An Introduction To Best Practices

The term best practices has been bandied about over the years as the cure for all business ailments. In fact, many people are turned off by the many best practices concepts offered as solutions to problems. In helping clients improve their business practices and become competitive, past experience has shown a deep desire by clients for practical solutions that the workforce can easily relate to. This approach to best practices considers work to be the reason for existence ( raison d tre), with all other business elements in a support role. Clients who embrace best practices concepts need to take their business from reactive work through the phase of proactive work with a vision of achieving optimized work. While these states of the work environment are typical, it is important to note that some companies may be able to identify with certain elements of all three states but a clear dominance in one particular area. These phases in the quest for excellence are shown in Figure 2.1 and are discussed in detail below (see also Table 2.1.)

Figure 2.1: Best Work Practices.