Don’t Apply Until You Modify—Best Practices

What crosses your mind when you hear the term, best practices?

Do you say, “This is what I’ve been waiting for, or do you ask yourself, best practices for who?"

If you asked yourself the second of the two questions, you’re on to something. That’s not to say that the practices are not the best. They may not be the best for you, at least right now. They may have the potential to work for you, but not if you apply them before you modify them.

Why modify?

Because of the range of variables that separate your organization from the organization where the practices originated, you must modify them before you apply them.

Also, before you apply those practices, you must consider the differences in your business operations, your team, your customers/constituents, and the resources at your disposal. Moreover, you do not know what the originators of the best practices invested into designing, developing, and implementing those practices.

If you don’t believe me, ask the amateur athletes who try to execute the moves they see on TV without practice.