DailyPost 1586
ARE BEST PRACTICES NOT BEST FOR US!
In whatever profession you are in, the day you set your foot of professional buoyancy, the first jargon which would hit you is Best Practices. If the best practices which are so duly codified, supposedly and which we vouch for, then why results have not been so transformative. Then the question that comes to the fore are those practices best for us or have been transplanted for a reason or we don’t the wherewithal to adopt, implement or execute it. Or is it the same story of foreign consultants whose technical advise are often dictated by the economic interests of the advanced countries and not by the needs / ground realities of the developing nation.
We have been made to believe that the best practices are global and that geographical and sectoral intelligence and practices does not matter. The best best practice that has been sold the world over, is the business of best practices. The best practices also get further codified in couple of universally recognised certifications; may it be project management or security audit to name a few. What they have done to the trade with these blindfolded certifications is for us suffer and also pay for it. The added disadvantage is that the persons who have those certifications start believing that they are custodians of all knowledge in that area.
Even if go with the universal applicability of Best Practices, we would like to know how do these come into existence? Is is just a result of some research work or even worse the findings of the some survey? The purpose, logic and methodology all remain unknown. The process never gets validated. The fellow who creates this hogwash would give some process and mechanism which can impress an average professional, unaware of the machinations of the day and slowly it gets into circulation. It might then become the talk of the industry and over a period of time become the norm.
Sometimes just the opinions across geographies and industries are claimed to be best practices. Best practice is specific to the organisation, seeped in its culture, synthesised with the times and also the geography. Best practices are generally flaunted as a magic wand to relieve you of all pain of imagination, creating a blueprint, execution and practice. It’s high time we had a body for it, that would put a process in place for its selection and also would indicate and comment on its applicability. The ground conditions required for this purpose also needs prescribed.
CAN SOMEBODY ELSE’s BEST PRACTICES BE THE BEST FOR YOU?