I don’t mean your SOPs or employee handbook. I mean the little things people just know.
This client prefers a phone call instead of an email. Don’t schedule those two jobs on the same day. That number on the report always looks strange at month-end. If this happens, call Susan because she knows how to fix it.
Every business has hundreds of these little pieces of knowledge floating around, usually stored in someone’s head. Most of the time, we don’t even recognize them as important. They’re just part of how things get done.Until that person goes on vacation. Or gets sick. Or leaves.
Then suddenly everyone realizes how much the business knew because one person knew it.
I’ve always thought SOPs were important, but I’m increasingly interested in the smaller stuff. The exceptions, workarounds, preferences and little bits of history that make a business actually work day to day.
So here’s the question:
What does someone on your team know that the rest of the business would have a hard time figuring out without them?
That’s probably worth capturing.