to successfully complete projects and tasks more efficiently—without needing as much time, attention, and oversight from you.
Scroll down to see everything you need to know about SOPs, from why you need them to how to create them (in a few clicks!).
Already off to the races? Our free SOP templates are your free SOP templates.
Think of standard operating procedures as your company's playbook. They play a critical role in keeping everyone on your team in lockstep—and firing on all cylinders.
SOPs explain how to efficiently move from point A to point B and achieve a specific goal, like learning a new procedure or onboarding a new hire.
You want everyone on your team (aka your most valuable players) to be productive. So you need to make each process as clear as possible to avoid interruptions and lingering questions.
That's where standard operating procedures really shine, as they help reduce meetings and lengthy training by standardizing key processes.
There are other benefits, too. Here's how creating an SOP can help your organization:
As you can see, SOPs are key to operational excellence. They keep your processes running smoothly while saving team members time from meetings and interruptions.
Standard operating procedures can change according to the process being documented or who will be using it, but there are some key elements to include in your document to make sure everything is as clear as possible.
Whether this is your first time writing SOPs or you’re improving your current ones, here are the main sections to consider:
Keep in mind that, depending on which SOP format you choose, you may leave some of these sections out or add in others not listed.
We know this sounds like a lot for a document that's meant to make things easier, but putting time into creating an SOP that's detailed will help avoid mistakes and improve your team's efficiency.
Now for the fun part: creating an SOP. Whether you're looking to save hours of work every week or uplevel your whole team by sharing your expertise, following these eight steps will help you write an effective SOP.
What is your SOP trying to accomplish? Whether you'll be going over specific instructions on how to use a software or sending customer invoices, you have to make sure the end goal is clear so readers know exactly what the process in question will help them achieve.
For example, if you're creating an SOP for onboarding purposes, your objective might be:
"To formalize the employee onboarding process and make it easier for managers to train new hires and for new hires to quickly become comfortable in their roles."
Here are a few examples of SOP goals:
When coming up with the goals, think about some common challenges your team experiences and how you can help them be more efficient.
Remember, you don't need to create SOPs for every task—for instance, it'd be a waste of time to create an SOP for something you could explain in a short email or with screenshots (or a 10-second Tango 😉). Instead, you should focus on tasks that are both important and complex.
Now think about the people who will regularly use the standard operating procedure. Who are they? And what does the SOP need to contain to serve them effectively?
Depending on who your audience is, you need to consider the language and type of SOP you'll be delivering to them.
When choosing the audience, ask yourself:
Are you creating a document for salespeople? Then consider using sales-oriented language that will resonate with them. What about new employees? This group might not have a lot of company and/or industry knowledge yet, so be sure to keep that top of mind when writing your SOP.
Once you set the goals and audience, you'll need to gather key information to include in the standard operating procedures. This is an important step to ensure you don’t miss anything that should be covered in the document.
To help gather this information, you'll need to identify the key stakeholders: the expert and the creator.
Once the key stakeholders connect, they'll work closely together to gather the information needed for the standard operating procedure.
This means understanding how the process happens, checking with employees who will be using the document, and reviewing current procedures to understand what needs to be improved.
Once you have all the important details, it's time to decide how you’ll deliver it to your audience.
This means finding the format that makes the most sense for the process you’ll be documenting. The main question you need to ask yourself is: How can I present this information to my audience in a way that will be most effective?
For example, if it’s a complicated process to explain in words, a step-by-step guide with images would make it easier for readers to understand.
Once you have the format down, you need to come up with how to deliver it. Think about what platforms your team is already using, if it might fit in your policy and procedure manual, or if there's a tool that can keep all of your SOPs together, such as Google Drive or Dropbox.
Now onto the fun part. Writing! Or taking screenshots, for the visual learners. 🙋♂️
With your format and delivery method in mind, start writing the SOP according to what needs to be included. This is the time when a standard operating procedure template comes in handy, as you won't have to create the skeleton of your SOP from scratch.
Whether you'll be using a template or starting it with a blank page, here are some things to keep in mind when writing a standard operating procedure:
Done writing the SOP? You're almost at the finish line. Taking time to review and test your SOP is key to making sure it will be beneficial to your intended audience.
Review your SOP by reading it out loud and asking team members to review it too. Look for any grammatical errors and double-check that all the steps are easy to understand.
Then test your SOP a couple of times. Put yourself in the shoes of your audience and go through the document to see if you can achieve the end goal. This can help you find out if there are any steps missing or if something needs more clarification.
Asking for feedback is hard, but it will make your SOPs much more valuable. So, take a deep breath and invite your teammates to weigh in.
Once you've created a standout standard operating procedure, it's time to think about distribution and discovery.
SOPs are inherently most helpful when they help unblock operators in their moment of need, such as training or their day-to-day work.
Think: where in your existing systems would it be most helpful to discover, use, and reference what's been created? Do you have an existing LMS, Wiki, or space that functions as a knowledge base? Embed and link your SOPs there. If you don't, consider creating an SOP library that team members have access to whenever they have a question or run into an issue.
Confluence, Notion, and Google Drive are all affordable options. Or you might compile SOPs into a Dropbox folder or Google Sheets file with items divided by topic.
It’s also time to get the word out. Circulate it via email. Drop a link to the document in a company Slack channel. It doesn't matter how you share it with everyone, as long as the people who need it most (or will need it most!) now know your SOP exists and where they can quickly retrieve it.
You've created and shared your standard operating procedure—now what?
Monitor the document to make sure your employees are using it and that it's helping them in their work. It’s equally important to make sure your SOPs are up to date.
Company processes change. You might find a more efficient way to do something or sign up for new software to complete specific tasks. When changes happen, make sure you update your SOP to match to avoid confusion.
Whenever you update your SOP, ask for more feedback from your team. Does the document still make sense to them? Is it still helpful? If not, make the necessary adjustments.
As we mentioned, SOPs can be adapted to the process you'll be documenting. This means that there are a couple different types of standard operating procedure formats.
Choose a different format depending on the SOP you'll be creating. For example, if the process you're documenting is complicated, you might opt for a format that includes lots of screenshots or videos, or a combination of the two using a screen capture tool.
Here's a list of common formats, along with templates for standard operating procedures to make creating them easier.
Or should we call it short and sweet? These SOPs are easy to digest and straight to the point. They'll usually include bulleted lists and short explanations of what's needed for the process.
A simple format will usually include:
This type of format is best for less complicated tasks, like logging into a time-tracking software.
The hierarchical format goes over everything in the order in which it needs to be performed, usually with a numbered list with steps and substeps.
When writing a hierarchical format SOP, you'll likely need to include:
These types of SOPs are most useful for longer tasks where following steps in a specific order is essential, like using software that's new to the company.
Documenting a process that's hard to wrap your head around? A flowchart can help your team members better understand and visualize a complex task.
To create an effective flowchart, you need to:
Flowcharts are especially helpful for more complicated processes that lead to different scenarios, like how to log a new customer invoice.
Now, if your team thrives on checking off completed tasks, the checklist format can help create a sense of how far along they are in the project.
This is beneficial for processes that require the user to complete different tasks (in order or not), allowing the user to have a more hands-on, interactive experience with your SOP.
When creating a checklist format, you can include:
This format can help team members remember every task in a process, or tasks that need to be completed regularly, like a weekly reply to customer reviews.
If your SOP requires lengthy training, the course format can help your team understand everything that's on their plate.
With the course format, your SOP will usually include:
This format is best for when you have to implement an SOP for a large group of people, such as onboarding new hires.
We might be biased here, but this is one of our favorite formats. The visual format helps your audience understand the documented process without needing to read dense blocks of text.
A visual SOP will usually include:
Visual SOPs are not only more engaging, but they also help users easily understand exactly where to click and what to do. This SOP format works great in many cases, especially for an onboarding process and difficult-to-use platforms.
When creating your first SOP, you'll likely run into a couple of bumps. This is normal as you get used to documenting all your necessary processes.
If you want to simplify the process of creating your SOP, here are some common mistakes to avoid:
Keeping these common mistakes in mind and learning how to avoid them can not only help you create more effective SOPs, but also cut down on the time it takes you to create them.
Creating standard operating procedures is essential to scale processes, increase knowledge sharing, and boost your team's productivity. But they can be time-consuming and tough to keep current.
Fortunately, SOPs can be easy to create and maintain when you have the right tools.
There's no set rule for how long your SOP should be, but it can range from 800 to 1,000 words or one to two pages long. Focus on including all the details and steps while keeping your SOP simple and to the point.
SOPs should be created by the expert in that area or a specific person in charge of process implementation and training. Ideally, both would work together to create the SOP.
A technical SOP details how to complete a task or how to use a platform or software. On the other hand, management SOPs focus on outlining any processes and procedures within the company.
SOPs give overviews of a process while work instructions focus on step-by-step direction. However, teams can use SOPs and work instructions together for different types of projects.
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