Why You Should Focus On Worst Practices As Well As Best Practices

Best practices. The activities and processes that correlate with success. You should want to migrate them throughout your organization to improve performance and accelerate change.

What do best practices look like? When it comes to organizational change, established best practices include: 1) communicate the “why” of change, not just the “what” and “how”, 2) identify and pursue “quick wins”, and 3) celebrate success. Those are just a few of the things you should do.

Yet best practices are only half the equation.

The other half of the equation is avoiding the activities and processes that correlate with failure. What I call “worst practices.”

And what do those look like? Again, considering organizational change, examples of worst practices include: 1) select a leader who has strong technical skills but poor people skills, 2) provide insufficient resources, and 3) tolerate behaviors that actively oppose the change.

Keep in mind that best practices aren’t simply the opposite of worst practices. While selecting the wrong leader might doom your change initiative to failure, selecting the right leader won’t guarantee success. You need to focus on both. The things you must do to succeed and the things you must not do to avoid failure. Best practices and worst practices.

Here’s a best practice for you: take 90 seconds right now and think about how you can apply this in your organization. Then record a first-step action item and calendar it for follow-up.

The #1 Mistake Every Company Makes When Strategic Planning

Everyone does it.

Every company I have ever consulted with – high-tech, low-tech, service, manufacturing, blue-collar, white-collar, whatever – takes on too much. Too many strategies, too many objectives, too many initiatives, too many projects, too much.

And the consequence? Many of those things fail. Do this repeatedly and you create a track record of failure. An expectation of failure. An acceptance of failure. A culture of failure.

Why do we let this happen? For one, ambition. The reason you and people like you are in leadership roles is because you’ve achieved. You’ve seen the opportunities, pursued them and gotten results. And you’ve seen the challenges, taken action and overcome them. Yet opportunities and challenges are everywhere. Over time you fall into the seductive trap of trying to do it all. Yes, of course it’s all important. But is it all necessary now?

Fortunately, there is a solution.

Focus on the few. The most critical opportunities. The most critical challenges. Don’t get sidetracked by the could-dos or should-dos. Remember that success with strategy is largely determined by what you choose not to focus on. Or, as the great jazz musician Miles Davis once said, “It’s the notes you don’t play that count.”

Here’s the bonus. When you focus on the few you need fewer total resources because you’re not expending them on things you shouldn’t be. Concentrate your resources on what matters most … and then accept no excuses.

I’ve seen it play out many, many times. When you focus on the few, those few things are very likely to get done. That in turn creates a more confident and positive culture. “When we say we’re going to get things done around here, we get them done!”

And what about those things that didn’t make the cut to be one of the few? What happens with them? The reality is that some work will get done with them. But that work can’t be an excuse for not getting the critical few things done.

If you’re like many companies, you’re now into “strategy season” – assessing the strategic landscape and determining your priorities for 2019. The good news is that your competitors are almost certain to take on too much. The question is: will you have the discipline to focus on the few?