Be original
Associations love to copy the work of other individuals and organizations. Best practices are a big thing in our community, probably because the scarcity and constraints culture of associations leads us to conclude that best practices will be easier to implement and more cost effective over time. Unfortunately for us, there is overwhelming evidence that you cannot and will not build a truly great and successful organization simply by copying others. True success and true greatness come from daring to do what others can’t do or won’t try.
Personally, I loathe best practices, but I do recognize that some people like them, so I’ll hold off on further critique for now. But I still would like to challenge those association leaders enamored with best practices to consider the truly radical and counterintuitive notion of not duplicating what others do before first. Instead, be original. Rather than constantly “tweaking” someone else’s existing solutions to your context, open yourself up to fresh, different and even plainly absurd ways of thinking. (In this vein, remember the words of Albert Einstein, “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.”) Take the time to consider the unique and creative contribution you, your team and your organization can make to addressing both new and long-standing challenges in surprising ways.
Best practices stifle meaningful innovation and embrace status quo thinking. (Oh, did I write that out loud?…;>)) But I know I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know. Leadership isn’t about driving our associations down toward the lowest common denominator. Haven’t we had enough of that? Genuine leadership values and demands authenticity, creativity and originality in the work of every contributor and from the organization as a whole. Seize the opportunity to become a true pioneer, and let the laggards copy you. Before long, they will be eating your dust!
I’m in the information technology part of the association business. I think looking to best practices is simply another way of saying, “Let’s investigate what others have done in this space.” Sometimes it saves you from having to re-invent the wheel. Sometimes it validates a direction you’ve come up with on your own.
There are some people who are not real good “original thinkers.” If we wait for them to come up with a solution, we’d be waiting a long time. Investigating the results of other thinkers’ successes is a way to get some traction.
Carrie, thanks for your comment. I completely understand what you’re saying and empathize with your view. The problem is that while we may start out thinking we’re going to use best practices from other organizations in this way, we often simply use them as templates for our own work. Duplication will not drive our success over the long term.
I have no problem with learning from the experiences of others. But we don’t really learn anything when we look to others for answers. We need to be willing to discover what’s works in our unique context to say we’ve really learned.
[...] my own attack on best practices is Jeff De Cagna. A few years ago, he wrote a great blogpost called Be Original. It’s aimed at non-profit professional associations but the core of his message applies [...]