Best Practices

Best Practices

A best practice is a method or technique that has 

consistently shown results superior to those achieved with 

other means, and that is used as a benchmark. In addition, a 

"best" practice can evolve to become better as 

improvements 

are discovered. Best practice is considered by some as a 

business buzzword, used to describe the process of 

developing and following a standard way of doing things that 

multiple organizations can use.

Best practices are used to maintain quality as an alternative 

to mandatory legislated standards and can be based on self-

assessment or benchmarking.Best practice is a feature of 

accredited management standards such as ISO 

9000 and ISO 14001.

Some consulting firms specialize in the area of best practice 

and offer pre-made 'templates' to standardize business 

process documentation. Sometimes a "best practice" is not 

applicable or is inappropriate for a particular organization's 

needs. A key strategic talent required when applying best 

practice to organizations is the ability to balance the unique 

qualities of an organization with the practices that it has in 

common with others.

Good operating practice is a strategic management term. 

More specific uses of the term include good agricultural 

practices, good manufacturing practice, good laboratory 

practice, good clinical practice and good distribution practice.

In public policy

Best practice is a form of program evaluation in public 

policy. 

It is the process of reviewing policy alternatives that have 

been effective in addressing similar issues in the past and 

could be applied to a current problem. Determining "Best" or 

"Smart" Practices to address a particular policy problem is a 

commonly used but little understood tool of analysis 

because 

the concept is vague and should therefore be examined with 

caution.

Develop realistic expectations

Bardach advises the policy analyst that it is important to 

maintain realistic expectations when seeking a "best 

practice" in public policy analysis because the practice may 

not be solving the problem at all and it may instead produce 

unfavorable results. Because a practice seems to be tailored 

to a specific policy problem and also based on solid 

research, it does not necessarily mean it is creating good 

results. However the research can produce thought-

provoking 

concepts on what can and can not work when put into 

practice.

Analyze smart practices

In policy analysis a "best" or "smart" practice is a clear and 

concrete behavior that solves a problem or achieves a goal. 

Smart practices take “advantage” of an idle opportunity at a 

low cost and little risk. Eugene Bardach refers to this as 

finding the free lunches. These are opportunities for creative 

policy improvements such as "cost-based pricing" or "input 

substitution" that have the possibility to generate public 

value 

at a very low cost. Breaking loose from conventions and 

challenging assumptions can also be way to take advantage 

of an idle opportunity. An example of this is the highly 

controversial practice of the government contracting out a 

community good or service to nonprofits or the private 

sector. 

This challenges the assumption that a community good or 

service must be financed through taxation and delivered by 

government employees.

Observe the practice

The primary mechanism in a "smart" practice is the ability or 

the means of achieving a goal in a cost-effective manner. 

The secondary mechanisms include implementing features, 

supportive features and optional features. It can be very 

complicated to separate between the functions in getting the 

mechanism to work and the features that support those 

functions.

Bardach recommends when adapting smart practices for 

another source, it is important to identify the core essence of 

the practice while allowing flexibility for how it is 

implemented 

so it remains sensitive to local conditions. Robust smart 

practices are adaptable to various conditions, have many 

operational features, and can employ similar but diverse 

ways to achieve their goals.

Describe generic vulnerabilities

In addition to the reasons why a smart practice might 

succeed, an analyst should describe potential vulnerabilities 

that could lead a smart practice to fail—these weaknesses 

are "generic vulnerabilities”. Two types of vulnerabilities are 

worth particular attention: 1) poor general management 

capacity, which makes it more difficult to effectively 

implement a smart practice, and 2) weaknesses inherent to 

the practice itself. Policymakers must develop safeguards in 

order to minimize the risk of generic vulnerabilities.

But will it work here?

The final step in identifying an appropriate "best practice" for 

a policy problem is to ensure that the context from which the 

practice is derived is comparable to the context in which it 

will be applied. Risks to implementing the selected "best 

practice" in the applied context as well as what support 

structures can be put in place need to be anticipated in order 

to maximize the likelihood of success. If utilizing a pilot or 

demonstration program "best practice" the success of that 

practice needs to be discounted in order to account for the 

better than average favorable conditions pilot and 

demonstration programs usually operate under. These 

conditions include increased enthusiasm, advantageous 

political and economic conditions, and less bureaucratic 

resistance due to the lack of permanency in pilot programs. 

Finally, when considering implementing a "best practice" on 

a 

wide scale one must be aware of the 'weakest link' sites with 

minimal to no resources and how those sites will be 

supported in order to create the desired policy outcomes.

Back to the eight fold path

Excessive optimism about the expected impact of untested 

smart practices is a common critique. If a current practice is 

known to be ineffective, implementing a promising 

alternative 

after weighing the alternatives may be worth the risk

Examples

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) produces a 

document called The Clean Energy-Environment Guide to 

Action.It is designed to share successful state "best 

practices" to determine what is most suitable for them to use 

in generating clean energy policies and programs. The guide 

includes 16 clean energy policies and programs that offer 

opportunities for states to save energy, improve air quality, 

lower greenhouse gas emission and increase economic 

development.

An example of a successful "best practice" from the guide is 

"Building Codes for Energy Efficiency". This practice is to 

use building energy codes to set requirements that establish 

a minimum level of energy efficiency standards for 

residential 

and commercial buildings. California Energy Code Title 24 is 

one "best practice" that is highlighted in this guide. The 

following points for energy code implementation is to 

educate 

and train key audiences, supply the right resources, and to 

provide budget and staff for the program.

Eugene Bardach has a list of "smart" practice candidates in 

his book A 

Practical Guide for Policy Analysis, Eightfold Path (policy 

analysis). One example is the tutoring program for children 

in 

grades 1-3 called Reading One-to-One. The program from 

Texas includes one on one tutoring with supervision and 

simple structured instruction in phonemic awareness. 

Phonemic awareness is one highly regarded predictor of how 

well a child will learn to read in the first two years of 

school. The program takes advantage of the fact that many 

children, especially ESL students, fail in reading because it 

is 

very hard for second language students to understand and 

pronounce sounds in English. The program is easily 

duplicated at a relatively low cost because of the straight 

forward teaching materials, systematic methods and 

administrative oversight.

In September 2013 at the New York State Conference for 

Mayors and Municipal Officials, successes, ideas and 

information on "best" practices were shared among 

government peers. A "best" practice that was highlighted at 

the conference was how Salinas, California is rebuilding their 

economy by engaging technology companies with their 

agricultural business in order to grow jobs.Salinas is taking 

advantage of an idle opportunity. The area already has 

abundant lettuce fields and now the city is marketing itself as 

a lab for agricultural technology. This public/private 

partnership includes a new nonprofit called the Steinbeck 

Innovation Foundation to increase investment in new 

technologies to help the area's agricultural industry.

Use in health and human services

In recent years, public agencies and non-governmental 

organizations have been exploring and adopting best 

practices when delivering health and human services. In 

these settings, the use of the terms "promising practices", 

"best practices", and "evidence-based practices" is common 

and often confusing as there is not a general consensus on 

what constitutes promising practices or best practices. In this 

context, the use of the terms "best practices" and "evidence-

based practices" are often used interchangeably. Evidence-

based practices are methods or techniques that have 

documented outcomes and ability to replicate as key factors.

Despite these challenges, literature suggests that there is 

some common use of and criteria for identifying best 

practices. For example, a general working definition used by 

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 

in 

referring to a promising practice is defined as one with at 

least preliminary evidence of effectiveness in small-scale 

interventions or for which there is potential for generating 

data that will be useful for making decisions about taking the 

intervention to scale and generalizing the results to diverse 

populations and settings.

Since evidence of effectiveness, potential for taking the 

intervention to scale and generalizing the results to other 

populations and settings are key factors for best practices, 

the manner in which a method or intervention becomes a 

best 

practice can take some time and effort. The table below 

demonstrates the process for a promising practice to 

achieve 

the status of research validated best practice.

Research Validated Best Practice	A program, activity or strategy that has the highest degree of proven effectiveness supported by objective and comprehensive research and evaluation.
Field Tested Best Practice	A program, activity or strategy that has been shown to work effectively and produce successful outcomes and is supported to some degree by subjective and objective data sources.
Promising Practice	A program, activity or strategy that has worked within one organization and shows promise during its early stages for becoming a best practice with long term sustainable impact. A promising practice must have some objective basis for claiming effectiveness and must have the potential for replication among other organizations.

The National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and 

Practices (NREPP) (External 

is a searchable online registry of interventions supporting 

substance abuse prevention and mental health treatment 

that 

have been reviewed and rated by independent reviewers. 

NREPP accepts submissions for interventions that meet 

minimum requirements to be considered for review. 

Minimum requirements include (1) demonstration of one or 

more positive outcomes among individuals, communities, or 

populations; (2) evidence of these outcomes has been 

demonstrated in at least one study using an experimental or 

quasi-experimental design; (3) the results of these studies 

have been published in a peer-reviewed journal or other 

professional publication, or documented in a comprehensive 

evaluation report; and (4) implementation materials, training 

and support resources, and quality assurance procedures 

have been developed and are ready for use by the public. 

NREPP is not an exhaustive list of interventions and 

inclusion in the registry does not constitute an endorsement. 

(Reference: National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs 

and Practices. Federal Register/Vol. 76, No. 180/Friday, 

September 16, 2011/Notices)

There is existing controversy about the lack of culturally 

appropriate evidence-based best practices and the need to 

utilize a research-based approach to validate interventions. 

Some communities have deployed practices over a long 

period of time that has produced positive outcomes as well 

as a general community consensus to be successful. The 

California Reducing Disparities Project (CRDP) is working to 

identify such practices. (External CRDP intends to improve 

access, quality of care, and increase positive outcomes for 

racial, ethnic and cultural communities. These communities 

have been identified as (1) African American, (2) 

Asian/Pacific Islanders, (3) Latinos, (4) Lesbian, Gay, Bi-

sexual, Transgender, Questioning, and (5) Native 

Americans. 

Strategic Planning Work groups composed of mental health 

providers and community members as well as consumers 

and family members are given the task of identifying new 

approaches toward reducing disparities. The five Strategic 

Planning Work groups work to identify new service delivery 

approaches defined by multicultural communities for 

multicultural communities using community-defined 

evidence 

to improve outcomes and reduce disparities. Community- 

defined evidence is defined as “a set of practices that 

communities have used and determined to yield positive 

results as determined by community consensus over time 

and which may or may not have been measured empirically 

but have reached a level of acceptance by the community.” 

(Reference: National Latina/o Psychological Association, 

Fall/Winter 2008, National Network to Eliminate Disparities in 

Behavioral Health, SAMHSA, and CMHS, Larke Nahme 

Huang, Ph.D)

In action

Clean air financing programs

This is a quick guide put together by the NGA Center for 

Best 

Practices. It explores what clean air programs currently exist 

and how they are being financed. Rather than stating one 

best practice to tackling clean air, this report creates a table 

of the different programs, how they are being financed, and 

in 

what state. Governors and their staffs can then look for 

characteristics and solutions that are most realistic and 

applicable to their situation. The key is to tailor current 

practices that are in the world to the specific situation you 

are 

looking to solve. Best practices are meant to give insight into 

existing strategies.

Environmental management

The concept of best practice has been employed extensively 

in environmental management. For example, it has been 

employed in aquaculture such as recommending low-

phosphorus feed ingredients, in forestry to manage riparian 

buffer zones, in livestock and pasture management to 

regulate stocking rates,and in particular, best management 

practices have been important to improving water 

quality relating to non point source pollution of fertilizers 

in agriculture^[ as well as the identification and adoption of 

best practice for controlling salinity.However, in the context 

of 

complex environmental problems such as dry land salinity, 

there are significant challenges in defining what is best in 

any 

given context. Best management practice for complex 

problems is context specific and often contested against a 

background of imperfect knowledge. In these contexts, it is 

more useful to think of best management practice as an 

adaptive learning process rather than a fixed set of rules or 

guidelines. This approach to best practice focuses on 

fostering improvements in quality and promoting continuous 

learning.

Higher education

STEM Program explanation is taken from Angela Baber's report to the NGA

The NGA has identified science, technology, engineering, 

and mathematics (STEM) as important skills that need to be 

developed in community colleges in order to create a strong 

work force. Many states are creating or have created STEM 

Programs to address this issue. In order for these programs 

to work governors should:

• "Engage business to help ensure that community colleges 
• meet regional STEM-skill needs
• Use community colleges to support new models of STEM 
• education
• Reward community colleges and students for STEM 
• course-completion
• Ensure that community colleges support more effective 
• mathematics remediation
• Require that community college STEM credits and 
• credentials are transferable."

Health and human services

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) makes 

evidence-based recommendations on clinical preventive 

services. The Task Force recommendations are based on 

systematic reviews and assessment of the available medical 

evidence.

Charity / nonprofit sectorThe San Francisco Public Health 

Department conducted The Transgender Best Practices 

Guide project, a best practices document for cultural and 

service competency in working with transgender clients 

within 

HIV/AIDS service- provision settings. Following an intensive 

literature search and consumer focus group, a Working 

Group composed of noted community leaders; activists, 

professionals, and transgender consumers participated in 

the 

development of the Best Practices guide. Topics covered by 

the Best Practices guide include mental health issues; 

gender identity; hormone use and clinical care practices. 

The 

Best Practices guide is currently in production; it will be 

published and distributed to EMA providers, as well as to 

select organizations nation-wide. In addition, four large-scale 

EMA provider trainings will be provided to educate providers 

on the Best Practices recommendations and standard 

measures. This is the first national federally funded effort to 

develop a Best Practices guide for providers who serve the 

HIV positive transgender community.

The nonprofit/voluntary sector is generally lacking tools for 

sharing and accessing best practices. Steps are being taken 

in some parts of the world, for example in the European 

Union, where the Europe 2020 Strategy has as a top priority 

the exchange of good practices and networking (including the nonprofit sector).

An initiative of sharing good practices in terms of human 

resources (HR) and leadership among European nonprofit 

organizations was financed by the EU and launched in 2013, 

called HR Twinning.The platform allows the public to search 

for good practices and its members the possibility to share 

their practices, engage in discussions in the forum section 

and enroll their organization. Membership is free. The project 

is currently limited to a European audience.

Other domains

Best practices are used in nearly every industry and 

professional discipline. Areas of note include information 

technology development, such as new software, but also in 

construction, transportation, business management, 

sustainable development and various aspects of project 

management. Best practices are also used in healthcare to 

deliver high-quality care that promotes best outcomes. Best 

practices are used within business areas 

including sales, manufacturing, teaching, computer 

programming, road construction,health 

care, insurance and public policy.