The “Hit By A Bus” Analogy: The Challenge of Standardizing Procedures

A close family member left a job of 10 years to pursue one closer to home for the same salary.

And then they quit.

Why?

Short Answer: The new company had no SOPs (standard operating procedures) to provide during training.

Long Answer: The company made a hire to “replace a person” who was leaving. However, no training procedures were in place to help set my family members up for success. So, instead of working 40 hours a week, they only work about 25 hours a week.

This could have been prevented if SOPs had been created and continued to be updated throughout the company.

When businesses don’t take time to invest in their procedures, systems are broken, mistakes happen, and it’s hard to hire.

What If Someone Was “Hit By A Bus”

While this sounds tragic, it’s only meant to metaphorize your team and tasks.

What would you do if you or one of your team members were suddenly gone?

Start with the basics;

• How do you open their computer?
• Do you have access to their files?
• What job responsibilities do they have?

All these are real things to consider and essential points on why you need SOPs.

How Do You Tie Your Shoes?

When was the last time you “thought” about how to tie your shoes?

It is not for a while. It’s a skill that once we learn it, we rarely consciously think about how we do it and instead do it.

Recently, I searched “how to tie your shoes,” and this video shows one way to do it.

I discovered a few things I do differently as I watched the video.

• Step #3 — I loop the lace under in front, not behind.
• Step #6 — is where it goes south. I don’t twist the lace around the first loop but instead, make a 2nd loop with the other lace and tie them together. After this step, none of the following steps make sense to me as all the steps are different.

After watching the video, I Googled “how many ways you can tie your shoe” and came up with one article that said: “31 Ways To Tie Your Shoe.”

That’s wild!

What’s my point?

There may be several ways to tie your shoe, but the important part is ensuring the task is completed.

Regardless of how you do it, it gets done and keeps your shoes on; that’s all that matters.

Most Tasks Can Be Done in Multiple Ways

Relating it to work, the same mentality should be applied when training someone to complete a task. You may have one way of doing it, but they may find a better way.

And that’s ok!

Let’s take company training for example.

It’s important to remember when creating SOPs that you should make it known that the process can always be adjusted and improved as time goes on.

3 Things To Keep In Mind When Training:

• Share the goal — It’s important to share what needs to be completed.
• Present the most efficient way — But mention that they may find a more efficient way as time passes, and that’s ok!
• Everyone trains differently — So be ready to shift gears when things aren’t clicking during your training.

Multiple Ways People Train Best:

An example of what a Scribe process looks like.

• Screenshot Your Process — I use this handy tool called Scribe (*aff) to take snapshots on my screen when I click and type something. This is helpful with links and further instructions that can be added later.
• Video Record with Voice — Most computers have screen recording, or you can use a product like Loom to help explain various steps.
• Create Document with Steps — Some people prefer reading steps to seeing or watching them; this is just another way people can learn.
• Watching Someone — Others prefer to watch someone else do it and ask questions.
• Hands-On Learning — Some people prefer to “play” with a process to help them better understand it.

How Do You Create SOPs?

If you’re a manager or team leader, you can start by creating them yourself and then telling your team about beginning to develop their own.

Simple Ways To Create SOPs:

1. Take Screenshots and Screen Recordings — Loom has become a daily tool I use for this.
2. Share links to any websites necessary or how to access a system. — I’m a big fan of using Scribe (*aff) for these documents.
3. Provide the “why” something is completed. — This will add reasoning for those who do it.
4. Organize documents to a company-wide folder or use a system like Monday.com (*aff) for all access.

Monday.com offers more than just organization, it saves time.

Beyond Being “hit by a bus,” SOPs are valuable.

Creating SOPs is excellent for training new hires and distributing tasks within a company.

Whether someone is going on vacation or changing positions internally, SOPs are a great way to ensure the systems in place continue to run effectively.

Ready to organize your team more? Here are some of my other suggestions for managing a team:

*aff = affiliate links, if you buy I earn at no extra cost to you