Here is another valuable Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review. To sign up for a free subscription to any/all HBR newsletters, please click here.

Best practices are alluring. If other companies have already determined the best way to do something, why not just do what they did? But before you run off to collect best practices from the leader in your industry, ask these three questions:

• What are the downsides? Implementing a practice that worked elsewhere isn’t necessarily a slam dunk. Think through the potential disadvantages and figure out how to mitigate them.

• Is success truly attributable to the benchmark practice? There are many reasons a company succeeds. It is unlikely that emulating one practice of an industry leader will give your company the same success.

•Are the conditions similar at your organization? For best practices to be transferrable, businesses need to have key similarities: strategy, business model, and workforce.

Today’s Management Tip was adapted from Harvard Business Review on Making Smart Decisions.

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