Never Settle For Best Practice

Everyone wants the best. In life, as we make our choices, we always seek to make the "best" one. Nobody ever sets out to make a mediocre choice. So it's easy to understand why companies are drawn to the idea of identifying and promulgating their "Best Practices" to everyone. But who is really deciding what is "best"?

More often than not, "Best Practices" are not really what's "best-" they're what is most common or what was designed. For example, many times "Best Practice" is determined by the project team that created the process. They lay out the detailed steps for implementation and label it "Best Practice" to keep everyone in compliance. But this has no bearing on if it's really the "best" way to do a task- it's just a way to keep everyone playing by the rules. Other times, "Best Practice" is determined by looking at high performers and finding their common or repeatable methods. But again, this is not necessarily "best" because often the really special techniques are left out since they aren't repeatable. And in either case, the determination of what is "best" is left to the discretion of who is measuring and how they are measuring. It's all very subjective but it's also dangerous.

See, the word "best" has a very special meaning- it's the pinnacle, the peak, the definition of perfection. Once you have the best, you'll never settle for anything else. And that's the problem with "Best Practice;" it dissuades the very innovation that created it.

Once we have a "Best Practice" we stop trying to improve; we stop trying to innovate; we start simply playing by the rules. Why create a new practice if we already have the "best?" Once that mindset sinks in, we stop being great and start settling for being the "best."

The simple truth is that any effective practice has it's merit and should be encouraged. And instead of working to rule by "best practice" we should focus on collaborating all our effective practices so that we are constantly getting better. Let "best" be a journey, and not a destination.