It’s a bird, it’s a plane – no its… it’s… a CHECKLIST!!
Checklists don’t elicit this response in most people. Rather they tend to result in either a mild annoyance or an involuntary brain shut-down.
But checklists ARE one of the most powerful (and simplest) tools in process improvement. So why are they also the most undervalued?
Today I want to write a quick ode to the checklist. In this brief tour, we’ll touch on WHY checklists are so awesome, WHY most checklists are NOT awesome, and HOW you can ensure your checklists fall into the former category.
Full disclosure, I’m a checklist junkie – five or so years back I read an amazing book on the topic, And, since you clicked on the the link and have read the first few sentences of this post, I’m gonna assume you’re at least mildly interested too. 🙂
Let’s jump in.
Why Most Checklists Suck
Most of us have a visceral reaction when presented with a checklist, it takes us back to mind-numbing temp jobs or other zombie-like work situations. This is because the checklist is often bastardized to perform a role it was never meant to. Human control.
Frequently we’ll see a situation like this:
Team A has an incident involving a human error. Either because the true root cause was not identified or because it’s presumed to be too expensive, the decision is made to “fix” the problem by giving the workforce a handy checklist. “That’ll make sure they don’t forget to do step #43 next time.” so the logic goes.
The reason most checklists fail is because we’ve misunderstood their purpose. They are not a tool to control or force humans to comply with a long procedure (often times the longer the checklist, the less effective it is!). If you have a process that ought to be done by a machine, a checklist will not suddenly make it human-compatible.
The Value of a Checklist
So how should we use a checklist?
A well designed checklist activates it’s users, helping them engage at their highest level. Do this by NOT covering every single step. Your checklist should cover the critical few steps, introducing pause points into the process where needed.
The goal is to free some of the person’s mental bandwidth so they can focus on their uniquely human value-add to the process, not dictate to them as if you were writing an Excel macro.
Another way a checklist brings value is by making responsibilities clear so team members can act with confidence in high-stress situations. In the example to the right, it clearly lays out what the surgeon needs to do vs what is the nurse or anesthesiologist’s responsibility.
This makes a huge difference in processes that involve multiple teams or where ambiguity in ownership is particularly dangerous.
A Checklist for Making Checklists
To wrap it all up, before implementing a checklist, see how it performs against the below five points:
- is not lengthy.
- has clear, concise objectives.
- defines a clear pause point at which the checklist is supposed to be used. (i.e. READ-DO or DO-CONFIRM)
- has fewer than ten items per pause point.
- is continually updated as a living document.
Happy check-listing!