Find the task that follows one person around
Think about the question everyone asks the same employee. It might be how to book a difficult job, prepare a quote, handle an unusual order, or respond when a customer changes the plan. That is often a better starting point than creating a large procedure manual.
Watch a real example
Ask the employee to explain what they are doing as they work. Notice the small checks: the email they read twice, the number they compare, or the person they call before committing. Those moments contain knowledge that may be missing from a checklist.
Build a usable instruction
Record the starting information, the steps, the decisions, the approval limits, and the finished result. Add what to do when the usual information is missing or the work does not fit the normal pattern. Put it in a company tool the team can access.
Use a small teaching example
For a customer changing a visit, an instruction might say: check crew availability, confirm who can approve the change, record the new time, and tell the crew. Add when to ask the manager, such as a change affecting price or a promised deadline. This is an illustration, not a client case study.
Test with another employee
Ask a teammate to run the task from the instructions. Record where they pause or guess. Improve those parts and repeat the test. The Step-Back course uses a seven-day workplace handover test after teaching; the task still has to meet the course standard.
Keep ownership clear
Name who updates the instructions when tools, roles or customer requirements change. A system the team can maintain is more useful than a document nobody owns. The goal is to make experienced employees' judgement available to the team while keeping clear human responsibility.