Achieving standardization of sales operations and efficiency in training through the creation of business manuals

Challenges Before Implementation

The personalization of work has become an issue, with a gap in skills and knowledge between veteran employees and those with less experience.

At that time, Tokyu Livable was experiencing a doubling of its sales staff within 1 to 2 years due to the expansion of its office and retail leasing brokerage business, making the rapid onboarding of newly assigned sales employees a pressing issue.

The business has become dependent on individual employees, and because veteran staff are teaching new employees through verbal transmission, there is inconsistency in the content being taught, leading to a gap in skills and knowledge between veteran employees and those with less experience.

Additionally, even among veteran employees, there is a difference in the methods and knowledge of individual tasks, so there is a need to organize the basic concepts and approaches to work.

There were manuals created for a different business in the past, but they had a large number of pages and were not frequently referenced. Therefore, we received an inquiry from you seeking the assistance of a professional manual production company.

Solutions of Human Science

Inventorying tacit knowledge, establishing business procedures and rules, and creating operational manuals

We proceeded with the creation of the business manual through sessions with stakeholders in the following steps.

1) Current Status Survey and Analysis (September 2019)

During the orientation, we gathered information on the overall picture of the business and the current challenges. We also conducted research and analysis of existing manuals and materials from other projects.

2) Business Organization and Optimization (October to November 2019)

Through three sessions, we interviewed managers and veteran employees to understand the workflow and content of the operations, and organized the current flow and content of the work. We also inventory the tacit knowledge and established standard operating procedures and rules to be documented in the manual.

Additionally, we conducted interviews with new employees who will be the main users of the manual to understand their latent needs from the user's perspective.

3) Manual Creation (December 2019 - January 2020)

Based on the results of business organization and optimization, we created the business manual. First, we thoroughly aligned the image of the finished product and the writing policy using a sample draft, and then we completed the manual by reflecting the opinions of Tokyu Livable.

We have proposed the optimal documentation policies and information to be included, considering the update and operation phase after the manual is completed.

Customer Feedback

"By exchanging opinions throughout the session, we ultimately created a satisfactory manual."

By conducting interviews with veteran employees and working together to organize operations, we were able to inventory information related to operations that had previously been tacit knowledge. Additionally, it was beneficial to incorporate not only the opinions of veteran employees but also those of newcomers, who were able to suggest information that should be included in the manuals.

In the sample manuscript stage, we communicated various requests, but through exchanging opinions during the session, we were able to collaboratively consider the best format for our business manual, ultimately resulting in a satisfactory manual.

Until now, we have received feedback from newly assigned employees such as, "I struggled to understand the overall picture of the work after being assigned" and "The way to proceed with tasks and the points to confirm with customers varied depending on the instructor." This time, by creating a manual, we believe that a significant achievement has been made in that we can now share the standard workflow and procedures that serve as a prerequisite with newly assigned employees.

Moving forward, we believe the challenge is how to encourage everyone to use this manual and establish it as a standard. We are also planning to hold regular study sessions using the manual to promote its utilization.

From Human Science representatives

The visualization of "common knowledge" through third-party intervention makes it easier to streamline operations.

This is an example of our assistance in creating business manuals.

Not only for Tokyu Livable, but many companies have a tendency for their business content and methods to depend on individual employees, resulting in a lack of an objective overview of the entire operation. In such cases, instead of immediately starting manual creation, we can efficiently advance the manual creation process by conducting a session with stakeholders to inventory the business together, organizing the current operations and know-how into a visible format.

Even information that is common knowledge for veteran employees can often be necessary for newcomers. By conducting interviews from an objective perspective as a third party, it seems that there are many opportunities to realize the information and know-how that should be shared within the company.

In this project, we were able to have the office rental center manager attend each session and share their passionate thoughts on expectations and the ideal state for the members. In response to such enthusiasm, our company has made every effort to create easy-to-understand manuals.

Business manuals are not a one-time creation; they need to be continuously improved and operated. Therefore, we would be happy to continue supporting you.

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