LeadershipSOPs.App

Access the web app on an Internet-enabled device of your choosing (which has a keyboard and mouse): LeadershipSOPs.App.

Pro Tip: While the SOPsApp is live on both Apple App Store and Google Play Store, SOP creators (like you) will want to use a device with a larger monitor (than a phone) as well as a keyboard and mouse (to allowing for easier cutting and pasting of text from other documents).

Choose the Sign Up option on the Welcome screen to create an account.

Please use a professional Profile Pic, Display Name and Headline as these will be used to “sign” your SOPs, Posts, and Messages. Your Professional Profile choices should closely map to those made on other professional social media platforms. Choose “Save” at the bottom of the screen when you are done.

Saving your profile information will send you to the LeadershipSOPsCenter on the Library screen.

Library SOPs can be seen by all users. They display on Preview Cards which can be explored by scrolling.

Selecting a Preview Card reveals a Detailed SOP. Viewing a few of these Detailed SOPs will give you a good sense for what a Library SOP looks like to other users.

Pro Tip: Ed Tyson (the architect of the SOPs) has published some very detailed SOPs to test the limits of our system – your SOPs need not be as detailed; however, it is important to consider the right balance of information needed for another leader to read, understand, adopt and use your SOPs.

All SOPs are created in your Playbook. Selecting “Playbook” from the carousel control (under the LeadershipSOPs Center header) will display your Playbook.

Create an SOP by selecting the gold “+ Add SOP” link toward the bottom of the screen and completing the template. Reference the FAQs on this page if you encounter any difficulties with key terminology.

On the second screen of the Create / Edit and SOP process, include an “Event Starter” for your SOP (and remember which one you chose). This will allow you to “test” the SOP after you save it. Click “Save to Playbook” after defining a few example Steps.

Test the SOP by navigating to the CoE section of the SOPsApp, selecting “Events” from the top carousel menu, and choosing “Log Event.” Then, select the Event Starter you set for the SOP and (if you choose) give the event a unique name.

Navigate to the Gameplan to view your leadership checklist. The Gameplan will display your Actions by Step according to the settings you selected. To save space, it will only display the SOP Name and Actions; however, selecting any action description will open a window showing where the action you selected falls within the broader sequence of actions (including showing the current and subsequent Steps and actions.

If you left the default Step Settings in place, your Test SOP will only display the Actions you defined for Step 1. After you checkoff an item from the list (or cancel it), you will see the Actions for Step 2 and so on. These Step Setting can be adjusted for each Step in your SOP (except for Step 1 which always fires according to the Starters you selected.

As you test the SOP, you may want to cancel the individual items versus checking them off (since you are just testing your SOP) - by selecting the “X” to the right of each action. Another test method is just to set the minutes of leading to zero (0) before checking an item off.

Pro Tip: SOP Steps can contain more than one action. The Actions in each Step display together as checklist items within a user’s Gameplan.

By default, the SOPsApp creates one action for each Step using the text entered for the Step. This saves time when creating a simple SOP for yourself but creates a less than desirable experience for other users should you publish the SOP (since Step descriptions are often documented as full sentences, but checklist items are best expressed in two to four short words).

Consequently, it is best to edit the default language by reviewing the advanced options menu and selecting “Edit Action”.

Find your Test SOP in your Playbook by selecting the SOPsApp logo and returning to the LeadershipSOPs Center (and ensuring your are in the Playbook by looking at or using the carousel control).

Select your Test SOP and select “Edit” at the bottom of the screen. Since this is a test SOP, you can “Leave Active” or “Deactivate” it while editing because there will be no operational impact either way since this is a Test SOP (and there is no impact to your work if you take a few days to complete the edits).

Replace any test information with the real information for your first real SOP. Navigate through all three screens of the Create / Edit SOP process. As you do so, keep in mind the copy you are editing now is still your Playbook SOP - so it is OK if it still has some information that is phrased in a way that is only helpful to you.

Once you complete the Create / Edit SOP process, select “Save & Publish". This will keep the personal copy you have been editing in your Playbook and create a new Library Copy for you to edit and publish to the Library. It is important to remember these copies are now saved and maintained separately from this moment forward, allowing you to have a personal copy with confidential and/or less formal language in your Playbook and a more formal copy in the Library. Repeat the Library Copy editing process and select “Publish in Library” to make it immediately public to all SOPsApp users or select “Save as Unpublished in Library” to put it in the Library but temporarily keep if from view.

Pro Tip: Plan out the Name, Purpose, Steps and Actions for your SOP in a word processing application and cut and paste those sections into the SOPsApp to speed up your data entry.

Note: If you “back out” of a Playbook SOP rather than saving or publishing it, it will be saved as a Draft SOP. Draft SOPs will not Start and place Actions on your Gameplan. Drafts can be found in your Playbook by adjusting your view in the “Filters” section of your Playbook.

Answer: No, while the LeadershipSOPs.App (SOPsApp) is based on the LeadershipSOPs framework and methodology, featured in From Expert to Executive: Mastering the SOPs of Leading, anyone who embraces the power of intentional and repeatable leadership routines will find it easy to create great SOPs in the SOPsApp. Naturally, those familiar with LeadershipSOPs framework and vocabulary will appreciate the Leader Legion’s use of it to codify and organize SOPs.

Answer: It is completely up to you! While not all SOPs will be relevant for all leaders, leaders of all levels will benefit from variety in the Library.

Leaders at all levels will appreciate this flexibility and their M(ai) Coach support provided by their personal AI coach.

New leaders will benefit from a tremendous head start, reviewing and adopting (on day one) LeadershipSOPs which typically take a lifetime to accrue. The SOPsApp is designed to help these leaders find a balance between working with the team (as a senior member of the team) and working on the team (as the person responsible for structuring, operating, and perfecting it).

Mid-level leaders who manage multiple CoEs will benefit from the tool’s ability to prompt and manage Separate SOPs and leadership actions for each CoE they lead. These leaders will specifically appreciate SOPs which integrate annual planning and budgeting, skip level meetings, and organizational design reviews.

Executives whose reach spans across the enterprise will lean on the SOPsApp to help manage complexity, instantly incorporate lessons learned, and scale for impact.

In other words, the SOPsApp is highly customizable to each leader’s needs and responsibilities - and we would like to help them all!

The SOPsApp can be used to develop simple habits for leading a small teams or complex routines for scaling across multiple entities… and, for those with an eye on mentorship (like you), it can measure that too!

Answer: Great SOPs help leaders structure, operate, and perfect their communities of effort (CoEs) - in terms of membership experience, stakeholder evaluation, and performance. The purpose of leading is to cultivate a sufficiently strong CoE. Therefore, any leadership process that forwards this mission by either designing, engaging, or improving a community of effort is “great”. The LeadershipSOPs framework identifies the work of leading by three domains (structure, operate, and perfect) and sixteen sub-dimensions. Consequently, the SOPsApp categorizes SOPs according to this same set of domains and sub-dimensions. The idea is that the work of leading consists of the same functions and subfunctions for every leader; but the right way to do it (the process of leading) is quite different for each leader and CoE. Still confused? Check out the LeadershipSOPs.App Library for “live” examples.

Answer: Go with what you think will help this SOP get found in the Library. SOPs are categorized by three domains: Structure, Operate, and Perfect. These correspond to the primary purpose of the SOP.

Structure SOPs establish the design of a group: organizing principles, purpose, objectives, culture, strategy, and organizational design.

Operate SOPs drive operational planning and budgeting, work assignment and accountability mechanisms and routine stakeholder engagement.

Perfect SOPs drive personal, individual, team, and organizational development.

The 16 Dimensions are subcategories that exist within each domain. Users can “tag” SOPs with as many Dimensions as make sense, even if they cross between domains.

For example, a strategic planning SOP should be categorized as a “Structure” SOP, but in addition to tagging it with a “Strategy” dimension, one might also select “Organizational Development.” This will ensure the SOP shows in searches for both.

In addition to helping with searches, categorizing SOPs by Domains and Dimensions helps users balance their playbooks (to ensure they are leading across all three Domains and 16 Dimensions of leading. This same logic also drives M(ai) Coach insights and recommendations.

Answer: A CoE consists of everyone in your core team… and more. A CoE is the entire group of people relevant to a core team’s success. In the workplace, a team is typically comprised of a leader and her/his direct reports. However, the full CoE for this team includes the leader, the direct reports, key executive stakeholders, internal collaborators and perhaps even some external stakeholders. The core team cannot find success if the leader does not consider these stakeholders on a daily basis. Leaders who focus only on their teams are missing the big picture.

For example, a Sales & Marketing CoE might derive its name from the Sales & Marketing team, but it includes the CEO and some of the CEOs direct reports act as key executive stakeholders, as do some peers, and other functions outside the core team.

SOPsApp users have one default CoE, named “My Team.” Users can rename this CoE and create as many other CoEs as they please. They can also assign individuals to the CoEs they create so their Gameplan checklists can help manage tasks down to the individual. For example, listing people, their stakeholder types, and CoE memberships allows a leader to create and manage leadership activity across all direct reports, by name. Importantly, the CoEs and people users define in the tool stay private and do not “publish” to the library.

Answer: Steps consist of sentences describing a bundle of Actions, whereas Actions depict discrete tasks (which end up as checklist items on a user’s Gameplan). Within the SOPsApp, SOPs consist of sequential steps which are initiated by Starters. There are two types of Starters, Schedule Driven (those driven by the calendar) and Event Driven (initiated by a manually “logged” events). A single SOP can leverage both types of Starters. For example, an SOP could start Every year on January 2 and any time a selected event occurs.

Individual steps are activated in sequence (by default) - meaning the Leadership Actions associated with Step 2 will all populate on a leader’s Gameplan after all the Leadership Actions for Step 1 have been dispositioned (either checked or canceled). Advanced users can adjust this default sequence to initiate a Step a chosen number of day after the previous Step Starts or Ends (where 0 days after “Starts” essentially means “with” the prior Step and 0 days after “Ends” means “After” the last Action is checked or cancelled).

By default, Step descriptions copy over to the first Action in each Step. This is helpful when documenting a simple SOP with one Action per Step; however, it is not helpful when Step descriptions are more than a few words and there are more than one Action per Step.

An action description can be edited by selecting the three dots menu link associated with it and selecting “Edit Action”. Editing an Action also reveals other advanced options such as duplicating the Action for each stakeholder type you select and duplicating the Action for each person (in the CoEs linked to the SOP) within each stakeholder type selected.