"What’s best practice?” Just about any manager seeking to improve corporate performance has fielded this question from leadership. The theory is that the manager should find a successful company, find out what practices have made them successful, mimic those practices, and expect success.
However, blindly worshiping at the altar of best practices is dangerous. The problem is that practices that work incredibly well in one circumstance can be ill-suited for another circumstance. Even if your company has successfully overcome a problem in the past, it is always worth asking if the circumstances have changed in a way that means your approach needs to change as well.
Read the rest at Scott's Harvard Management blog, Innovation Insights.