Trending
Here’s the problem with copying: Copying skips understanding. Understanding is how you grow. You have to understand why something works or why something is how it is. When you copy it, you miss that. You just repurpose the last layer instead of understanding all the layers underneath. ~ Jason Fried
When did the commoditisation, or even the McDonaldization, of the social sector begin?
If you speak to someone old enough to be still working in the public sector, or living in a housing association home, they will often refer back to a time (1980s to mid 90s) where organisations were rooted more in the community. Less target driven, not so top down, and not as distanced. Not as corporate.
This trend began a couple of decades earlier when the economic downturn of the 1970s led to increased pressure on governments to reduce public spending and improve efficiency. This created a demand for new approaches to public management that could deliver better results with fewer resources.
This was the birth of New Public Management (NPM), which called for a more business-like approach to public services that emphasised performance, accountability, and customer focus.
This further encouraged people to look to the innovative practices from the private sector, a trend that continues to this day with public sector leaders fetishing the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with looking to the private sector for inspiration. Indeed, it’s something I have championed, perhaps sometimes naively.
However the rise of neoliberal ideology, which emphasised market-based solutions and individual responsibility, provided a theoretical framework for the adoption of private sector practices in the public sector, whether or not they were appropriate for a more complex environment.
Where organisations had once been entirely unique , with unique flaws, people starting copying each other, often egged on by regulators and consultants.
For instance, the rise of contact centres and call handling facilities in the early 2000s were meant to transform ‘customer experience’. We were mis-sold though, all contact teams did in the social sector was place a barrier between the people and the people they needed to speak to.
As John Mortimer says in an excellent post, we simply copied from others rather than look for inspiration:
(There is) a very big difference between the concepts and methods of running a factory, to running a bank, to designing and running a public sector organisation. They are VERY different.
And having said all that, there are still principles, and concepts that are being developed in the private sector today that the public sector can LEARN from. Not copy, but learn. Copying has been a major horror story.
We copied CRM systems from simplistic organisations that wanted to learn the buying habits of their customers.
We copied ‘digital by default’ because we saw the success of online shopping.
We copied Management by Objectives, because it was the trend at the time (it has since been rejected in the private sector but remains in the public sector.)
We have embraced New Public Management, copied from consultants in the 1980’s.
Trying to copy another organization usually fails for several reasons, often stemming from a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes an organisation or an approach successful.
Every organisation operates within a different context – with different history, culture and resources. What works brilliantly for one organisation may be disastrous for another due to these contextual differences. Blindly copying practices without considering this context is a recipe for failure. Yet organisations persist in doing it.
A quick caveat: best practice can work in some scenarios. Usually very simple repeatable ones. Chris Bolton points this out in his excellent post, but goes on to say, “The chances of someone else’s best practice working in your complex environment (particularly if it is forced onto you) seems unlikely.”
I was talking to someone this week about our journey of strategic innovation at Bromford and said to them that, whilst I can pass on a lot of learning and experience, there is simply no shortcut. You cannot just pick something up off the shelf and make it work in an entirely different context.
Imitation breeds mediocrity. Copying others distracts from developing your own unique strengths and capabilities. True innovation comes from looking inward, understanding your own context and culture, and finding creative solutions that work for you. Copying stifles this.
Nor should you follow the herd. When we introduced our Neighbourhood Coaching model other organisations derided it as retrograde as we were swimming against the seemingly progressive agenda of ‘digital by default’.
You’ll never do anything innovative if you follow the pack, you’ll just be the average of everyone else.
Try being an organisation that only you can be.
We are living in times when we need radical solutions to big problems. Trying to be like each other is a criminal waste of time.
Who wants to win the race to mediocrity instead?
Related: Relationships Aren't Efficient, But Efficiency Isn't Always Effective