This step involves finding best-in-class solutions from a variety of sources, both internal and external to your company. Your company's SOPs constitute a tremendous resource (hopefully available on your intranet) available to and from employees in all of your sites and regions. Success stories contained in newsletters and award presentations are another internal source. Good sources for external searches can involve newsletters and journals, business contacts, trade shows and workshops, new hires, "boomerang" employees." [6] and outsourcing contacts." [7] If you start looking for best practices, your search will certainly pay off." [8]

This is a critical but essential step, though it is heavily dependent on the specific situation and people involved. On the one hand is the tendency to assume "the way we've always done it is the best." On the other hand is the equally questionable assumption, "it must be better because it's new." [9]

Measurements help to eliminate this kind of subjectivity. Does the department already engaged in the practice have higher productivity, less downtime, more rapid customer response, or fewer reworks than the same department at another site that has not adopted it? The evidence should be compelling that the payback of the change will be much greater than its costs. And once a practice is validated as "best" it needs to be publicized. This will encourage others not only to adopt it, but to come forward with best practices of their own.

The practice has to be documented (usually in an SOP), and usually someone already engaged in the practice should be involved in training others. During the implementation step, team members should be looking to adapt the practice to local needs and varying circumstances, as well as analyzing opportunities for improvements.

A note of caution: Although "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," copying someone else's success does not always work. As David Bracken, director of Mercer Delta Consulting, put it, "I have always been skeptical about taking tools designed in one setting and using them in another organization ... more often than not attempts at 'copying' are doomed to failure." [10]

Not only might the copied practice suffer from "copy-of-a-copy" degradation, but the people on whom the practice is imposed might very well lack the motivation of the group that developed and implemented the practice in the first place.

Once a best practice has been plugged in, it should be reviewed from time to time. All processes-even the best ones-grow stale over time, and what is "best" now may not remain "best" for long. As one study noted, "'best' is a moving target in today's world." [11]

Making a best practice into a standard practice is what the transfer process is all about. Successful adoption means that a best practice has become incorporated into the culture of what it means to do business with your company. What was once above the ceiling now becomes the floor upon which we stand to reach even higher.

Beyond best practices

Identifying, evaluating, adopting or adapting, implementing, reviewing, and routinizing best practices can lead to marked improvements in the way you do business. This strategy can help you to be more efficient, improve your profitability, eliminate mistakes, and most importantly, raise the level of your service to the external customer even higher.

There is a proviso, however. Peter Skarzynski and Peter Williamson of Strategos warn that all of this adopting of best practices can lead to what they call "strategic convergence," a phenomenon in which each competitor within an industry moves its practices and procedures closer and closer to those of its rivals. Their survey of more than 500 CEOs indicates that such convergence is actually taking place in many industries. Its eventual result would be the elimination of virtually everything that distinguishes one competitor from another. [12]

Their solution? Innovation! The company that devotes itself to innovation will always be able to differentiate itself from its competition. They offer ten rules on how to innovate successfully in their article, "Innovation as Revolution." [13]

Another important caveat is that sharing best practices is not the only tool you have to achieve excellence. Of even greater importance are your people. You must continue to hire people with great attitudes and then provide them with the training they need to be experts at their job. Then you need to re-recruit them so that they will stay with the company. This re-recruiting process involves making your company the "employer of choice" by having great managers, a great working environment, and great benefits. [14] The best people-your employees-will drive your best practices, speeding you ahead in your Quality Journey. Your company's search for best practices Your company should be pro-active in its search for best practices. The main points of the program should include:

• Internal search ? Researching best practices should start with what is already being done internally, concentrating on improving perceived weaknesses.
  
  
• Sharing of information ? News about best practices should be disseminated throughout your company by department managers' meetings and senior managers' meetings, the publishing of SOPs on your intranet, employee newsletter and e-mail announcements, employee meetings, and as many other methods as you can devise.
  
  
• Corporate and management support ? The capture and transfer of best practices should be supported by your board of directors and senior managers by promoting the development of SOPs throughout the company, encouraging alignments, and proactively supporting all quality initiatives. Corporate support must also be strong to make improvements through identifying and implementing best practices.

An ongoing quest

Your search for best practices must be continual, as you strive to strengthen what is weak, make what is good even better, and plug in what is best. You should also seek ways to adapt practices regarded as "best-in-class" to new situations and circumstances. The overall direction of your improvement journey is away from isolation toward interconnectedness, away from the static toward the dynamic, and away from top-down management toward the empowerment of all employees. You should make measurable progress in all three of these aspects; enlisting the cooperation of all employees will ensure that such progress accelerates.

Copyright ©2005 Steve Singleton, All rights reserved.

Notes

Steve Singleton is Communications Coordinator for a financial printing company. His Bible study website is at http://www.DeeperStudy.org.