SOP Writing Course

Our SOP Writing Course teaches professionals how to create clear, effective Standard Operating Procedures that meet regulatory standards. Learn to structure, write, and format SOPs that enhance efficiency, reduce errors, and ensure consistency in operations. This course equips you with the skills to develop high-quality SOPs for any industry.

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Course Overview

Our SOP Writing Course is designed to give professionals the tools and knowledge to write clear, detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that align with industry standards. Learn how to break down complex processes into easy-to-follow steps, ensuring that your SOPs are both comprehensive and user-friendly. This skill is essential for maintaining compliance and consistency across all levels of an organization.

In this course, we cover the entire SOP writing process, from planning and organizing content to formatting documents for clarity and ease of use. You'll discover best practices for ensuring your procedures reduce errors and promote operational efficiency. With clear examples and practical exercises, you’ll gain a solid understanding of how to write SOPs tailored to your specific industry needs.

Whether you're creating new procedures or improving existing ones, our SOP Writing Course equips you our your team with the techniques necessary to produce high-quality SOPs.

INDIVIDUALS

$895

Online self-paced practicum course available for individuals. Plan, draft, and edit an actual SOP with instructor written feedback and live coaching.

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GROUPS

Online self-paced course and instructor-led virtual or onsite training can be customized to match your team's SOPs. Group discounts apply.

Customize for Groups

This Course Includes:

Ten detailed lessons on the fundamentals of effective SOP writing, including both substance and syntax.
When, if, and how to use AI tools effectively and safely.
Downloadable resources and training materials to maintain the practical skills learned throughout the training.
A list of tools and resources to continually hone writing skills.
Detailed, individualized written instructor feedback on SOP exercises.

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Skills gained in this course:

Learn how to logically structure information in an SOP.
Ensure SOPs align consistently with industry regulations and standards
Reduce time writing SOPs by at least 25% and reduce the need for managers to rewrite team documents.
Sweep away bloat, and write clearly and succinctly.
Learn to write with correct grammar and punctuation, and format for easy reading.

Individual written feedback for every student

In all course delivery structures, participants receive detailed, individualized feedback on their writing, which includes a grammar diagnosis and helpful resources.

Our feedback includes objective feedback on the information and organization in your SOPs and subjective feedback on tone, clarity, and language.

Objective feedback:

Is the SOP based fully on the reader's needs and familiarity?
Is the SOP logically organized?
Does the reader have all the information needed (and none that is not needed) to understand and execute standard operating procedures?

Subjective feedback:

Is the proper use of active voice or passive voice being used?
Is word choice clear and strong?
Can you cut any unnecessary words?
Are there any grammar errors?

Flexible SOP Writing Course Deliveries to Match your Needs.

Online course for individuals or groups

This online, self-paced SOP Writing course allows individuals and teams to train on their own schedule with 24/7 access to the course.

This is a practicum course, which means participants plan, draft, and edit an actual work SOP with written instructor feedback on incremental planning exercises and a live coaching session to review the final SOP written in the course. (This demo is for another course, but the model is exactly the same.)

Virtual instructor-led course for groups

Virtual training allows for highly engaging instruction, exercises, and discussion in a professional setting.

Learners complete activities in breakout rooms with their colleagues, construct and deconstruct actual SOPs with instructor guidance, participate actively in discussions, and ask questions.

Onsite instructor-led course for groups

In-person training is highly interactive, with many individual and shared activities.

Groups work together at your location to deconstruct documents, deep dive into individual writing concerns, plan an upcoming document, and more.

Who Should Enroll in Our SOP Writing Course

Skilled SOP writing ensures consistency, accuracy, and compliance in organizational processes.

Engineers

Engineers, particularly in regulated sectors, need to communicate complex technical information in a way that satisfies regulatory requirements, making regulatory writing a key skill in ensuring product or project approval and compliance. Engineers must produce technical documents such as specifications, safety reports, and regulatory submissions.

Compliance Officers

Compliance officers ensure that companies adhere to external regulations and internal policies. Clear, accurate regulatory writing helps them document compliance efforts, submit reports to regulatory bodies, and communicate requirements to internal stakeholders. Poorly written documentation can lead to non-compliance, penalties, or legal issues.

Quality Assurance Managers

QA managers are responsible for overseeing the quality of products and services, ensuring they meet regulatory standards. Regulatory writing is crucial for creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), quality control documentation, and audit reports. Precise writing ensures that processes are clearly defined, reducing the risk of regulatory non-compliance.

Product Managers in Regulated Industries

Product managers must ensure that products meet regulatory requirements before launch. This involves preparing product documentation, regulatory submissions, and ensuring marketing materials align with compliance standards. Strong regulatory writing skills help avoid delays, rejections, or penalties from regulatory authorities.

Legal Advisors/Corporate Attorneys

Legal advisors need to draft legal documents, respond to regulatory inquiries, and ensure that business practices comply with laws and regulations. Regulatory writing is crucial for drafting clear and defensible documentation that can withstand scrutiny from regulatory agencies and courts, helping mitigate risks and ensuring legal compliance.

Certificate of Completion

Participants will earn a personalized digital certificate after finishing this practicum SOP writing course. This can be displayed on a LinkedIn profile, downloaded to print and hang, or mentioned in a résumé.

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Course Structure

Our SOP Writing Course ensures you or your team can create clear, effective, and compliant Standard Operating Procedures tailored to your industry’s needs.

Getting Started

An Introduction and Self-Assessment

Review the objectives and breakdown of the course content. Share specific course goals, and tell us about the typical business reports and technical documentation you write.

Lesson 1

6-Steps to Effective SOP Writing

Learn a practical framework for effective SOP writing. This six-step process helps you understand the strategies needed to write a clear SOP.

This optimal business writing process will allow you to spend 25% less time on every SOP (and other documents) you write. This applies to all reports, including regulatory frameworks and common document types, like regulatory submissions, compliance reports, and audit responses.

Lesson 2

SOP Planning

Analyzing your audience frames all elements of a useful SOP, including content and organization.

We address the best process to generate information and plan SOPs to ensure the information in the SOP is accurate, relevant, and well organized and to help you write most efficiently.

Lesson 3

SOP Structure

Learn to organize an SOP logically.

Logically organized procedures are easy to follow, reduce confusion, and minimize the risk of errors. Learn how to organize a well-structured SOP to improve efficiency, ensure consistency, and help users quickly find the information they need to perform tasks correctly and safely.

Lesson 4

Summarizing Information in an SOP

Learn to summarize information in an SOP so that users can quickly grasp key points and understand the overall procedure without getting lost in excessive details.

Highlighting critical steps makes the document more user friendly and accessible, with well-synthesized executive summaries at the beginning to provide an overview of the entire procedure and key steps or safety measures at the end of sections to reinforce important actions.

Lesson 5

SOP Examples with Various Tools

SOPs can feel overwhelming to write because there are so many variations. This lesson looks at different examples and focuses on SOPs in your industry.

Operational SOPs guide the day-to-day activities within a business. Health and Safety SOPs provide protocols for managing hazards and ensuring the safety of employees. Administrative SOPs cover office management tasks, including HR onboarding, records management, and office supply orders.

Industries with strict regulations, like pharmaceuticals or manufacturing, often rely on Regulatory SOPs to maintain compliance with laws and standards, ensuring that procedures meet legal requirements. Similarly, Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) SOPs focus on maintaining high-quality output through proper inspection and testing processes. Other SOP types include IT SOPs for managing technical systems, R&D SOPs for research protocols, and Customer Service SOPs that ensure consistent and positive client interactions.

This lesson also addresses important considerations when writing an SOP from a template.

Lesson 6

Factual Tone and Persuasion

Learn to emote a factual tone and interject appropriate persuasion when it's warranted.

Persuasion is not typically a primary goal in SOP writing since the purpose is to provide clear, objective, and step-by-step instructions for completing tasks. However, a subtle form of persuasion can be important in ensuring compliance and encouraging users to follow the procedures correctly.

Persuasion in SOP writing presents in tone and structure. If the SOP demonstrates logical reasoning, highlights risks of non-compliance, and is user-friendly, employees are more likely to view it as valuable and necessary, rather than burdensome, leading to better compliance and performance.

Lesson 7

Format Considerations

The lesson covers formatting standards that ensure consistency, readability, and understanding.

Learn formatting techniques to create a visually appealing, easy-to-scan SOP that helps your reader understand complex information easily.

Headings, white space, typography, visual structure, and the best graphical representation of data are addressed.

Lesson 8

Clarity and Word Choice

Ensure your SOPs are a pleasure to read with clear and concise language that presents information clearly.

This lesson teaches the four techniques that sweep away 80% of bloat to ensure that sentences are succinct, easy to read, and engaging.

Lesson 9

Grammar and Syntax

Proper grammar helps avoid ambiguity, ensuring that each step is clearly understood without misinterpretation. Even a small grammatical error can change the meaning of a procedure, leading to confusion, mistakes, or safety risks.

Learn to craft well-structured sentences with correct punctuation to help break down complex tasks into manageable steps. This will make the SOP easier to follow and ensure that procedures are executed accurately and consistently.

Lesson 10

Feedback and Guidance Wrap Up

The self-paced version of this course concludes with a live one-on-one coaching session with your instructor.

Instructor-led group courses conclude with detailed resources and individual writing feedback.

What Will SOP Writing Look Like After This Training?

Complex information is conveyed clearly.

Writing time is significantly reduced.

Well-organized, relevant content is included.

Designed and formatted to be easy to read.

Disagreements and bad news are professional.

Writer’s block is avoided through planning.

Tone and readability are considered.

Persuasion is clear and effective.

Competent, clear, and professional.

Grammar errors are identified and corrected.

Meet the Mentors of SOP Writing Excellence

Elisabeth O'Quinn

Elisabeth has a unique combination of business and business writing acumen, with an extensive background in writing, editing, and content marketing management.

She has supported a wide range of businesses, writing blog articles, white papers, presentations, and editing business documents. She has supported many of our clients with rave reviews of her writing feedback, helping countless participants with their technical report writing skills.

Elisabeth lives in Georgia with her cat and rescue pup. In addition to writing, she loves traveling with her twin sister, learning German, and creating watercolor prints.

Grace Cuddy

Grace provides individual executive business writing coaching to senior and bilingual clients and leads instructor-led group training for our clients. She also supports our instructor training and mentoring program.

She is an expert in business writing and loves to help students improve their technical writing skills.

She is bilingual in English and Spanish and has a keen sensitivity to global writing. She has a strong background in corporate communication and management and successfully developed cross-functional writing and communication processes in a large corporate team. She has also helped professional engineers and firms develop SOPs and policy documents.

She enjoys yoga, travel, and dance. She splits her time between New York City and Madrid.

Katie Almeida Spencer

Katie is an experienced Business Writing and English as a Second Language instructor, business English writing coach, and teacher trainer. She taught Business Skills and Academic Writing at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

She is very skilled at evaluating both the substance and language of business documents. Her writing critiques, instruction, and coaching have received stellar evaluations from our clients at Chartis Consulting, DuPont, Shell, Southern Middlesex Opportunity Council, and the World Wildlife Fund.

She holds a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Rhode Island and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her areas of expertise include business writing and technical report writing, proposal writing, English courses, and syntax and non-native writing.

Course feedback and testimonials

Technical writing training for the U.S. Army that focused on crafting technical SOPs.

View our Course Evaluation on Survey Monkey

The biggest benefit was the mental reps, which involved slowing down and really examining the writing process by revising existing materials.

Q&A Analyst

Vertex

Katie provided great, detailed feedback that allowed me to identify what areas I really needed to work on (and still work on). Also, she provided very helpful advice for going forward that I appreciated greatly.

Technical Writer

Gartner

My instructor has the right personality and enthusiasm and knowledge for this course—very easy to understand and she used excellent real life examples. There were non-technical and highly technical people in this class and she got us to understand each other. Writing across the teams will be much better.

Project Manager

Avecia Biotechnology

It was very helpful looking at my own writing style and learning to deconstruct it. Additionally, the flow charts and mapping information strategies are very helpful.

Director, Testing and Verification

U.S. Army

Become a better SOP Writer

Sign up today or schedule a discussion to become a stronger SOP writer.

INDIVIDUALS

$895

Enroll now

GROUPS

Customized and flexible online, virtual, and onsite courses, workshops, and classes guaranteed to improve SOP writing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is SOP Writing?

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Writing is the process of creating structured, clear, and consistent documentation that details the essential steps and protocols for completing specific tasks within an organization. SOPs serve as comprehensive guides that ensure processes are performed accurately, safely, and consistently across teams. Effective SOP writing is crucial in regulated industries, such as healthcare, manufacturing, and finance, where adherence to guidelines and standards is critical. By establishing clear workflows, SOPs help reduce errors, improve training efficiency, and support regulatory compliance.

What specific writing skills will I improve by taking your SOP Writing Course?

In our SOP Writing course, you’ll gain valuable skills to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of your writing. You’ll learn how to logically structure information in an SOP, making it easy for readers to follow essential steps. The course will also cover techniques to ensure your SOPs consistently meet industry regulations and standards, which is critical in many fields.

You’ll discover methods to streamline your writing process, reducing the time spent creating SOPs by at least 25%, and reduce the need for managerial revisions. Additionally, you’ll develop the ability to write clearly and concisely, removing any unnecessary details that could distract from the main message. This course also includes guidance on proper grammar, punctuation, and formatting to create SOPs that are not only accurate but also easy to read and implement.

Can you create a custom SOP writing course for my organization?

Yes! We can create a custom SOP Writing course tailored to your organization’s specific needs.

Our team will work with you to understand your industry standards, regulatory requirements, and unique workflow needs, designing training that aligns with your organization's objectives. We can include examples, exercises, and templates that reflect the types of SOPs your team handles daily. This approach ensures that participants gain relevant skills they can immediately apply, improving both the quality and consistency of your SOPs.

Will I receive a certificate upon completion?

Yes, upon successful completion of our SOP Writing course, all participants will receive a certificate of completion. This certificate acknowledges your commitment to enhancing your SOP writing skills and serves as a valuable addition to your professional qualifications. It can be shared with your organization or included in your professional portfolio to demonstrate your competency in creating clear, compliant, and effective SOPs.

Can you scale the SOP writing course for large corporations?

Absolutely. Our SOP Writing course is designed to be scalable and can accommodate the needs of large corporations. We offer flexible delivery options, including onsite training, virtual sessions, or a blended learning approach, making it easy to train multiple teams across different locations. Our instructors can tailor the course to align with your corporate standards and provide customized examples that reflect your industry and operational needs. With our scalable approach, you can ensure consistent SOP writing quality across your organization, enhancing compliance and operational efficiency at every level.

How can I enroll in the SOP Writing Course?

Individuals can enroll here for immediate access. This individual online self-paced course is a practicum, so you will plan, draft, and edit an actual SOP in the course with instructor written feedback and live coaching.

If you’re interested in group training, please schedule a meeting with us to discuss your team’s writing requirements and your training goals so we can be sure to tailor the training to your specific SOPs.