6 Simple Steps To Align Your Staff With Business Objectives

We need team members to see their job as not just confined to their precise scope but to help the group around them or team get the best possible resultsAtul Gawande

A strong business depends on people who can see beyond their own cubicle walls. What I mean by this is that a business depends on employees who understand how their actions impact the overall performance of the business. These employees have enough knowledge of the business that they can adjust their day to day work routines, deliverables and interactions so that they maximize value to the business at every occasion.

And, this applies to every employee at every level of the business from the cleaning staff to the board room!

Earlier in my career when I was a new project manager, I ran into an issue where project team members were taking actions that were good for their particular scope of work but they were not considering the impact on the project as a whole. They would take actions that would allow them to get their work done quickly and efficiently but it was causing significant work and rework for other project team members.

The Checklist Manifesto – How To Get Things Right

As a new feature of Thinking Business Blog, I plan to publish a brief, one paragraph summary of the business books that I am reading. This will be a very high level synopsis of the book and what I gained from it. I will publish these summaries as I complete the books and not on a predetermined schedule. I trust you will benefit from them.

The first book I reviewed was Procrastinate on Purpose.

The second review was Bill Browder’s book, Red Notice

The third review is Atul Gawande’s book The Checklist Manifesto

I spent more time readying this book than most. It is really that good! Gawande’s entertaining writing style, engaging examples and the underlying message that we need to systematize as much of our business and activities as possible so that we minimize mistakes and maximize value is something that I really support.

My takeaway from this book is that an organization needs two types of checklists to be successful;