Writing Standards of Performance (SOP) isn’t like writing a job description, but a job description should be used for guidance. SOP is a performance measurement document that identifies the employee’s expected level of performance. When you have a realistic SOP, your employee and their supervisor “Buys In” in advance, giving you confidence that they know how they will be measured.
When it is time for their annual review, you pull out last year’s SOP and go over the results they agreed to provide. The process of reviewing, rewarding, and motivating becomes just another task with supporting documentation that is a joint effort between supervisor and employee. Specific deficits can be identified, discussed, and resolved. Substandard performance can be documented along with necessary improvements. Above standard performance can also be recognized, and rewarded.
Writing a Standards of Performance is not hard if you create and follow a basic template.
- Write Standards of Performance (SOP) for a position and then for the person
a. You are not writing an instruction manual. You are writing how the job results will look when done at the level defined
b. Don’t be too generic or get into the weeds. Pick a subject and define the results needed for that position
- List the specific tasks for the position
a. Use their job description to identify tasks to measure
b. Limit the tasks you will be measuring to what’s necessary to get the job done
- Determine the level expected for each task (for example, for a production supervisor or leader)
a. Safety
b. Timeliness
c. Resource management (labor, materials, and facilities)
d. Quantity
e. Quality
- Set specific standards
a. Set each standard in specific, objective, and verifiable terms
b. Identify what level is acceptable, unacceptable, above standard, and what is exceptional
c. Identify a level at the bottom that will initiate formal action to correct and that correction can be initiated at any time the standard is below that level
d. Identify contingencies that are beyond the employee’s control, but be generic. Leave latitude to adjust if these contingencies appear, like keeping within budget if material prices soar
- Identify the review timeline
a. Intermediate reviews (weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.) that identify trends that need to be corrected
b. Annual review date, to give the supervisor and employee time to prepare
Write Standards of Performance from the perspective of what you would like to write when reviewing the employee a year from now. Personalize their SOP to support what they need to accomplish, and give them room to excel.
Next Month:
Standards of Performance – Production Manager