November 14, 2008, Newsletter Issue #172: Efficient Instructions & Procedures

Tip of the Week

How many times have you told your coworker, employee, or better yet your employer how to do something?  It gets tiresome and burdensome to continually explain how to do the same task.  You just want to scream sometimes!  There is another option. Writing out instructions and procedures allows you to have easy access when you need to provide same to another person.  Thereby, saving your vocals for more important screaming later!


The best way to write out instructions and/or procedures is to make a rough list of everything you want included.  Then you can go back and arrange them in the proper order for completion.  Keep in mind that you don't want to overwhelm any set of instructions.  So be organized in your process.  If you are writing out a job description you can include all tasks that need to be completed, this is not the same as writing out actual task instructions.  Thereby, write out a description of how to complete said task separately from other tasks. When writing task instructions be specific and clear throughout this set of instructions/ procedures to cover everything that you want, that is required and make your instructions as cohesive as possible.   Once completed go back and reread your draft.  It's very important that you are clear and cover all areas per task that need to be included.  Watch for grammatical errors to prevent confusion.  Once you are done, you can repeat this process with another task.


Once you have written out your instructions/ procedures place them in a folder, or a three ring binder for easy access.


 

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