Do you and your employees have a checklist?

[Mel Kleiman]

In the last two weeks, I have read two great articles on the use of checklists. The first article pointed out that if you have complex task that you need to get done and it has to be done correctly every time, build a checklist. Airplane pilots have their checklist and so do heart surgeons. The second article was not so profound, but said "We give employees a checklislt to go over on things like how to clean a bathroom. Why don't we give them a checklist on how to talk to and deal with customers and fellow employees?" (Be sure to tell them why the checklist is important and take the time to train them how to use it.)