The power of checklists truly is the solution to chaos in a business!
I have written before about the importance of checklists for bringing a business to order. However, below are some statistics that might convince you that you should look into using them.
Checklists saved my business, and they can save yours, if you can comprehend the value of them!
Simple checklists, completed consistently by employees, can dramatically reduce or eliminate budget-killing mistakes that risk customer loyalty.
Ah, there’s the rub, you say! How do you get employees to use checklists, consistently?
We found the way!
Consider the following that have implemented checklists that have saved whole companies from disaster. Moreover, consider the money and time saved; not to mention, many lives!
Medical Checklists Life Savers
Dr. Peter Pronovost, a renowned Johns Hopkins Hospital critical care specialist, became alarmed about the number of infections and thousands of needless deaths occurring in hospitals. Therefore, in 2001, he put together a simple five-step checklist for installing lines in the human body, during care. As a result, the infection rates plummeted almost immediately at Johns Hopkins. Sadly, Dr. Pronovost could not get other hospitals interested; primarily, because physicians felt they didn’t need checklists to do their job. Sound familiar?
Dr. Pronovost was finally able to convince the State of Michigan to try his simple checklists in some of the worst hospitals in the country. The Keystone Initiative published its findings in a landmark article in The New England Journal of Medicine in December 2016. The infection rate of Michigan ICU’s decreased by 65 percent in the first three months of the project. In the Keystone Initiative’s first 18 months, the hospitals saved an estimated $175 million in costs, and more than 1,500 lives.
Checklists Inspired by the B-17 Bomber
Boeing almost went bankrupt when one of its top pilots crashed a newly-designed bomber, right in front of military top brass. Boeing realized, their new generation of aircraft was too complicated for even the best pilots. Consequently, they created a simple checklist, and proceeded to sell over 13,000 planes that flew some 1.8 million miles without a crash.
Downloading What’s in Your Head
YOU are the expert on your business! You know how it works, and the processes that have brought you this far. But, unless you staffed the company with mind-readers, you are a slave to your business every day. Your employees will need your constant input, until EMPOWERED and EQUIPPED to take charge of their assignments.
It’s time to DOWNLOAD your years of experience into a system!
Build a checklist system for all the processes in your business needing performed in a consistent manner (i.e. setting up a new customer). Take time to download it OUT OF YOUR HEAD and into written documents (i.e. checklists, procedures, policies, forms, etc.). Otherwise, the actual operation (all the business of your business) will remain IN YOUR HEAD; and others will pull at you to access it! In other words, clone yourself via systems!
Once you create these detailed documents, they should be gathered and organized into an Operations Manual for your company.
Daily Routine Checklists for Personnel
The Daily Routine Checklist is like a Job Description. However, it’s developed into a comprehensive list of duties, in the order a person performs them from the time they arrive at work until they leave. It is to be prominently located for easy use, on a tablet or desk computer. Where there is no computer, a hard copy of the list can be on the employee’s desk or on a clipboard by their workstation. This checklist gives the owner or manager a reference list of everything each employee does. Daily Routine Checklists are the owner’s eyes to see every task and duty performed in the organization. This includes taking mail to the post office, to total operation of your company, to mopping the floors, etc.!
Filling out these checklists correctly, one item/task at a time, will stop errors from being repeated. Moreover, they will virtually eliminate procrastination and chaos.
Quality and Service Control Checklists
Quality and Service Control Checklists are crucial to any company hoping to guarantee quality and service!
Every company and organization has a product it is selling or promoting. Your product may be a service, but guaranteed quality service!
A verbal commitment to quality and service is about as predictable as bubbles in the air. Without a checklist system, you cannot guarantee or prove quality or service, due to the fact we’re fallible human beings. Moreover, it’s impossible for a person to remember to complete every process exactly as needed, every single time.
Have you ever read something and it turned out later you had read it wrong? Or, needed to do something and it turned out you didn’t, but you “just knew” you had? My point exactly!
We’re human, and we don’t see or do things the same way every time. Our mind may be thinking about numerous things, or something major, and overlook something small.
Consider how an airline pilot distracted by the weather, passengers, or a personal event in his/her life overlooking something critical. As a result, this type distraction could cause them to miss a small light alerting them that the landing gear is up or down. Thankfully, airline pilots use detailed checklists that keep you and me safe from such mishaps!
The Solution for What Ails Your Business
Imagine a browser-based program that could bring total ORDER to your company—all systems operated by each staff member on a PC or an I-Pad (paperless). That would allow for lean and sustainable management company-wide! Think of it! With this solution, you could even create your own interactive, industry-specific documents that include instant access to your procedures and policies. A must tool for Job Shop Management, Field Service Management or for small manufacturing business.
Imagine a program that could reduce your waste overnight by a ratio of 70 percent and more. AND it would allow management instant reporting on most company’s activities.
We’ve done it! System100™ = Business Under Control!
Did I mention? Great Systems Work!
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