If W. Edwards Deming could see what you are doing, he’d punch you in the face. OK, not really. He may have been brutally honest in his lectures but I don’t think he ever punched anyone. However, he would have plenty to say about how often one business copies (I believe the term today is “benchmarks”) the good ideas from another business with no thought about context. Why is it in business that if we see an idea from another organization – that claims to have a positive influence on their business performance – we’ll try to copy it?

What got my attention as the maddest business improvement idea of the day, was the USA’s “take your dog to work day” on June the 24th. This was given a full page spread in the London Guardian newspaper (18th June 2011, Work Supplement) on the fully flowing positivity of taking an animal to the office. There on the newspaper in bold typeface was a survey conducted by the Bio Agency (why they cannot do research on something that could benefit all of humanity escapes me) that from a survey of 3,000 office workers; “55% of those canvassed admitted they would feel more motivated if they did have a pet in the office”. Before all you pet lovers (that does also include me) start sharpening your poison pens and write a letter to me, please let me expand on why copying an improvement idea from one business to another is not always the best plan of action.

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