An independent business operates differently than you do as an employee or as your department does in a larger organization. Though there are some aspects of an independent business we should copy. One of those aspects is a department handbook. A department handbook can capture the standards you want to set for your team and things that you say often (mine I call Joshisms). I created my team’s handbook in a simple MS Word document and placed it in a shared folder. I update it as needed and let my team know when there are updates and make improvements based on their feedback.
Here are some of the sections I include in my department handbook. My goal with the handbook is to set expectations, reduce confusing/conflicting messaging to my team, and reduce my work (fewer items are escalated to me).
Standard Responsibilities
This includes acknowledging requests so the requestor does not think it went into a black hole. This reduces emails to me and my team members for updates.
Escalation Processes
This includes when to ask for help at higher levels of the organization. This keeps problems from lingering too long.
Project Management
This includes my expectations for planning and forecasting projects. This provides clarity on the timing of project actions and workload management.
Out of Office
This includes using away messages, determining backups, and updating the team calendar.
Productivity/Stress Reduction/Fatigue Reduction
This is self-explanatory, I share bullets summarizing many of the subjects I write about in this blog.
Career Progression
I explain the transition from Dependability to Indispensability in career development. In other words, team members need to gain trust that they will handle their day-to-day business before they can take on bigger projects.
Working with Me
Share some basics of what it is like working with me. An example is that I bias action but tend to forget details.
Other Sections
I define process standards for our team and share methods to avoid repeated problems. This also sets the baseline expectation for everybody on the team.
This sets an expectation baseline for all employees and saves you from repeating yourself. Hopefully, you can use this as a starting point for a department handbook.
Performance Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiekr4dYTI