Following Uncommon Practice

"What does the survey say?"

This is a common question, and one that Human Resource practitioners hear all the time.  Whatever the issue might be in the office, the boss usually comes around to ask, "what is everyone else doing?"

It could be regarding the value of your jobs, through competitive market pricing, or wondering about common practice benefit provisions or even how other organizations handle various HR policies.  But the theme remains the same; the questioner wants to know about "common practice."   What is everyone else doing?  Why do they ask?  Because they want to do that too?  Because they want to follow everyone else?

I guess we're all too accustomed to pushing that EASY button.

Why We Want To Know

There's a natural curiosity to learn what everyone else is doing when we face an issue that is important to our business.  I get that.  Maybe you don't need to reinvent the wheel, especially if others have already completed the work for you.  So the thinking goes, grab the benefit of someone else's research and tag along, going with the flow.   Common practice suggests the popular answer, and it's hard to offer criticism for doing what everyone else is doing.

It can also be considered a mistake if you don't know the common practice answer.  Because how can you make a decision without knowing?  Your analysis would be incomplete.

At the same time it's a natural defensive mechanism to point fingers at the "market" or a "most companies" comment and say, "see, others with the same challenges as we have are doing the following."  The reporting of survey results doesn't require creative thinking, risk taking or even sticking your neck out by recommending an original thought.  It's a silent recommendation that you can offer without comment.

Marching To The Beat Of A Different Drummer

But have you forgotten something important in the rush to follow along?  Have you considered what may be the unique (or perhaps merely uncommon) circumstances within your organization, the nature of your own employees, your own situation?  Are you a boiler plate organization with only the same challenges and circumstances as everyone else?  Is the answer to your particular challenge(s) to be found simply by recommending what everyone else is doing?  But wouldn't that tactic really become the absence of decision-making?  The abrogation of responsibility?  Passing the buck?

Is it your intent, or just happenstance, that you decide to let someone else, someone from outside your organization make key decisions for you?  And make no mistake, tagging along is a decision, in the sense that even non-judgments eventually turn into a course of action.

And if you're challenged to explain your actions?  The lament of "I'm just doing what everyone else is ," doesn't sound like an effective rationale, does it?  Probably isn't what senior management is expecting from you.

What Do You Think?

Following another's footsteps  does seem to be the safe approach, though.  It's likely the path of least criticism, at least in the short term.  At least until that common practice answer that seems to works for everyone else ultimately doesn't work quite as well for you.

It's easy to deflect criticism of your recommendations by pointing to "common practice."  You're not sticking your neck out, you're not advocating something different.  You're reporting on the activities of other organizations, ones who seem to already know the answer.

So while it's always a useful strategy to know the common practice that covers  your particular challenge, have a care to look outside the box as well.  Sometimes that survey you rely on provides only anecdotal information, while a more viable solution lies in understanding your organization's particular dynamics;  the culture, the politics, management biases, what has been tried before and whether what everyone else is doing makes common sense for you as well.

So whatever your recommended course of action might be, make sure that your rationale includes more thought than simply following the leader.  That's a child's game, and may not be a career enhancing move for you.

Chuck Csizmar CCP is founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  Chuck is a broad based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a brood of cats. 

Creative Commons image courtesy of Cyron

Comments

[Jacque Vilet]

Agree Chuck. Can say the same for "best practices". It depends . . .

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Surveys are observations rather than prescriptive recommendations. At least, that's what they SHOULD be, for the intelligent user who wishes context for their most appropriate choice of options. It helps to know what others are doing, so you can either catch up or speed ahead to join that top percentile of best-practice pioneers rather than the median/average SSDD folks stuck at the indifferently performing middle range "common" practice level. Without external references, you operate in ignorance of other options and won't know where you stand.

If everyone followed the average, rates wouldn't change except to move closer to the average and you could use the exact same survey for decades. The existence of leaders and laggards and those who take the path less trod make comparative reality different every time you look at it. Surveys are simply tools that don't imply direction. Using a compass doesn't always require going North.