I love to bake and a lesson I learned long ago was to put ingredients in the order they are listed on the recipe. I also learned the importance of going over the list a second time to ensure I didn’t miss anything. I can say that there has been more than one time that I glazed over an ingredient and caught it during my “quality” check of the process.
This kind of check and balance is critical to all business processes. Whether it is a checklist for cleaning the bathroom, maintenance on a vehicle or changing intravenous tubing – using a job duties checklist and having a check and balance helps to ensure a quality outcome.
Work Completion checklists are what quality systems are made of and following pre-determined checklists, and having someone double check after another person, is the best way to ensure a quality service or product.
As humans we often act out of routine and we are all capable of “memorizing” steps to a process. But that same human side to us is capable of being distracted – even momentarily – which can be long enough to miss a step and potentially cause an error in the process.
6 Reasons to Use Work Completion Checklists
1. Consistency in Process Steps
Checklists provide a framework for consistency in steps to a process. Whether it is a script for answering the telephone or a checklist for packaging a product to ship, having defined, ordered steps helps to minimize or eliminate errors in the process.
2. Reminders When Distracted
We are all human and distractions are many and are ever increasing with the fast pace we all live. Having a checklist can help safeguard against those momentarily lapses in focus or concentration.
3. Working Document for Improvement
Another advantage to using checklists is that they become a working improvement document. When checklists are used and improvement efforts are incorporated into the quality process, a checklist that is a working document and reviewed on a regular basis can serve as a continuous improvement tool for the product or service.
4. Contributor to Quality
Job checklists are one of the major contributors to quality products and services. Successful quality initiatives typically have some sort of work checklist incorporated into a standardized product or service process.
5. Marketing tool – brag about what you do right!
I’m a proponent of leveraging what you do right. When organizations have good quality systems and processes, they should be used as a marketing tool to educate the public about what they do right and why their product or service will deliver quality to the customer. Being able to boast about a low error rate, great customer service or a low product return rate is a great way to get customers interested in your product or service.
6. Training Consistency
Consistency is the name of the game and worker training is a vulnerable area that when left to rely on the memory of even the best employee can prove to be disastrous if an important step in the process is missed. Most of us think of things in the order we do them and can miss a critical step to a process if there is not a checklist to refer to.
As competition continues to increase, ensuring the delivery of quality products or services is critical to meeting corporate objectives. Creating a standardized system and process that incorporates job checklists is one way to meet and exceed customer requirements.
photo by: tedeytan
