Over the past few months, I’ve been working on compiling recipes and putting what’s in my head down on paper. Well…sort of. I mean, this is the digital version but you know where I’m going with this! 😉

If anyone really knows me, you’ll know that I’m one to unintentionally harbor information. Now, I say unintentionally as I have this terrible habit of assuming that everyone else knows what I’m talking about or how things should be done. When I worked for CHR (3PL), it was a constant topic of discussion in my reviews, weekly checkups and one-on-one coaching meetings with supervisors and peers.

The big thing the company was pushing prior to my departure was SOP’s. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, SOP stands for Standard Operating Procedures – essentially a document that lays out the entire structure of a process with detailed instructions of its internal functions. These SOP’s are drawn up and placed on either or both an internal or company wide access point as to allow anyone to be able to jump in and assist or take over, should it be necessary.

I, as well as others on my team, was tasked with writing SOP’s for all of the “hats” I wore in my specific role. You see, my official title was Account Coordinator but my duties went beyond the typical AC duties and I was often referred to as the “hybrid” as I was a tenured employee who had experience in several aspects of the business and had gone through an 8 year evolution of the company’s business plan. My official titles and roles changed often for a bit until it was determined to leave me at AC yet operationally work beyond the parameters of that actual title.

Writing those SOP’s was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do throughout my career. You’re probably wondering, why was it so difficult? At first, I figured it would be a walk in the park. Write up instructions for my daily/weekly functions? Sure! No problem! Can do! 👍

WRONG!!!

After I finished writing my first SOP and handed it over to a teammate for review, I knew there would be no issues. That SOP was flawless.

WRONG!!!

After review, my teammate and I pulled aside for a few minutes to have what I thought would be a short discussion that would most likely involve a few small edits with re-wording for clarification. Instead, it turned out that the ENTIRE SOP needed an overhaul. It was brought to my attention that although the step-by-step instructions were there, it lacked a vast amount of information required showing how to access numerous sites or folders in order to continue to the next step(s).

That first SOP was revamped at least 5 times before I was given the thumbs-up to publish and place on the server. Yes, I know that many a writer goes through several edits prior to publishing their final product but to have that many edits for a “how to” article?!? Let me tell ya, it was frustrating.

Frustrating because throughout this process I realized I didn’t take the time to really dig deep and break it all down to an understandable level for someone who literally has never done each specific task. At first, to me, I felt as if I was dumbing it down. But after getting that first SOP under my belt, I realized for the first time that I really had a lot of knowledge about our internal functions that reached beyond the typical AC title and could no longer assume that everyone knew how to do what came as second nature to me. I had to change my entire mindset of “I’m dumbing it down” to “How can I translate this process to someone who has never done this before? Do they have all the information they need to successfully complete this task?”

And this, my dears, brings us full circle to the first paragraph of this post. I am compiling, writing, re-writing, editing and re-editing every single recipe I have to ensure that you – my teammate – can and will be successful in your culinary endeavors. All the little details in my head absolutely have to be drawn out on an understandable level to ensure your success! My goal is to not only help you create dishes that you’ve probably never made or have but didn’t turn out so great, but to also teach you how to cook on your own down the road and have more confidence and put new twists on old recipes.

The time will come.

Recipes will be posted.

Dinner Thyme will be resurrected!

But in the meantime, know that I’m working hard and investing my time for your success!

XOXO – A ❤