Do You Need a To Do List?

Last week I was having a discussion with one of my clients who insisted that he didn’t need a to do list. I let it slide at that time. Then, on the airplane, I realized that, from my opinion, he was wrong. Here’s why he needs one as does his managers:

The only way that you can be sure that everyone is on the same page and is clear about what is expected of them is to write down those expectations and agree to them. That's a list. Whether you call it a to do list, a goals list, or some other name, it's a written agreement of the activities that have to take place to move that department/company forward.

You can tell whether someone is doing what is expected by checking off the items on that list. Does it have to be the minutae? No. However, expectations, milestones, meeting action items, etc. must be written and agreed to. This is step one in management.It's how you hold everyone (including yourself) accountable.

The easy part of to do lists is writing the list. The hard part is making sure that everything on the list gets done. As the business owner you are responsible for oversight. That means consistently reviewing the action items and making sure that the people you have assigned the activities do are actually implementing them.

Sometimes you’ll get frustrated at the seemingly lack of progress. Other times completion of the tasks will go very fast. Still other times when the behavior changes for a few days or weeks with the employees’ expectations that this is something new and won’t last for long. They will bear the changes until you forget to ask for something, get too busy to check, and things will slowly return to the way they were.

So, from my perspective you need a list. The list holds yourself accountable. It holds your managers and the people who work for the managers accountable too. It’s uncomfortable to be held accountable. However, it is necessary if you are going to operate a successful company with successful managers.

What do you think?