So, you think you're smarter than a surgeon??

In our book, Trucker Management, we propose that small business owners use "Circle Checks", similar to those used by truckers to check on the safety of their rigs, as an easy, concise way to keep track of all the small details in their businesses, and to present their best image to customers, employees, etc.. The idea is that if you are regularly forced into taking a few minutes to step back from your business and eyeball things the way impartial third parties would, by having to complete your Checklist, you will see things that you might otherwise miss amidst your busy work each day.

I'm sure there are many business owners who would scoff at the need for something like this, already feeling like they are in relatively complete command of their business, tuned in to everything such that a Checklist is nothing more than a silly nuisance that would add no value.

Now we have some pretty powerful support for our Checklist approach. I recently saw an interview on TV with the author of the new book "The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right". In the book, he argues that no matter the level of expertise one has in what they are doing, performance can be improved by the regular use of checklists - establishing routines to follow each and every time, no matter how well-prepared you otherwise think you are for the task at hand.

His first example, of course, is airline pilots. Here is a group of people who are well trained and expert in their field, but who regularly use checklists to ensure their optimal performance (ie. arriving safely). But what the author, Atul Gawande, did was extend this rationale to unusual places. He is a surgeon, perhaps the single group of professionals who we perceive to be as trained as they could possibly be, as expert in their fields as one could become. Once his surgical team implemented the use of checklists, they saw all sorts of dramatic results in terms of declines in rates of infection, etc. - very real, important, tangible results, from a group of uber-trained professionals who might otherwise think they wouldn't need to use a tool like a checklist.

I haven't yet been able to read the book, but it is next on my list and I am anxious to get into it. It has received rave reviews already from the likes of Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Levitt.

So, I hate to say "we told you so", but......"We told you so!!". No matter how expert you think you already are in your business, no matter how well you think you have things under control, even surgeons have found remarkable results from using a checklist approach. The changes for your business in using our Circle Checks might not be as dramatic as saving a human life, but could it be as much as saving the life of your business??