checklist – From the desk of Adam Thomas

The fastest way to demoralize a team is not to trust it

Creating a culture of distrust is easy.

Here is a mini checklist that can hurt everyone on the team:

Micromanage – Badger them with email, slam them with tiny tasks, give them SUPER detailed instructions, etc.
Break boundaries – Tell them to stay late and not offer anything, check their emails, comment on their personal situation, etc.
Don’t Communicate – Don’t say why, “just start,” don’t offer your ear to listen, etc.

Each of those things is a shortcut to getting something done. Control is easier than challenging.

The drawback is they destroy someone’s sanity.

Instead of feeling wanted and productive, people feel disconnected. They act like a statistic because you are treating them like one.

Resist the urge. Culture quickly spreads and as a result, negative defaults rapidly happen.

Trust is easy to lose and hard to gain.

I love checklists.

How easy is it to follow through when you don’t have to use any mental overhead to remember?

That’s why I love checklists. They eliminate “mental overhead” (energy spent maintaining your head space) by giving you a place to hold information in a static way.

This is important because our brain isn’t a computer, and things slip through the cracks. The list we hold in our head is dynamic because we are. Writing them down keeps them static. (Things being static isn’t always a bad thing…)

Knowing that, have you thought about having a list that you say “no” to?

The concept exists, and it’s called a “not-to-do list.”

The idea is simple: write down the things you don’t do. Keep it around to remind you to save yourself from the “mental overhead.” This way, you will hold yourself accountable to this way of doing things so it becomes native to you.