One of the biggest takeaways by CEOs and managers from the pandemic is the viability of remote work. These changes enabled industries to continue thriving in the new normal despite employees not being physically present at work.
However, an unforeseen setback that came with the remote setup is how your HR department incorporated new hires into the fold. Since onboarding procedures were usually done in person pre-pandemic, positive business scaling was probably challenging under the new arrangements brought about by the pandemic.
The question you need to ask now is how you can make onboarding and other business processes more manageable to accomplish. A good solution is to develop a business playbook to help new employees learn the ropes quickly, even in a remote work environment. Establishing a standard operating procedure for your day-to-day operations will help your business respond to problems appropriately.
This piece will help you figure out what a business playbook is and what tactics can help you create one that best suits your company’s specific needs.
What Is a Business Playbook?
A business playbook is a document that details what you should do during certain situations, when to do it, and how you should do it. Depending on your company’s industry or the nature of the process, the reasoning behind these actions can also be presented.
Your company’s business playbook isn’t limited to a single file. If your company is sizeable enough, you can have a specific playbook for every department or service. For example, your HR playbook will focus on the processes that they deal with daily, while your sales team will have a unique playbook of their own.
There are multiple benefits a company can get from organizing playbooks. Establishing a standard for company procedures saves time for all parties involved. It also ensures the high quality of work that you’ve set. Finally, it allows employees to work independently, which is a critical component of a remote work setup.
How to Develop an Effective Business Playbook
Now that you know the advantages a business playbook can provide to your business, the next item on the agenda is its creation. While there are plenty of playbooks that you can practically sample, creating one that suits your company’s needs will work best. The following tips should help you produce the right playbook that your employees can use.
- Audit existing company or department processes
Before you start drafting your playbook, it’s crucial that every procedure that the company or department that will use it is well accounted for. This will help you organize them in a clear workflow later.
Assign a specific person for every department that will participate in the playbook creation process to collate every possible procedure their department engages in. These data should be properly documented to streamline the process.
- Organize the information
Set a clear direction for your playbook once you have collected all the necessary information. You want this document to help your employees work efficiently even when they’re not physically present in your office.
Here are some of the questions you should ask while organizing the information you’ve gathered:
- What should the playbook include?
- What do you want this playbook to address?
- Who should be included in the playbook creation process?
- When should the playbook be finalized?
- Make a playbook template
Once you’ve segmented the information to be included in the playbook, the next step is to create a template for future playbooks that you plan to build. This template will serve as your guide while you fill out the document with every necessary process that your company or department dabbles in. This step will also make the creation of future playbooks that address specific problems easier.
- Identify its storage location
A playbook is meant to be accessible to your employees. However, a WFH arrangement makes that far from plausible. Your playbook will be digital in nature, but the manner of distribution will determine how easy it can be accessed.
While you can send this file as an email attachment, it’s also viable to consider cloud storage. Services like Google Drive and OneDrive are recommended storage locations for your playbook.
- Establish a portal of accessible common resources
The processes that your business engages in will most likely use assets that are typically available in your physical offices. If your employees don’t have a copy of these properties at home, you need to provide them with a location where they can easily access these documents. Files like buyer personas, templates, and supporting documents can be stored in the same cloud storage service as your playbook.
- Use both text and video formats
Every employee has their own learning style. Some learn more quickly if the playbook is presented in a video format, so you should consider making a commission to transform your playbook into digestible videos that are easy to understand.
- Create buy-in from for all employees
A playbook’s life cycle doesn’t end at publication; it can transform as new technologies and methodologies get introduced to the company. Make sure that all employees are on board with the new system. Aside from using it as a guideline, they should also be keen on improving it whenever they deem fit.
- Be open to suggestions and improvements
In lieu of what was mentioned earlier, employees may come directly to you to discuss the playbook and suggest changes that they think will make it more effective. Since your employees use these playbooks the most, their input should prove valuable in improving these documents.
Make the Right Play Today
Business playbooks are meant to improve efficiency within the workplace, but today’s remote setup made it more crucial than ever for everyone, from newly-hired to tenured employees. Expect these playbooks to take a more key role in the future, so make sure that your company has the best playbook possible for your needs.
Don’t hesitate to contact a reliable recruitment agency in the Philippines if you want to hire quality employees for remote work. Manila Recruitment comes with years of experience finding the perfect candidate for clients. Our processes ensure that we are at full efficiency even while our employees are working from home.
Get in touch with our team to discover how we can help you with your staffing needs.
