Standard Operating Procedures 

Every company in the world, no matter what business they're in, performs tasks. Every task has a process or procedure that takes the product from start to finish. Who at your company knows the processes? Who thinks they know the processes? There is a big difference between knowing and thinking!

Do you like being told how to do something that you already know by someone who thinks they know what they are talking about? I doubt it!! Okay, then, who should be telling whom what?!? You got it—the employees, some­times known as the experts, should be telling everyone what they know about their job. The process that they follow day after day.

Employees should be the owners of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The reasons are simple and many: 1) they know their jobs better than anyone else, 2) they know when a procedure in their job changes, 3) they will tell it like it is, 4) they will respect management for trusting them, 5) they will build safety into the procedures (it's great to have the company's most valuable asset protected), 6) employees will become owners of the process, and owners take better care of their property, and 7) employees will become accountable and responsible to themselves, not to the boss.

This is how you begin the process of having employee-owned SOPs. Determine one person in your company to administer the program. That person needs to communi­cate and coordinate information in a timely fashion and to see that all the following takes place.

Management and the work center supervisor need to decide which work center to use as a pilot. Choose a work center that will be to your knowledge the most successful and that is the least complex. Prior to the first meeting, management and the work center supervisor need to agree how much time can be spent each week by employees on the project. Create a team consisting of interested parties: 1) employees from the work center, and make sure all shifts are represented, 2) work center supervisor, 3) quality assurance representative, 4) maintenance representative, 5) engineering representative, 6) management representa­tive, and 7) the appointed "training" administrator.

Announce formally to the team what is happening when, where, and why. This maybe done in memo form or by word of mouth. Do not let the grapevine be the form of commu­nication.

Now it's time for the first team meeting. The training administrator should facilitate. Ask for a volunteer to be the scribe. Management should explain the purpose of SOPs. Who is going to use them? What they are going to be used for? Why they are valuable? Brainstorm as a group to identify the following: 1) all equipment at the work center, 2) all set-up procedures, 3) all run procedures, 4) all cleaning procedures, 5) all sanitizing procedures, 6) all maintenance procedures, and 7) all Quality Assurance procedures.

Prioritize the list for importance, complex, likeness, etc. Divide the team into sub-teams of two or three. Divide the list of items on a volunteer basis for writing SOPs. Each sub team decides when they can work on SOP creation. A good time for shift workers to meet would be at the end of one shift and the beginning of the next. Decide as a team the next meeting date and time.

How should the sub teams begin the process of recording? I like the Walk—Talk—Write method. Walk through the procedure from start to finish. Talk through any differ­ences until the team agrees, then write down how the procedure is accomplished from start to finish, step by step. Number the procedures, i.e., step 1—write in sentence or paragraph from the steps. Have someone type the proce­dure. Make copies of the procedure for all team members.