Process is important. It provides useful and relevant guidance on how to get things done. And yet process can also be a crutch, particularly when we presume the real world works exactly as the process prescribes. For process to be useful, then, we need to rethink how we relate to process.

There is a subset of the population that is in love with the idea of “best practices.” It is incredibly appealing to believe that there is one right way of doing things. Simply calling something “best practice” is to implicitly make it unassailable. And yet how we think about best practices says a lot more about the person that it does about the practice.

Culture change is hard. And we would prefer not to deal with the hard stuff. All too often, we want to be able to define what we expect, and have behaviours and culture norms to line up behind that. Sadly, it doesn’t work that way. Cultural transition is possible, but process doesn’t drive culture. Although culture will determine what process is possible.

Beliefs and principles are useful. They guide us when we are dealing with unknowns and uncertainty. They also get in the way, because they blind us to being aware of when they stop working. This is particular true of process, where ideology often gets in the way of adaptation and a recognition of what works here (or what won’t).

While models can be awesomely useful, they are ultimately just constructs that were created because they were relevant to someone at some point. What’s more important is understanding where our models come from in the first place: how they are created, how they evolve and what they connect back to. We forget their underpinnings at our peril. But unfortunately we do that a little too often.

We fall in love with our models, our processes and our standards. They’re helpful when they help us to make sense of the world, but they can also get in the way. What we sometimes forget is that they were all invented to provide a perspective on a problem. That means we can change them, adapt them, evolve them and dispense with them when they stop providing value.

Culture matters. That might seem obvious to say, but we tend to ignore that when it comes to process design and organizational change. We can see that when implementing process, what works depends upon context. But the challenge is reading context accurately, and making appropriate choices that work. We need to lead with culture and follow with practice, not the other way around.

Getting process right is hard. While we might know what not to do, identify what to do is challenging and difficult. In a world where we accept that the right answer to process is “it depends,” we need to get clear and specific about how we can figure out what it depends on. Identify the questions to ask and the approach to take is challenging. Following it is even harder. Doing both is essential.

Process needs to work. To work, it needs to be relevant. That means that what we implement needs to be contextually appropriate, relevant and accepted. Cookie-cutter solutions don’t work here. What works depends. But the real question is, “what does it depend on?”

I’m a process geek. You might safely assume, then, that I would be a fan of “best practices.” You would be very wrong. Best practices generally aren’t. Unlike the promised intent, there is usually more than one best way to proceed in a given situation. We ignore that at our peril.