The Threat of Best Practices
Best practices are, well, best . . . until they're not.
How can best practices be a threat to good strategy? Aren’t they the result of a large number of organizations independently converging on and continually refining the best solutions? Isn’t that what makes best practices, “best”?
The problem is that organizations often follow practices and rules without really understanding why they’re following them, beyond popularity or appearance of success.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t take the standards of our industry or field seriously, or that we can’t make progress by integrating their best practices into our organization’s work.
Yet as I discovered the hard way early in my career, efficiency and imitation, even of the best, only get us so far. We won’t succeed simply by optimizing the status quo.
In these 5-minute episodes of The Successful Strategist, I explore why best practices can – and eventually will – “lead to dead ends,” as Peter Thiel warns. Follow the links to the individual episdoes, and subscribe on any major podcast app.
The Threat of Best Practices (S3:E2)
A Strength Is Not an Advantage (S1:E5)
Peter Thiel on best practices
Today's best practices lead to dead ends; the best paths are new and untried.
Organizations Need Strategy Audits
A large majority of strategic plans at best simply repeat best practices, ensuring that they’re neither “strategic” nor even really “plans.”
My 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 is for those who want 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁, 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀.
A 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁 will allow your organization – for-profit or non-profit – to candidly discuss and rapidly improve your strategic plan, vastly reducing your risk of wasted resources, internal conflict, damage to relationships with investors or donors, and unsustainable service to customers or beneficiaries.
Email me at muncy@prosperallc.com, or click here, for more information.
