The checklist for change

Every evening for going to the gym, I fill my gym bag with two towels, a change of clothes, shoes, socks, and a bottle of drinking water. Every so often, I forget one or the other and have to either do a sweaty  workout (forgotten towel), or miss out on the steam and bath (forgotten bath towel). Now, to save me from the miseries,  I have put up a sticky note on the cupboard door with a checklist of all the things to be carried in the gym bag.

I am not particularly fond of checklists and tend to rely excessively on my memory - unreliable though it is. But reading Atul Gawande's book, The Checklist Manifesto, has been the trigger for change. The book’s main point is simple: no matter how expert you may be, well-designed check lists can improve outcomes. Checklists help foster communication, which in turn lead to teamwork. In a world of complex surgeries, there are so many details to focus on, it’s easy for errors to happen. Often  surgeons have to focus on their own responsibilities and trust that their colleagues are taking care of theirs. The checklist brings them all back to the same page; if nobody can proceed until it’s confirmed that a particular task has been performed, they’re forced to check in with each other. A BBC programme the other day had a doctor from a hospital in the UK recounting his experience of using the checklist. There were times, he said, when a surgeon forgot a swab inside a patient and risking his life considerably. Now, taking a count of the number of surgical swabs prior to, and post the operation, such mishaps have been completely eliminated. In the process, saving many a life - if not a malpractice suit! Even a simple thing like each person on the surgical team introducing himself/herself  to the others, has saved precious moments of time when a patient's life hung by a slender thread!

Personally, I have found the checklist a great tool in my change management projects. Such projects tend to be complex because you are not sure where and how exactly to begin the process. The checklist brings in the much required structure and rigor, providing clarity and saving me much time in laying out the road map for the project.

I have found the resources at ProSci BPR Online Learning Centre  particularly useful. Registering on the site makes you eligible for free tutorials and there are also several change management checklist you can download and use. Steve Banhegyi also has a very useful set of Leadership Checklists you can make use of.