Are best practices obsolete?

There are many ways (some crazier than others) of dividing the human personality into categories or styles. Modern ones (Belbin, Myers-Briggs) are typically based on psychological tests, while ancient ones (Chinese or Western astrology) may be based on the position of the stars, or the shape of the skull.

Although the modern ones are more scientifically respectable than the ancient ones, they are equally subject to the fallacy of fatalism - imagining that we are condemned to remain in a given category. As Shakespeare puts it, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves ...". Finding out your personality type may help you understand why you made certain choices in the past, but doesn't force you to make the same choices in the future.

With that introductory warning about personality types, let me say something about a classification I sometimes find useful - Michael Kirton's distinction between Adapters and Innovators, known as the KAI scale.

Adaptors are the kind of people who say things like this.

• "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
• "No point reinventing the wheel."

Innovators are the kind of people who say things like

• "If it ain't broke, fix it anyway"
• "If it works, it's out of date."
  

Kirton makes three important points. Firstly, this is a spectrum, rather than a simple binary Either/Or. Most of us are somewhere between the two extremes. Secondly, adapters can be just as creative as innovators, but they tend to express their creativity in different ways. And thirdly, the classification is about preference rather than capability - adapters are capable of innovating in a given situation when they choose to do so (and innovators are capable of adapting).

I think Kirton's scale helps to explain the distinction I've been drawing between "best practice" and "next practice". Adapters like to do things better - to take a practice and improve it - to achieve mastery at some "best practice". Innovators like to do things differently - to experiment with "next practice".

I believe that, for various reasons, there is a growing demand for "next practice". If this means a shift from Adapter behaviour towards Innovator behaviour, then a lot of people are going to have to venture outside their comfort zones. But not everyone - the demand for "best practice" isn't going to disappear overnight, and some Adapters will be able remain in their "cylinders of excellence", continuing to develop and deploy their mastery of "best practice". Good luck to them.

Related post: The Corporate Sorting Hat (September 2021)