Checklists started by making risky situations like landing planes and surgical operations safer. These activities are performed by expert pilots and surgeons, who have practiced them thousands of times. However, the brain can only remember so much, especially in the midst of stressful situations. Doing something over and over again also creates a false sense of confidence and can lull an expert into skipping important steps or cutting corners. After reading an excellent book called The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Done Right by Atul Gawande, I think we should be using checklists in many business process besides the most dangerous ones.

Gawande explains in his book that checklists hit the scene in the 1930s when a group of test pilots came up with the first one after seeing a friend stall and crash a plane during a test flight. The accident investigation revealed that with the “newer” planes, there were too many things for one man to track including “four engines, each with its own oil-fuel mix, the retractable landing gear, the wing flaps, etc.” Planes have obviously become increasingly more complex and now checklists are built into the process of operating advanced aircraft. Operating on human beings is the same when you consider pre-op, anesthesia, patient history, allergies, post-op, etc. where checklists have demonstrated measurable improvements in outcomes. It stands to reason that business users performing processes like sales, accounting, customer support, marketing, etc. could similarly benefit from using checklists.

You can find relatives of checklists in the business world today. Call scripting for service center agents is a popular use case. The agents use on-line wizards to walk through a process like an RMA or some other transaction.  The list may not tell the agent every word he or she must say but it should guide the high level steps they take.  We have a sales checklist at salesforce to review when we move an opportunity from one stage to the next. It reminds us to check if we have an ROI study completed, budget confirmation, etc.  The checklist doesn’t tell someone how to do their job or provide a detailed recipe for everything under the sun. Its purpose is to focus on the 5 to 7 important things that make or break a process. Checklists can also simplify complex processes into bite-sized chunks that can be consumed as a process unfolds. A customer on-boarding checklist is a great example. Anytime a new customer joins a company, there could be a shared checklist among sales and service to guarantee the important steps like gathering accurate information, guiding service provisioning, distributing member cards, etc. are addressed.

Putting a checklist to use doesn’t necessarily require fancy technology. Before airplanes went fully electronic, checklists were in binders next to the pilot’s seats. Spreadsheets, memory tools like Evernote and other systems can manage a checklist. The important thing is the list represents what is most important, it is built as a team, and can evolve as the business changes.  Where could you use a checklist in your business or personal life?

The current economic climate is challenging companies like no other. The advent of new technology and financial upheaval is only accelerating change. The internet and changing workforce demographics present both opportunity and challenge, but few companies are really addressing them. Industries like automobiles, newspapers, financial institutions and entertainment are prime examples. No company is immune will eventually need to take steps to address this shifting landscape or will go extinct. Here are a few mistakes that are easy to identify and cheap to avoid.

1. Rely on Email (Inboxychus)

The vast majority of companies continue to utilize traditional tools to communicate and collaborate. Do you know of many companies that don’t rely on email and sending documents back and forth? It is no secret that relying on email is both archaic and wholly inefficient. It is foolish to think that maintaining this reliance is anything but a drag on a company’s efficiency. The amount of information that workers in a dynamic environment need to function continues to grow, but the tools they have to access and manage it stay the same.

How to avoid extinction? Companies MUST invest in technology to help their employees better collaborate and communicate with one another if they really expect to get more from less. There are plenty of technologies to try including Chatter, instant messaging, internal communities, etc. You best start establishing priorities and get busy, or your employees will continue to trod around in the mud.

2. Bore Your Customers (Stagnasaurus)

Many companies communicate with customers and partners through emails and static websites. Consumers and business customers are accustomed to having information on-demand using Google, Wikipedia, Twitter and a host of other sources that have changed the way people find what they need. Companies not upping their game furnishing better information for their customers will soon be left behind.

How to avoid extinction? Invest in building a customer community or other web presence that is dynamic, searchable and easy-to-use. Some companies are even changing the way they market themselves. They offer products, services and community as the core of their offering, not just a “product”. When you buy a product or service from a company, you are forming a relationship with the company. The better experience the company provides aside from the core offering, the more likely they are to keep that customer and sell them more stuff.

3. Install Software (Technologicus Wrex)

It never ceases to amaze me how many companies are still out there insisting on purchasing software that “must” be behind the firewall. Like anything else, there are exceptions and I’m sure readers will pile on that this is crazy, but is it? The only two legitimate reasons to install software in a data center are security and performance. Well, I’ve got news for you. Both issues can be addressed without getting into the business of maintaining software.

How to avoid extinction? Invest in solutions that don’t require hardware, software, training, customization, etc.. Most business applications are now available through the Cloud and they are awesome. They are out there if you look hard enough, and meet 80% of your business needs. I’m willing to bet most of them are more secure than your data center.

Evolve and Thrive

These three areas are critically important for companies to improve in this environment. All are often ignored and difficult to pin down with a measurable business case, hence why they don’t get funding. In economic times like these, companies put off investments of this nature because the benefits are difficult to measure with precision; this is true. You could make the same case for management training. Companies invest millions of dollars training managers, but how can you measure if someone is a better manager? Finanical results, employee retention, and other kinds of metrics are used, but can they be linked back to particular training class or skill; I don’t think so. Most companies make a leap of faith that investing in their people and training will yield benefits in other areas. I submit the same logic holds to investing in the three areas listed above.

Where do you think companies should be investing to stave off extinction?