You must realize that at some point your best practices will become obsolete. It could be a case of technology changing, the marketplace evolving, or your success resulting in old processes feeling like a shoe that’s suddenly too small.
In any case, you’ll need to change. And yet, many will double down on old best practices simply because they are comfortable. This continues as they experience diminishing returns.
A resistance to change can represent the express lane to failure. What happens is that organizations fail to grow, change, and innovate.
To prevent this downward spiral, consider the fact that tomorrow’s best practices will likely be different from today’s processes. Often they’ll be started by people who might otherwise be considered rebels in your organization.
They are the kind of people who ask, “Why do we do this?” and “What if we changed?” And they may not naturally want to follow all of the rules.
To those who oppose change, these are radical thoughts and unwelcome questions. But these rebels may discover new truths.
For example, there was a time when documents were either mailed or sent by courier to a business. One day, someone decided to take advantage of a new machine, called the fax, to carry out this task.
This was a game changer for businesses that were open to trying something new. The process continued when the same document sharing could be handled through the Internet.
In the early days of faxes, I’m sure there were those who were resistant to the change. Eventually, they came around to the new best practice but perhaps not before they lost some business due to a slower process.
You want innovation and new ideas but first you must create a culture where people are free to ask, “What if?” Do people on your team have time to innovate and explore new ideas? And will you consider them or reconsider them, should some variable change?
While it’s good to have a team that’s agreeable to your views, you also want some who think differently than the rest. Even a new idea that doesn’t work can teach an important lesson.
Encourage, supervise, and honor your rebels.
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