How to Write Work Instructions (SOPs) by DISC Personality
Joe explains how to write SOPs that work for different DISC personality types. D types want the bottom line fast. I types need context and buy-in. S types prefer step-by-step detail. C types demand accuracy and data.
When I say standard operating procedures, most of you are going to think boring. But the fact is there are many different ways to write standard operating procedures that aren't so boring because they leverage your own personality type and preferences. I'm going to break down four different strategies that will work for four different disc personality types to show how you can use your strengths and interests to record processes and procedures in the hopes that you can find the non boring sop writing method that works best for you and your team. So with that, I've got to go change. I see in front of me a room full of people who are ready to take back their work from the chaos of day to day life. And instead of that chaos and uncertainty certainty attacking us, we shall write some so peas you and me, we're gonna write some sops today for more stressed V vacations for less stupid mistakes. Right? And ye may live run and the may. Oh, I just got a little into it. Hold on one second. You see, I have just locked all of us in here. Yeah, yeah, that's right. I got the key. It's in my pocket. If we want to leave this room ever, we all need to write 404-TSOPS. Now I know hopefully you're all as excited as I am to make a change today, but in case I need to, I'm going to keep Baptist preacher and weird little Braveheart thing in the back drawer in case I need to pull it out again. Because we need to stay motivated people. And each of you take what you can. And by the time lunch comes around, say about noon today. Okay, by noon, if we can get 40 SLPs written, I'm ordering pizza and beer. That's right. If we can't, well, we're locked in this room until we do. Luckily, I know we were all a team here at Chuck's Soap making Emporium. And I am so glad to have all you by my side working on these SOPs. Now, I've enrolled us in the process driven SOP in a day workshop. So that's going to help us, you know, figure out what the hell we're doing. All you guys need to do is pull open your document thingamajiggies. Yep, yep. Log into the workshop. All right. Can I, can I get a team Chuck on three just to get us all motivated? One, two, three.
Team Chuck.
Oh, man, I'm so excited. I lost my hat. But you know what? That is the kind of day we're going to be having. This is going to be a party and a boot camp at the same time. All right, Ready, set, let's go. Can't wait to catch up. There we go. Hi, Joe. Oh, it's so good to see you. Like, oh, my gosh. It feels like it's been, like, I don't know, months since we've chatted. Oh, my gosh, has it really been longer? How are things with Pat and the kids? Wait, last time we talked, wasn't your youngest, Margaret, going out for some play, right?
Like wizard of Oz or something?
Oh. Oh, my goodness. That is so precious. I am so excited for you and for her. You must be so proud. Oh, my God. Tell me everything. Oh, my gosh, I love it. I could just talk about ruby slippers all day. Did you know I was actually in my high school production of We? Yeah, I was. But anyway, Jo, like, the reason I wanted to chat isn't just to chat about ruby slippers. Although I want to do that too, but because I want to get some processes written down. Okay. So totally casual. I was just hoping you could, like, talk through with me how you normally process testimonials. Would you mind just talking me through, kind of, like your flow? Because my thinking is we've got a big campaign coming up, and, you know, I'm gonna blow it out of the water, but I think the number of testimonials we're receiving is gonna spread bike, like, real fast. And I'd like to have, you know, not just you be the only person who can handle them. Right? Like, I want you to be able to go on vacation or to the land of Oz or wherever, you know, you do you. So anyway, let me pull up a document real quick. Could you just, like, fire away, give me the real story of, like, what that process looks like? Okay.
Huh.
Ooh. And where do you get that from?
Ah.
Any tips on that one? Got it. Oh, my gosh. This is fantastic. I feel like just in the time we were chit chatting here, like, I've already got the whole SOP written, so you know what I'm gonna do just because, you know, it might have gotten a little distracted as we were just talking away. Can I send this to you? Just a quick copy? You don't have to do anything other than just give it a skim. And maybe the next time time you do the testimonials theme, bop, just pop this baby open, give it a quick look, and just see if it looks right. I mean, you know me. Sometimes I get distracted by stuff my coffee cup here, and I might have missed a step. Do you mind doing that.
Oh, well, you are just such a peach, Joe.
I just love you so much. All right, send that to you. Now, on to the important stuff. When exactly is opening night? Can I. Can I get a ticket? I would love to be there to support Margaret.
Oh. Oh, there's something on the. Okay. What do you. Huh, man? Like, I don't. I don't think I've ever written a process for that, but I should probably have one. And you know what? Yeah, I'm just gonna be the change I want to see in the world. All right, let me just. Just hype this up real quick. Yeah, that's. That's pretty dope. Okay, let me just send this over. Okay. Sent. Yeah. Dude, you should have seen what just happened. So, like, the boss texted me, and rather than just, you know, answering it, I write a whole freaking sop. Just. I know, I know. So good. Just, like, boom. Fist bump on myself. Love it. Oh, another one. Okay, well, looks like someone should have updated their sop. But, you know, rather than just punting it back.
Let me.
Let me just. Let me just be the nice person here. Let me just tell the boss. Yeah.
And set.
Oh, dude, that's. That's so nice. Okay, cool, Cool.
Do I really. Do I really have to be the one? Do I really have to. Okay. Okay. Yep. Yep. Hello. Yeah. Okay, thank you all for joining me today for this required meeting as part of our coordinate, literally, operational planning session Today, what I'm going to be talking through with you is our plan for operations going into the next fiscal year. As you may or may not know us over in the operations department, we've been working with a consultant called ProcessDriven to try to drive our processes. So you will, in order to make our operations a little bit calmer. Actually, let me write this. You see, we've discovered that 217 is the number of processes in our company. Gosh, I hate public speaking. 217. But of those 217, only 70% need SOPs. So we have a lot of things we do, but only some of them need. Need to be written into procedures. So that is so 70%. Right? Well, we. We've decided as a company that one of our goals for the upcoming year is going to be to have that 70% turned into SOPs. And that means that over the next year or so, we want to have 150 SOPs written. So of the 10 of us here, that means 15 over the course of one year for the whole group. However, after talking with the executive team, we've decided that just asking you all to write SOPs may not be the easiest way to get everybody to write them. Because no matter how many times we ask or how many cookies I bake and plead, many of us here just don't write them. So we have, we have decided that team wide, we will now have a new individual metric, a key metric, if you will, where every single person will have a key metric for the number of SOPs they have written. So you will see this come up in your team meetings, in your performance reviews, and in your annual assessments. That way, not only are we encouraging everybody to write those sops because, you know, yay sops, but also because we want to make sure we're all incentivized to actually write them. This applies to everyone from the CEO to our newest virtual assistant. Welcome again, Gretchen. Any questions? Oh, actually, I know there's probably one you might be wondering, 150, you know, how is that 70% of 217? Well, I'm going to be a little fun over here in operation. So we actually rounded up to 150, which I thought was kind of festive. Anyway, I think that's it for my presentation.
Can I go now? So, as you can see, there are a lot of different paths that lead to having a process driven organization. You don't need to be at type A spreadsheet lover in order to have standard operating procedures. Whether you prefer to be at the front of the room championing the cause or working with somebody one on one in a form of a conversation, there are so many strategies that you can employ if you'd like to have your organization operate with more processes and less reactive chaos. But even though we all wish our personalities were rainbow and sunshine and perfection all the way, with strengths come weaknesses and with every disk profile you might have, there are inherent things that you.
Are going to be not so good.
At that can manifest in mistakes and errors and headaches in the process building journey. If you'd like to see a follow up video breaking down the common mistakes that I see when building systems based on disc personality types, go ahead and write the word mistake in the comment below. Comment comments below. If I see 30 unique comments below, whether that's 30 by one person or you know, 30 different people, hopefully I will make a part two video to this where I bring back our cast and crew that you just saw and and we'll go through some of the common mistakes that I have seen clients make based on these disc personality profiles that hopefully will help you avoid them in the future. Anywho While we wait for the votes to come in, please continue on your SOP learning journey by watching this video next or checking the description to learn how you can work with me on your SOPs. Until next time, enjoy the process.
