Genesis Volume 1 Issue 3 June-July 2004
Genesis is the monthly newsletter of Strategenis a change facilitation consultancy. The newsletter is intended to provide a forum for exploration of complexity, leadership, and group dynamics within human systems. It will provide a means to making sense of the emerging understanding about complexity and the practical challenges faced by leaders, teams and communities as they attempt to sustain the capacity to succeed in a dynamic environment.
The name genesis was chosen to the reflect the sense of beginning and emergence from initial conditions. Just as Lorenz explored how the flap of a butterfly wing in Brazil could lead to a tornado in Texas, our goal is that Genesis will create some great conversations
Why Do Best Practices Fail The Innovation Test? by Paul Mackey © Strategenis Print Friendly?
As knowledge workers, we spend a great deal of time, resources, and effort to discover, document, evaluate and share “best practices”. However, we might ask: “ Why bother?” Often, a best practice once shared, is ignored. Even when the best practices are implemented their success is underwhelming. In some cases, organizations adopt practices from “best in class” competitors end up in worse condition than before. Not only the companies, but whole industries can suffer from “bestpractitis” Consider the cell phone carrier industry. Not all companies have the culture, the know-how, or the infrastructure to support a “charge per second” strategy.. Carriers adopting the strategy soon find that their temporary advantage is lost as all the companies in the industry adjust to the new best practice. Worse, those that choose a lowest price per minute strategy, are often leaders in a lemming like race off the edge of a financial cliff! Even the survivors are crippled.
If best practices don't work, why do we spend so much time trying to find them?
We reason:
Why re-invent the wheel?
It's easier to convince decision makers if a “best” practice is proposed as a solution to a problem.
Risk seems lower if others have been successful using the practice.
Our boomers are retiring! We need to document best practices to transfer knowledge to the next generation.
Our vision is to be best in class! In a game of survival of the fittest shouldn't we copy the strategies of the fit?
Why “best practices” are NOT always best
Its Not Invented Here: People resist best practices because of INIH – The reality is that best practices are not best for everyone. They need to be adapted to the uniqueness of each organization and to its context. Given that new practices can come from only two sources -either from within your organization of from outside of it. Those that develop within your organizational culture, using your own resources and energies, have an edge in the race to gain acceptance.
Don't call them best: By calling practices “best” you devalue other approaches. This devaluation includes the current approaches used by the people to whom you are trying to sell your “best” practice. Instead of “best” it might be more useful to call the practices “successful” practices. In a small group, it might be something called “The way Mary does it” (Mary is a lot more approachable than a “best practice knowledge asset”
What's up Doc? Documenting best practices is often a waste of time and money. Documents , are often written in a “lessons learned” format which ignores the feelings and concerns which people have when they start a new project. The sense of confusion, anxiety, anticipation, fear, can not be easily addressed in a “best” practice document. It's easier, to ask someone who has similar experience. By talking to people, we share our anxiety, we build a relationship and we establish trust. We feel better served by consulting a doctor, than a document. If the doctor then suggests that we refer to a document, we are more likely to accept that it will apply to our situation. Companies have spent thousands of dollars documenting best practices in data bases which are rarely used. Money which might have been better spent on building relationships - the context for social interaction in which knowledge is shared and learning takes place.
The practice takes practice: Even if one can document the practice, and describe the steps, being best only comes after real practice. Knowledge comes from action and reflection. Consulting the best practice manual on bicycle riding will not teach you how to ride a bicycle.
Best practices fail the innovation test: Imagine if all the companies in an industry copied the best practices of the industry leader. Not only would consumer choice disappear, but the industry itself would change. All companies would be similarly vulnerable to any newcomer who had an innovative idea. While this scenario seems unlikely, it points out that best practices are limited to being the best that is known at the time. New ideas, innovative ideas, are by definition, untested, and different from known practices. Innovation, often grows from failures, from the unexpected results of experimentation from curiosity and a willingness to try something that hasn't been done before. In other words, innovation is beyond the “best”, outside of the current boundaries of known best practices..
With all of these drawbacks, do we abandon the search for best practices? Obviously not. However, I believe that we need to re frame the search. Complexity science shows us that many different survival and growth strategies can be successful, even within the same species. What is “best” is dependent on coherence with context. As context changes, agents and systems need to adapt. Adaptation requires energy. If we can use strategies which have worked for others, we may reduce the energy we need to accomplish some tasks. This could leave us with more energy for experimentation and learning.
If we are to truly build our capacity for change through innovation we need to see “best” as a temporal qualifier, not as a goal. We need to have the courage to take any “best” practice and extend it beyond best through innovation.