Who wants to adopt ‘best practice’? Everyone! So what is ‘best practice’? That’s a bit harder, isn’t it? Paul Rogers explores the issues raised while buying some expensive new sports shoes and waving palm fronds at clouds.
‘Cargo cult’ thinking
During World War II, allied forces in parts of Melanesia built airstrips on remote islands, bringing in cargo like food, equipment and medicine. On some smaller islands, the local people had never seen airstrips, aeroplanes or control towers, but they enjoyed the Hershey Bars and the other goodies shared by the troops.
When the war ended and the military left, the cargo stopped arriving. Some islanders, believing the goods had been sent by ancestral spirits and delivered by planes, began re-enacting what they had seen the soldiers do. They built makeshift airstrips, control towers and even wooden aircraft. They wore imitation uniforms and waved palm fronds to mimic ground traffic controllers in the hope that the planes (and the cargo) would return.
The idea that replicating behaviours might also reproduce outcomes is a metaphor for some contemporary consulting practices.
When organisations imitate surface-level practices of successful companies without understanding the underlying structures, culture or conditions that made those practices effective, this is ‘cargo-cult’ thinking. It is copying the symptoms of success without understanding the drivers of success.
If you’ve worked in procurement or contract management, you’ve likely heard the phrase ‘best practice’ thrown around like confetti at a wedding. Consultants love it. Executives quote it. Teams are tasked to implement it…but it’s worth asking: Is there really such a thing as ‘best practice’?
Can we take the ESG framework of a government department and transplant it into a small not-for-profit and expect similar outcomes? Can the same procure-to-pay solution that worked in a mining giant work in a FMCG company? Should they even try?
Let’s explore both sides of the argument; the appeal of transplanting successful models from one organisation to another and the pitfalls of copying without understanding because, as we’ll see, context is everything.
The case FOR borrowing from the best
Let’s start with the obvious. Of course it makes sense to look to high-performing organisations for inspiration. Why reinvent the wheel?
Learning from success: If an organisation has demonstrably improved service delivery, reduced procurement lead times or cracked collaborative contract management, there’s real value in studying what they did. Not to copy blindly but to understand the mechanisms behind their success.
Shortening the learning curve: Adopting proven frameworks can save time and money. Whether it’s category management models, supplier scorecards or SRM practices, there’s no shame in standing on the shoulders of giants.
Avoiding known pitfalls: Best practice isn’t just about what to do. It’s also about what to avoid. If five other organisations tried and failed to implement a contract automation tool without change management support, that’s a valuable insight.
Benchmarking and confidence building: It can be hard to drive change internally without external references. Demonstrating that similar organisations have succeeded with a specific procurement governance model can create momentum, especially in risk-averse environments.
Encouraging innovation: Sometimes, seeing what’s possible can inspire a rethink of what your own team could achieve. If they succeeded with an AI-assisted review of contracts, perhaps we might too?
There are examples where ‘copy and adopt‘ works, for example simple procurement tools or invoice automation platforms, especially when organisational maturity levels are similar. But ‘copy and adapt‘ is more likely to be successful. Let’s explore why.
The case AGAINST copy-and-paste practices
Imagine if I told you that I was going to buy some Air Jordan basketball shoes, join a local basketball club and see if I could break into the team.
What would you say to me? Probably something along the lines of “Paul, there’s a lot more to being successful at basketball than wearing some brand-name shoes! Just because you’ve got Air Jordans on doesn’t mean that you’re going to play like Michael Jordan!”
And that’s the truth, isn’t it? Some of these ‘best practices’ only work in the organisations that developed them and, even then, only for a while. Why?
Cultural mismatch: A decentralised procurement model with strong category leads and empowered stakeholders might thrive in an entrepreneurial culture but fall flat in a top-down bureaucratic organisation. People don’t change their working styles overnight because a new process chart is featured in a change management presentation.
Different objectives: Some organisations pursue procurement as a lever for innovation or sustainability. Others are focused purely on cost control. The same practices won’t serve both objectives equally.
Varying maturity levels: A supplier risk framework that works in a mature organisation with a decade of clean spend data won’t work in a business that still relies on spreadsheets and informal approvals. Trying to jump straight to ‘stage-four maturity’ without passing through stages one to three may create confusion and resistance.
Heritage and baggage matter: Organisational DNA is real. A procurement process built on collaborative engagement in a values-led organisation may not survive contact with a company that sees suppliers purely as cost centres. Practices evolve in response to an organisation’s history and the stories stakeholders recount.
People and politics: Success or failure can come down to personalities, power structures and invisible dynamics. A framework that works well under one CPO might unravel completely when a new leader arrives.
Contextual risks and opportunities: Practices are often shaped by external factors like market volatility, regulatory pressures or technology infrastructure. What works in MBIE in New Zealand may not translate to a regional council in Queensland.
Conclusion: There is no single playbook
Copying the visible artefacts of successful organisations, like governance charters or procurement playbooks, without understanding the less visible foundations is likely to lead to disappointment.
There may be ‘pre-conditions’ for success in those organisations, such as:
- Strong executive support from motivated leaders who provide procurement people with a ‘license to operate’
- Stakeholders who ‘buy in’ to the procurement process because of prior experience or as the legacy of multiple procurement change programs
- A culture of support for organisational goals, rather than narrow departmental priorities
- Robust data which has been cleansed and enhanced over multiple waves of improvement
- Project management offices or other ‘staff’ functions that support good practice and which are critical to implementation
Some people (cough, consultants) who advance ‘world’s best practice’ may overlook these subtleties. That’s not to say they’re all ‘snake-oil salespeople’. They may bring genuine insights, but there is no shortcut to excellence. Before rolling the dice, ask yourself:
- Does this approach fit our strategic priorities?
- Are we culturally ready to adopt this?
- What would need to change in our systems, incentives or leadership to make this work?
- What are the unspoken pre-conditions that made this succeed elsewhere and are they present in our organisation?
There’s no such thing as universal best practice. There are only better-informed practices – shaped by context, culture and capability – because copying the form without the function is how we end up with wooden control towers and people waving palm fronds at the sky, but still no Hershey Bars.
