The Value of Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Quarterly Checklists

Do you get frustrated that at times your team doesn’t seem to be communicating on who is doing what? Have you ever expected something to be done daily only to find it didn’t? Do you feel there is confusion on daily versus weekly activities, let alone monthly and quarterly.

Enter the value of a checklist. A checklist can quickly bring order to chaos on a person’s primary duties. A good checklist can also establish routines… routines that can be batched in terms of daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly duties.

Here are a few examples of different duties by time frame.

Quarterly Duties.

With quarterly duties we are often looking at the bigger picture. Looking at the aggregate of data to analyze and make decisions.

A big category here are things like feedback reviews for teams and performance reviews for individuals.

We also look at elements that change as the business changes, like reviewing key performance indicators (KPIs). The 90-day mark gives and opportunity to assess how is this individual helping the business move forward, helping meet the goals of the company. A checklist with elements like these under Quarterly Duties gives us a reminder to ask these questions and review data.

Quarterly Duties Checklist: KPI Tracking & Team Reviews

You’ve probably heard the term “monthly reports”, and with good reason. 30 days is a great time frame to gather data and then compile and assess what the numbers are telling us. Almost every position should have some data that they’re tracking on a daily, weekly, or monthly component and listing which reports to run at the end of the month can serve as a great reminder to us to evaluate the data.

What are some other key tasks that they need to get done every month that is less urgent, but still important. Often this can include things like ensuring data is still accurate like employee info or time off spreadsheets or perhaps vendor info.

Weekly Tasks

Weekly tasks are things that might not need to be done every day, but have a need for regular data or information to be updated or checked. For instance, this is where we may be updating spreadsheets, conveying pieces of information or handling requests or complaints that come in.

Daily Tasks

Daily checklists allow you to feel productive and precise on tasks that must be completed every 24 hours. These lists allow you the opportunity to be very clear with your expectations on what you need to happen daily. Do you or your team need to check your inbox? Do they need to re-prioritize their deadline list? Do they need to make sure that they get certain elements in or communicate with different people on the team?

As we build the checklist, we want it easy for the user to glide through the list. By making it easier to run their finger down the checklist and confirm they have accomplished all their tasks, the greater likelihood they will celebrate rather than be frustrated.

For example, by training the team to get all their tasks done by say noon or 1pm, you are helping set them up for success. We want them to recognize that they completed their tasks for the day. It should be a point of celebration, so they enjoy their workplace, love what they do, and that they’re not frustrated. They can then spend the next 3-4 hours feeling awesome and being uber productive and going above and beyond.

So let’s train the team to nail those tasks in the morning, get them done, and then work on bigger projects that are going to help them thrive on the weekly task list, so that by Thursday they’ve already rocked that list as well and feel productive.

Checklists are a great mechanism for creating clarity, but they are also a key to setting a culture of completion and celebrating success. At it’s heart, it is all about the way we orchestrate and give them the confidence to get things done. That is the value of a daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly checklist.