Why did the new process work in one place and not another?

2026-11-08 · Justin Engel, Driven Intent

You can roll out a new process, one that fixes a glaring problem or weakness, and still watch it go nowhere, and most of us have seen it.

What the research found

In an eight-hospital study, deaths fell after a checklist or new process was implemented, and each site had a local lead and hospital backing. When one province later required the same checklist everywhere, no significant drop appeared. The form alone isn't what makes it work.

Haynes et al. (2009); Urbach et al. (2014)

What this means on a Monday

In my view, a new process needs an owner who is also a champion and has a stake in seeing it successfully used. That is why every change in Initiative Playbook has a named owner and a decision at the end.

Try this Monday: pick one new process your team has started that nobody owns, put a name on it, and set a date to look at whether it is being used.

What new process does your team have that nobody owns?