Best Practices
…the practice guaranteed to keep you small!
by Gwen McCauley
Eileen and I were in the midst of a coaching conversation when it dawned
on me that it was time to sit down at my trusty keyboard and draw together
my thoughts about the lunacy of pursuing “best practices” in
order to improve the operations of our organizations.
Because Eileen, like many other innovative, in-house thinkers was
in the process of developing a rather advanced case of organizational
concussion from pounding her head into the brick wall of supposed innovation
called “best practices”. Her organization had a severe
problem of long standing duration, so long standing, in fact, that
the problem was structural and systemic. It was so much a part of the
corporate air that she, her colleagues and superiors breathed that
they were barely able to even detect its presence!
Eileen was fortunate in that she had personally sought out an educational
process that had opened her thinking up to a whole new way of considering
the problem and she had an approach that she knew would not only resolve
the existing problem, but was powerful enough to open the door to transforming
her organization. Using herself as a model of what was possible, Eileen
had gotten the attention of a number of people in the organization
who were committed to creating change and who had given her access
to organizational decision makers. She had just completed an extremely
well received presentation where it was clear to all that a revolutionary
pathway to the future had just been provided to them.
And then the deadening “best practices” conversation surfaced:
if this solution held so much potential, who else had adopted it previously?
What other bigger, better, more powerful organizations had already
integrated this approach into their success strategies? Where should
they be looking to help ensure that they implemented a ‘tried
and true’ solution?
What Eileen recognized in an instant was the limitation of those questions.
Based on previous research, it was well known that this organization’s
problem was one that was chronic throughout most large institutions.
There were simply no solutions ‘out there’ that held the
potential of what Eileen was proposing.
And it got Eileen thinking about how seduced we’ve become over
the past couple of decades in our best practice approach to change:
we think we are being innovative and creating more powerful organizational
cultures, when in fact, we are stifling creativity and constantly playing
catch-up when we play the best practices game. Eileen was very mindful
that those companies who create approaches that are then emulated as ‘best
practices’ don’t look to others to resolve their problems.
They develop their own creative solutions. They lead, rather than follow.
They invite creative thought and action on the part of their employees
rather than paying big bucks to consultants who help them with customized “me
too” solutions. They are smart in thought as well as action.
So my invitation to you is to look around and notice if you too have
headed down a path that must lead to nowhere but to dispirited employees
producing declining results. How dumb does your organization need to
become in its search to improve only as far as someone else’s solution
allows? How much of your employees creative genius and desire to contribute
will be left on the sidelines (or eventually be harvested by someone
else when they move on)? When will you develop the will to develop your
own outstanding solutions that are then emulated by others perpetually
committed to playing catch up?
Gwen McCauley is a founding partner of the WEL-Systems® Institute and ProGenerations its operating division specializing in corporate applications. Gwen regularly
delivers workshops and seminars on coaching and professional development. In
her coaching practice she works both with other coaches and with individuals
on diverse topics such as career and life transition, change management,
leadership and personal development. Gwen holds a BA in
Sociology/Anthropology and an MA in Human Systems Intervention. She has
trained in Myers-Briggs, Open Space Technology, Appreciative Inquiry, Total
Quality Management and Generative Leadership. Gwen is a WEL-Systems Educator,
a Quantum TLC™ Facilitator and an NLP Master Practitioner
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