Accountability and Making SOPs Stick

Creating a solid SOP is just the beginning. The next challenge is getting your team to follow it consistently.

That means accountability.

If you want your agency to operate like a team instead of a collection of freelancers, you have to protect time to monitor and evaluate how your processes are being used.

Here’s where many agencies slip: they build a process, roll it out once, and hope it sticks.

Hope is not a plan.

You Need A System

You need a system for checking in on your SOPs. Schedule time weekly to review whether your team is actually using the process. Pull reports. Sit in on workflows. Ask questions.

At the same time, give your team regular opportunities to offer feedback. Once a week, invite them to share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s slowing them down. This includes criticism. You want to know if something in the process needs to change — and your team will usually be the first to see it.

If the data or feedback points to a better way to do something, be willing to update the SOP. Don’t be rigid just for the sake of control. But once you make that update, it becomes the new standard — for everyone.

Hold Your Team Accountable

What happens when someone doesn’t follow the SOP?

First, find out why. Maybe they didn’t understand it. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they were never trained properly.

But if it’s clear that they understood and chose not to follow it, then you need to act. Too many agency owners let SOPs fall apart because of one or two people.

“Jim has been with us for 20 years, so we let him do his thing.”

“Jane hits her numbers, so we don’t force her to follow the new process.”

You can’t build a modern, efficient agency if exceptions are the rule. You can’t build a consistent agency if key people are doing their own thing.

If someone refuses to follow the process, you have to decide how to respond. It’s not about being harsh. It’s about clarity. If your process works, it’s not optional.

Protect the standard. Enforce the standard. Adjust the standard when needed — but don’t let it disappear.

Accountability is what turns SOPs into results.