Documentation is critical when you are running a business. Most organizations keep track of their invoices, expenses and other contracts for service in order as standard operating procedures. Business’ processes are often not documented, which can be a significant mistake and wreak havoc in your company. So here are the problems you can face when you don’t document your organization’s processes.

1. Customers Don’t Receive The Same Standard Of Care

One of the most frequent problems that can happen is that you and your staff don’t provide the same standard of care to every customer, client or patient. Generally speaking, this shouldn’t be a problem. However, it can lead to a claim made against your company if someone feels that they’ve been unfairly treated based on demographics (race, gender, age, etc.).

Processes must be consistent, and the experiences and deliverables must relate to tangible ‘elements’ such as the services requested or the value of the order and not because of non-standardized workflows.

2. Mistakes Will Be More Likely

You’ve probably created processes to ensure that errors are kept to a minimum when completing work. When you don’t follow processes the chance that something will go wrong can increase, which may seem like a simple matter to resolve but it can also be a headache.

Imagine that you’ve got a process to check ingredients coming into your food business. There might be an incident when someone doesn’t check the ingredients properly, and some debris (metal, cardboard) makes it into the food process. A customer chews on this and is injured; your company is then made responsible, and a claim issued against you.

3. New Employees Are Harder To Train

Processes that are written down are easier to pass on to new staff than those that aren’t. When staff have the same training and set of processes to follow, they will provide the same standard of care to all customers.

Therefore, writing down processes reduces the risk of bringing on a new employee as they are less likely to make mistakes as they on board within your organization.

Writing down your workflows is an essential business activity, to ensure you protect yourself better from potential claims against your business.

Do you write down your business processes? What risks are you creating from this?

Let us know in the comments below.