Erase Stress by using Checklists
8.07.2012
Atul Gawande is a surgeon who wanted to find a way to reduce mistakes and unnecessary deaths during surgeries. He created a simple 90-second checklist that reduced deaths and complications by more than one-third in eight hospitals around the world. You can read about it in his book The Checklist Manifesto.
Pilots use checklists to prepare an airplane for a safe flight. Evaluation experts use checklists to structure their program evaluations. Contractors use checklists to build skyscrapers. The lowly checklist is responsible for preventing human error in many different kinds of businesses.
I use a checklist to pack my suitcase. Yup. It has every possible item listed for whatever kind of trip I might be taking. When I pack for a trip, I pull out the checklist and work down the list to see what I will need and then pack each item. I never forget anything on a trip unless I neglect to use the list.
On one driving trip to Michigan to work with a client, I forgot to pack dress socks. Not a problem. I drove over to a nearby store to buy a pair. When I got back to the hotel, I realized that I forgot to pack my dress belt as well. I didn’t use the checklist. Dumb.
I have a checklist for conducting my regular weekly review to plan each week. It makes the weekly review go a lot smoother because I don’t have to think about how I am going to plan, I simply work through the 15 steps I have listed. It erases stress from my life.
I am going to assist a client with strategic planning in a few weeks. I created a checklist of organizational aspects to consider for each one of their strategic priorities. This will help them to think through each more thoroughly. I will simply walk through the checklist with them. It will make my job easier as I lead them through the process.
What checklist, if you took time to create it, would erase stress from your life? What checklist could you develop for your organization that will guard against human error and save real money?
