Operations Manual Guide
Gifford Brickley
A standard operations manual is essential to streamlining your business. It defines the roles of employees, what they are responsible for, how to carry out a process, what to do in case of an emergency and so on.
In simple terms, an operations manual is a document that explains how a company does things or get things done. It can come in the form of a printed small booklet or an online resource like a company wiki.
Write down your business policies. Remember that these are different from your company social policies like employee bonuses, holiday leaves, etc. that mostly deal with things related to employees and their behavior.
An emergency can come in any form; as a fire in the warehouse or a virus that affects computers. In such a case, it helps to have specified the steps you need to take to minimize the impact. Or avoid it in the first place.
Treat the operations manual as a living document that requires regular updates. Ensure it reflects current processes, best practices, and technological advancements. Schedule periodic reviews to keep the manual relevant and accurate.
Design the manual to be user-friendly and easy to navigate. Organize it with clear headings, subheadings, a table of contents, and an index. Consider using a digital format for searchability and hyperlinking.
Consider it an encyclopedia for your business, documenting everything there is to know about running your organization smoothly. It outlines the processes needed to achieve certain business objectives, documents to carry out these processes, and who is responsible for different actions.
While many companies mistake an operations manual for a training manual, they are different. A training manual is used in the onboarding process to train new employees. On the other hand, an operations manual is a handbook that all employees have access to and use as they carry out their daily tasks.
Printing out operations manuals on paper documents and storing them in a file means that you have to reprint the entire document every time you need to add even the slightest change to the document. Unless you print only one copy at a time, it is really difficult to recall every existing copy and replace it. This leaves room for human error since some employees might still be using an outdated manual.
Using a digital format gives you enough room for revision control and makes it easy to distribute your operations manual easily and at no cost. Your employees can access them on the go, whenever they need it, even if they are not at the office.
If you need to create your operations manual, consider using a digital platform like SweetProcess that allows you to create your manual in minutes, make changes whenever you want, and notify your employees of every update.
If this is your first time, you might want to use an existing operations manual template to guide you on what exactly to look for when you are doing your research. A template shows you the different aspects included in your operational manual. You just have to fetch the needed information for your organization.
Also, having the people involved in carrying out the process every day share their opinions helps you document how the tasks are carried out without guessing or placing unachievable expectations on the processes documented.
This is the final step. Get the operations manual in the hands of department heads to make sure you have the proper information documented. You can go through several check-ins to make sure you have accurate guidelines outlined.
For example, Benchmark Wealth Management streamlined its operations by creating the right process documentation using SweetProcess. The company was having the challenge of maintaining consistency. But this quickly became a problem of the past as they moved from their outdated process notebooks to documenting their processes with SweetProcess.
All your employees can access the manual whenever they want, regardless of their location. You can limit access to certain procedures to specific teams. You can also update and review your manual easily and in a few minutes. Your employees will be automatically notified about the updates once you are done.
You need a system to ensure that operations continue even when a key employee goes on leave or is out of the office for any reason. Getting somebody to immediately step in and continue their job so operations are not affected is vital. An operations manual makes it easy for the switchover to occur.
The employee substituting in the meantime can easily complete tasks without making rookie mistakes or completing tasks blindly. They have the operations manual to guide them and help them complete urgent tasks correctly the first time.
Also, your operations manual ensures that everything, from ideation to production and delivery, is carried out properly. Good quality products delivered with great customer service always leave your customers happy and willing to do business with you repeatedly.
Without an operations manual serving as a guide, all employees have access to are probably the notes they took during the initial onboarding session or search results from searching on the web, which might not be accurate. Without a point of reference with the full information they need, employees might have to ask the same questions whenever they get into a fix.
An operations manual comes in handy when you start to scale your business. When you have procedures and processes documented for reference, it is easier to implement the same procedure on a larger scale. Extended or newly added employees during expansion can simply replicate the processes already described in the operations manual instead of reinventing the wheel.
As a supervisor, delegating tasks becomes easy. With a glance at the operations manual, you can quickly determine who can assist or advise you in a particular situation based on their job responsibilities.
Your operations manual should start with an introduction and an overview of what is in the document. It should explain to employees what to expect as they go through the document. You can even include a table of contents to help them find different sections easily.
You can include an organizational chart or a visual workflow that graphically displays the people and their positions. Start with the CEO and move down the chart department by the job title. It should also show how employees interact within the organization.
This is arguably the most important part of your operations manual. It is the section that takes up the most space in your operations manual. This is where you explain how your employees manage specific tasks in the organization.
Dive into your procedure, showing step-by-step how the process should be carried out. One effective way to do this is to create a detailed step-by-step diagram that will show your employees the exact way to complete each process successfully.
This is the section where you outline rules that ensure the safety of every employee once they step into the workplace. Also, include what is considered a breach of the safety procedures you have highlighted.
For emergencies, state what situations are considered emergencies and what employees are supposed to do if they occur to reduce damages to employees, clients, and the organization. Be very detailed about this section. Do not leave out any step, no matter how inconsequential it might seem.
This section contains the contact details of key stakeholders in the organization. This is very important because employees might need to contact them for inquiries, clarifications, or guidance. That section makes it easy for them to be reached.
This section explains the technology involved in executing certain job responsibilities. It should contain what equipment is needed, how to use it, what to do if there is a malfunction or it stops working, conditions for replacement, and so on.
If the technology involved takes some getting used to, you can include an explanation of how to use it effectively. By the time your employees are done reading this section, they should have all the information they need about the tools and equipment they will be using at work.
This section is dedicated to the training and development of employees in the organization. It should contain all the information about training programs that are available for employees and resources for skill development. This portrays your company hierarchy as one that has the professional development of its employees in mind.
Unlike other operations manuals that focus on processes and the people involved, the printable operations manual also provides your employees with the information they need to understand and operate systems.
It contains instructions for your employees on what to do in the event of an emergency and how to prevent one from happening at all. This includes types of emergencies and provisions for good communication between the person coordinating emergency response and everyone else in the workplace.
Just as the name suggests, the financial operations manual template is used to track the financial duties of individuals and departments in your organization. It includes who is responsible for which financial duty, when it is to be completed, and who will ensure that it is completed correctly.
Departments and teams should have their own standard operating procedures (SOPs). Instead of creating a general procedure for the entire organization, create procedures for departments. This is key because processes and workflows differ in various departments. It will also prevent misunderstandings or confusion during the execution of departmental processes.
You need to be consistent throughout the operations manual. This includes your language, tone, structure, format, and guidelines. You do not want to confuse your employees when they read the manual. It is easy for inconsistencies to pop up, especially when several people contribute to a document. But you have to review them as many times as needed to ensure that they are removed.
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