16 January 2026
As a strategist, you need to use checklists effectively. Checklists help you identify areas of weakness, gaps and requirements and can be applied in many ways, such as conducting a health check of your strategy or reviewing your implementation plan. They help you determine which areas need attention and uncover gaps that must be addressed.
The use of checklists extends across multiple disciplines, from quality management to risk management. They are widely used in many industries, especially in healthcare, where they are essential in conducting surgical procedures.
In highly sophisticated and complex industries, such as the space industry, checklists are critical when sending a human to the moon or launching a satellite.
A powerful example of this concept is presented in Atul Gawande’s book The Checklist Manifesto. In this book, Gawande explains how checklists can be applied across various industries. As a surgeon, he relied heavily on checklists to reduce errors and improve outcomes, saving more lives.
Checklists provide a simplified, systematic approach to focusing on the areas you need to address. They create structure, clarity, and discipline.
Besides its professional application, we usually use checklists in everyday life, such as creating a supermarket list or a travel checklist.
To conclude, a checklist helps us quickly identify the important items that need to be completed and verify that all necessary actions required. In both cases, the use of checklists helps you close gaps and avoid oversight.
In strategy, the same principle applies: clarity, discipline, and completeness.
