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<v Speaker 1>Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of

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<v Speaker 1>performance through strong human relations, team building, and Goala giving.

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<v Speaker 1>This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host

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<v Speaker 1>Paul Fellovaledo.

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<v Speaker 2>Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>It's episode three twenty five, and let's talk about cheat sheets.

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<v Speaker 2>Not the kind that you used in high school when

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<v Speaker 2>you forgot to study. I'm talking about the kind that

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<v Speaker 2>high performers use every day to eliminate guestwork, reduce errors,

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<v Speaker 2>and stay consistent. As a leader, you're surrounded by recurring tasks.

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<v Speaker 2>The daily grind of leadership often includes a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>rinse and repeat type of work. Whether it's onboarding new

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<v Speaker 2>team members, running a morning huddle, checking vehicles, or doing

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<v Speaker 2>a pre shift report. These things pop up again and again,

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<v Speaker 2>and if you're like me, you've probably realized there's no

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<v Speaker 2>honor in winging it. There's only chaos. And that's why

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<v Speaker 2>I create cheat sheets for my staff. Let me give

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<v Speaker 2>you a few examples. At my ambulance service, I've built

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<v Speaker 2>cheat sheets for my EMTs and paramedics. We've got one

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<v Speaker 2>for medication calculations. Because the last thing you want in

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<v Speaker 2>a high stress situation is to stop and do long

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<v Speaker 2>division in your head. We've got another one for truck

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<v Speaker 2>checks so our crews never miss a piece of equipment

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<v Speaker 2>before a shift. And we even have a cheat sheet

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<v Speaker 2>with all of the hospital er door codes on them

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<v Speaker 2>so that our teams aren't fumbling with locked doors while

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<v Speaker 2>trying to deliver a patient to the emergency room. In

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<v Speaker 2>those little sheets, they've saved us time, prevented mistakes, and

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<v Speaker 2>made our people a little more confident. And this doesn't

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<v Speaker 2>just apply to ems, it's everywhere. I am also a pilot.

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<v Speaker 2>When I fly, I have cheat sheets for glide distance

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<v Speaker 2>based on my altitude and air speed in case I

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<v Speaker 2>have an engine failure, one for a pre flight inspection,

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<v Speaker 2>and several others for aeronautical rules and emergency procedures. These

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<v Speaker 2>aren't optional for me, they're mandatory because in the air,

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<v Speaker 2>clarity keeps you alive. Leadership is the same way you

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<v Speaker 2>can't afford to guess your way through key decisions, and

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<v Speaker 2>your team shouldn't be relying on memory or experience alone

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<v Speaker 2>for important, repeatable tasks. That's not scalable, it's not sustainable,

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<v Speaker 2>and it's just not smart. So here's why cheat sheets matter.

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<v Speaker 2>Number one, they create consistency. No matter who's doing the job,

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<v Speaker 2>the outcome stays the same. They reduce cognitive load. Your

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<v Speaker 2>brain only has so much bandwidth, save it for bigger problems,

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<v Speaker 2>and they improve on board. New employees get up to

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<v Speaker 2>speed faster when they have something clearer to follow, and

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<v Speaker 2>they eliminate gaps in performance. Ever had someone say, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>I didn't know I was supposed to do that. A

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<v Speaker 2>cheat sheet makes that excuse impossible. So what kind of

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<v Speaker 2>cheat sheets should you be creating in your world? Well,

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<v Speaker 2>if you're in public safety, maybe, like I said, it's

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<v Speaker 2>an ambulance checklist, call out procedures, or post incident debrief

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<v Speaker 2>types of templates. If you're in business, it could be

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<v Speaker 2>sales calls, client onboarding, project handoff procedures, or quarterly report preparation.

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<v Speaker 2>Even in personal leadership, you can cheat sheet your morning routine,

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<v Speaker 2>your weekly goal review, or your monthly budget breakdown. So

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<v Speaker 2>let's be clear, creating a cheat sheet doesn't mean you're

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<v Speaker 2>lazy or that your people can't think. It means you

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<v Speaker 2>care about precision, you care about quality, and you understand

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<v Speaker 2>that even the best athletes still use a playbook. So

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<v Speaker 2>here's your challenge for this week, Take fifteen minutes and

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<v Speaker 2>build one cheat sheet for a task that you or

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<v Speaker 2>your team do more than once a week. Keep it simple,

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<v Speaker 2>make it easy to follow and share it. Leadership isn't

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<v Speaker 2>about remembering everything. It's about building systems that work even

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<v Speaker 2>when you're tired, distracted, or even out of the office.

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<v Speaker 2>If it matters, cheat sheet it. This has been a

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<v Speaker 2>seven minute leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.

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<v Speaker 1>For more, Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.