By Julie Struble, Charitable Advisors

In the nonprofit world, we often juggle multiple responsibilities—from managing donor relationships and overseeing programs to onboarding new hires and meeting stakeholders’ expectations. One of the most valuable tools we can provide our teams to help them navigate these tasks is documented processes. They don’t just keep the ship running smoothly—they ensure that staff can consistently achieve high-quality outcomes and be prepared for any challenge, including their training and onboarding.

Why Documented Processes Matter
Having documented processes in place offers a multitude of benefits for your organization, particularly when it comes to training and development. Let’s break down the key reasons:

1. Achieving Consistent Outcomes
   Documented processes provide a clear roadmap for staff, ensuring they can consistently meet accreditation standards and funder requirements. When everyone knows how to perform their duties correctly, it becomes easier to meet organizational goals and maintain high performance across the board.
2. Faster Onboarding and Training
   With a guide in place, new hires and program staff can be brought up to speed in weeks instead of months. This reduces the time spent on repetitive explanations, allowing employees to become productive more quickly.
3. Ensuring Continuity in Case of Absences
   If a team member is sick, on vacation, or leaves the organization, documented processes allow another person to step in seamlessly. This ensures continuity, and your organization’s operations won’t miss a beat.

Steps to Prepare for a Training Program

Preparing for effective training requires careful thought and planning. Once you’ve created documented processes for your team, it’s important to choose the right format for training. Here’s how to get started:

1. Select Key Processes to Document
   You don’t need to document every task—just focus on those that are critical to your organization’s success. For most nonprofits, this will be five to twelve key processes that directly impact outcomes, whether they relate to donor management, program delivery, or compliance.
2. Write a Purpose Statement
   For each process, define the expected outcome and the consequences if the task isn’t completed correctly. This helps your team understand why the process is essential. For instance, if a grant report is submitted late or inaccurately, what are the consequences for funding or accreditation?
3. List Inputs and Outputs
   Document the tools, software, and data necessary to complete the task (inputs), and describe the measurable result once the task is completed (outputs). Connecting these outputs to your organization’s quarterly or annual goals helps give the team context and shows them how their work contributes to the mission.
4. Break It Down Into Milestones
   Divide larger tasks into key milestones. Then, document one milestone at a time with a simple step-by-step process (typically 8-10 steps). This makes it easier for team members to follow the workflow. If there are more than 10 steps, break the task down into smaller milestones.
5. Review and Refine the Process
   Once the process is drafted, review it with your team. Check for any missed steps and refine where necessary. Share the documented process during a departmental meeting to gather feedback and finalize it for approval by the department manager or executive director.

November HR Nonprofit Peer Group webinar

Documenting processes might seem like a time-consuming task, but the payoff is well worth it. With streamlined procedures in place, your nonprofit can achieve its goals faster, provide higher-quality services, and operate more efficiently. And the best part? With the right approach, you can draft a process in as little as 15 minutes.

Join us on Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. for Maximizing learning outcomes: Choosing the right training format webinar. Our presenters will guide us through the best training format for your staff.  See below to register.