This article originally appeared in the February 2017 print edition of Cannabis Business Times. To subscribe, click here.
Insects, powdery mildew, mites, over-watering, theft, spray damage, airy colas, low potency, high costs, weighing errors, nutrient deficiencies, low yields and, of course, messages left by regulators. These are the devils every grower must address, and the only question is will they address them before they happen or after they sneak up and surprise everyone?
Risk management is the practice of avoiding surprises and mitigating the ones that do occur. Its goal is ensuring a shop can run no matter the circumstances and no matter who is on the floor. Regardless of who developed the cultivation process, the operation depends on everyone following that process down to the details. In a high turnover labor market, ensuring consistency and preventing errors is a challenge that standard operating procedures (SOPs) are especially well-designed to meet.
SOPs describe the details of every task performed inside the operation right down to the hand-washing manual. If that makes you chuckle, recognize that hospitals still post hand-washing procedures today, so that should tell us something about what it takes to get a message across and keep it in the front of the staff’s mind while they hustle through their day.
SOPs are an education and communication tool that allows an entire operation to learn the process and discuss it with others to keep things running smoothly. The payback is blessed, mind-numbing calm and confidence in operations, along with a better bottom line.
To read the full article in Cannabis Business Times' February edition, click here.
