Chances are you eagerly visited this blog post because you are already a checklist convert and anticipated I was asking for an update on one of the items on your list that we’re working on.  Then well done, you passed the test!

Or, maybe you aren’t. Maybe you are in the camp of “checklists are a tedious waste of time”.  But bear with me because this practice of checklists WILL save your business by improving efficiency and minimising mistakes.

Our Why work Fridays SCALE Handbook contains a nifty box of tools for business owners to use throughout their scale journey, many of which are checklists.  Checklists for people, meetings, marketing, values, issues etc.  Why?  Because checklists work!  They help:

• establish regular patterns for communication
• summarise activities & priorities
• detail accountability & responsibilities
• capture & preserve knowledge
• eliminate errors & improve outcomes before it’s too late.

Still not convinced?  Look how checklists have helped…aviators to land planes …hospitals reduce infection with a simple mandate “wash your hands” …London 2012 put on one of the finest Olympic Games and Team GB sealing their greatest ever performance.

If you’re not already using our Why work Fridays SCALE Handbook (don’t worry, we’ll be sharing more about this with you soon), then here are some key steps to help you implement checklists within your business quickly and easily.

A checklist for your checklist:

• Establish a clear simple checklist structure that works for you. This can be anything from written down in Word, a spreadsheet, a PDF, an app or a specific tool.
• Set checklists that strengthen your business. Look at what currently works and currently gets blocked, where issues arise, and create checklists around these.
• Share and enforce your checklists across your teams so that everyone is clear on processes and responsibilities.
• Use in your business every day to establish regular patterns of communication. Using checklists in meetings for example is the most basic form of agreement on what is important and how to communicate it.
• Align your checklists to your goals. If you have big aspirations for your business, especially if those plans involve employing other people, then you will fail if you do not have a clearly defined, step-by-step plan, and checklists to execute these plans.

I hope these tips help and let us know how you get on.

Right, that’s one plane landed and off my checklist for today…what’s next on my urgent/important checklist…?!