Bendigo SEO and web development expert John Cullen, of http://purencool.digital, interviews David Stephensen of QDT Management Consultants about intranet-based procedure manuals and quality management systems.
http://purencool.digital/local-business-talks-digital-qdts-david-stephensen
It’s been a while since we wrote an entry in our blog. We are starting back with bite-sized tips to help you with documenting your business system. We know you are busy, so we are aiming to give you just enough to digest quickly. We’d love to hear your feedback, including requests for topics.
To change the case of selected text, use SHIFT+F3. Each time you press it , the selected text rotates through ALL CAPITALS to all lower case to Initial Capitals. You can also do this with the current word. Just place the insertion point in the word and use SHIFT+F3 to rotate through the cases.
Should we ban the word should? Nothing annoys me like the word ‘should’ in work instructions. Should means that you don’t have to do something, or that you hope something will happen. There is normally no place for this word in a work instruction. A work instruction is a list of commands to carry out a sequence of actions. People are tempted to use should when they write the work instruction as a narrative instead of as commands. The use of narrative and the word should can make the reader uncertain. When you write work instructions, use commands, not narrative. Here is an example:
Narrative mixed with commands  (Creates doubt in the reader’s mind) |
Commands (Best practice) |
Making tea
|
Making tea
|
When we are analysing a business we normally come up with nine main business areas. There are some overlaps, but the majority of procedures reside in one only of these areas. They also reflect a typical division of managers in a larger business. This could be a way for you to divide up your procedure manual.
10 Management, communication and culture
20 Site and infrastructure—including office services, records, maintenance
30 Marketing—capturing leads
40 Sales—converting leads into customers
50 Operations—what your business actually does
60 Purchasing—including inventory
70 Finance
80 Human resources
90 Safety and environment
In this article we explain what makes a good safety manual: One that is integrated with your procedures manual and describes actions rather than obligations.
A good safety manual is not just a collection of policies and responsibilities. These collections, often claimed to be safety manuals, are just specifications for a safety system, They are not safety systems in themselves. To say that a collection of policies and responsibilities is a safety manual is like saying that a set of building regulations is a plan for a house.
So what is a good safety manual? Well, it is certainly going to include the things people associate with safety manuals. It will have a brief set of general rules for all team members and for supervisors. It will have a statement by the employer of its intent to provide a safe work environment. This is only a tiny part, however! A good safety manual is integrated into your procedures manual and describes activities that team members perform and communications between team members.
We read AS 4801:2001 Occupational health and safety management systems – Specification with guidance for use carefully and came up with the followng Shakespeare play scenes (procedures, in other words—see our earlier blogs for more about our Shakespeare play business analogy)
| Manage safety consultation | How you consult with employees, run your OHS committee, have toolbox meetings, ensure that you are up to date with best practice, publish your safety statistics |
| Manage hazard risk | How your team members identify hazards, assess risks and apply controls; How you manage your safety action plan (to deal with the hazards that you can’t afford to fix immediately); How you report on hazard management; |
| Manage emergency or safety incident | What action your team takes when there is an emergency or safety incident, including a near miss; How you report safety incidents |
| Manage Workcover claim | How you respond to a Workcover claim, including the return to work program |
| Resolve safety issues | If a team member disgrees with your management of a safety matter, how you negotiate and reach agreement |
| How you conduct safety inspections of the workplace and carry out actions that arise from the inspections |
| Manage training and professional development | How you train team members in safety awareness and safe practice |
| Maintain assets | How you conduct preventative maintenance of equipment that could become hazardous; How you repair equipment that has become hazardous |
| Issue and return company items | How you issue safety equipment to team members, train them in its use and how it is disposed of when the team member leaves or it wears out |
| Manage internal audit | How you ensure that your team are using thr safe practices that you devised with them; How you report on corrective and preventative action |
| Improve process | How you continually improve your procedures to make them safer |
| Review and implement strategy (management) | How you review safety performance measurements and safety management |
| Practise company culture | General safety rules for team members; How you communicate safety information; Specific safety practices for all team members, such as not harassing other team members and dealing with aggressive members of the public |
| Manage the suppliers and products list | How you approve your suppliers and their products and services as meeting your safety standards |
| Purchase goods and services | How you check that products and services you receive comply with your safety standards |
| All work instructions for tasks that have hazard risk | Perform a risk assessment for each one, establish controls and include safe practice in the instructions that you write |
In this article we have shown how to integrate safety into your procedures manual. We are, of course, available to help you with this. Please contact us if you have questions or are interested in having some help.
In this article we identify the different types of document in your procedure manual and explain their purpose and their relationship with each other.
Using our Shakespeare play analogy we can see the answer.
| Document | Business | Shakespeare play |
| Process | Business area, for example, Financial Management. Example | A act, containing several scenes |
| Procedure | A set of interacting activities by a number of roles that achieves a particular goal, for example, Manage Accounts Payable. Example | A scene in the play, where a number of roles advance some part of the plot |
| Work Instruction | A detailed set of steps that one role has to carry out as part of an activity in a procedure | A long speech by a role in the play |
| Information document | A set of information, explanations or rules that helps team members carry out the procedure | The location of the scene, props required, their positions, rules for the roles to follow, such as costume or mood |
If you want to understand how the business works, look at the processes and then read the procedures.
Your team members will occasionally look at the procedure but normally go straight to the work instructions and information, where they can find out what they need to do.
We sometimes find clients who have a great set of work instructions, but they have trouble working out how to organise them. The Shakespeare play analogy shows you a structure that is organic to your business. Organise it in 3 layers:
| Level 1 | The acts (business areas) |
| Level 2 within level 1 | The scenes (procedures, describing who communicates with whom) |
| Level 3 within level 2 | The speeches and scene requirements (work instructions and information) |
With the table of contents as described you have an organic, logical navigation that someone who understands business can follow.
To support this we add:
Like some help creating this for your business? Contact us!
In this article we explain the difference between positions and roles and show how this applies to your business.
The concept of roles and positions seems to cause confusion in small businesses. It’s time to clarify the difference.
As you may have seen in an earlier blog I love the metaphor of the Shakespeare play for a business, and you’ll probably keep seeing it here.
The Bell Shakespeare company comes to Bendigo most years. They bring about 5 actors and a new twist to the interpretation. A Shakespeare play has at least 15 roles in it and maybe more. Each actor has his or her particular skills and takes several appropriate roles in the play.
Each scene in your Shakespeare play business has prescribed roles. For example one scene in the Financial Management act could be “Manage accounts payable”. It may only have two roles in it, an Accounts Payable Administrator and a Financial Controller. By the end of the scene, your accounts have been paid. You have team members who play these roles. Which team members can play the roles? Ones that are qualified to do it, of course.
In Bell Shakespeare, they employ a particular set of actors who together can perform all of the required roles. Your business is the same.
A role description describes what the role does. A position description lists all of the roles that the team member in the position may have to play. The role has the description and the position just has a list.
Business documentation software like Way We Do makes this easy. You define all of the roles needed for the business and compile your position descriptions from them. For more information about the way we do WayWeDo, visit our WayWeDo page.
A position description, however, contains more than a list of the possible roles. We’ll write more about this later. Watch this space.