It's a Total SOP Story

Control issues are normal for business owners. If you own a business, you have probably dealt with control issues personally. Wisdom would suggest that as an owner, you need to give up control to scale. Here’s why you do NOT need or want to give up control as a business owner.

When someone suggests you need to give up control of a business, they’re likely identifying an issue where the owner (you) is acting as a bottleneck. If everything, or nearly everything, needs to run through you, you are a bottleneck, and it is a very serious business problem. Serious enough to argue that until this problem is fixed, you don’t have a business—you merely have a high-paying job. If you’re ok with that, stop reading now and give yourself back some much-needed time to be in your business. For those of you who don’t want this kind of business, please continue with me.

The Control Issue

If there’s a bottleneck and it’s you as the owner, then this is a control issue. The challenge so many owners face is you don’t want to give up control. The most common mindset being nobody can do it as well as you can. Well again, I’m here to argue that we don’t need to give up control, but I am also going to address the fallacy that nobody can do it as well as you.

Imbuing Controls vs. Surrendering Control

The real question to ask is this: does giving up control mean being able to step back and allow the business to run without you? No, it does not. It does not because giving up control suggests surrendering something.

Fantastic business owners do not surrender control; they imbue controls.

Imbuing controls is different from surrendering control. I’d define imbuing controls as putting people in a position to be able to replicate the work and decisions that you make. It is putting in place the processes and routines required to duplicate the work being done in a business, in a way that allows anyone to step in and succeed.

This means stepping back with intention and being deliberate with how we allow our business to be run in our absence. It’s an extension of our control. We accomplish extending control beyond ourselves by writing, documenting, and recording everything. In a sense, it’s the opposite of giving up control. It’s creating the structure to control your business and organization without your active presence.

The Role of SOPs

If done correctly, you can absolutely create a business where someone else can do it as well as you.

How? By giving them the exact playbook to replicate your actions and decision-making. Done well, and you can leverage hires and employees, free up your time and attention onto what is most important to you, and eliminate the dilemma of input/output (the challenge that the only way to create more output is more personal input).

A lot of business owners will sob about how hard it is to give up control. They’re right. Giving up control is hard. But imbuing controls isn’t a sob story at all—it’s an SOP story.

Components of SOPs

SOPs or Standard Operating Procedures are HOW we imbue controls into our business. SOPs are simply instructions on how we do our work to achieve the results we want. There are different types of SOPs, but they all share some universals.

Output: SOPs are all about achieving results, and so the result or output is one of the four ingredients. The output is the end result we want.

Procedure: This is the type of SOP you’re putting in place. Some SOPs are going to be task-oriented with specific instructions and very clear and defined step-by-step guides on how to accomplish the task at hand. Other SOPs may require less defined actions.

Trigger: SOPs are put in place to allow anyone to step in and run a job, a system, department, or even an entire business. A trigger is simply the instance in which a decision or task needs to be made. Potential triggers could be a customer inquiry or running low on inventory.

The Benefits of Implementing SOPs

If, as an owner, we took the time to document each and every trigger our business experiences, we could transform how our business runs. By putting SOPs into place, not only does it create a roadmap for consistent results, it also places us as owners in a position where we can successfully hire someone and have the controls in place for them to be as successful as we are, or perhaps even more so. By implementing SOPs, we can fully delegate to others all while retaining output and controls.

If we needed an added benefit beyond removing ‘control issues’ from our dialogue, allowing us to put our time and attention into where we want and solving the input/output dilemma, this is it: creating SOPs greatly enhances the value of a business. The greater the value of your business, the larger of an asset you have at your disposal.

Conclusion

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are fundamental tools for business owners who want to maintain control while scaling their operations. By documenting processes and routines, you ensure consistency, efficiency, and quality, making it easier to delegate tasks and focus on strategic growth. Start creating your SOPs today and transform your business into a well-oiled machine that can run smoothly without your constant oversight and presence.

Are you ready to turn your sob story into a SOP story? If you are, we can help. Our Owner Advisory Boards are designed to give owners the clarity, peer advisory and support they need to remove dependency, enhance decision making, and multiply the value of their business, all by freeing up their time and giving them more control over their lives and businesses.

If you'd like to join us for an upcoming workshop you can see any of our upcoming events here at IVOLVE + THRIVE: https://ivolveandthrive.com/events-2/