One of the tasks leaders face regularly is constructing and implementing business strategies to address issues that arise as people work together and business environments change. Some leaders like to "fly by the seat of their pants," believing that luck and persistence will help them solve problems and enhance efficiency. Others agonize over the process, sweat the details and try to forge a polished strategy before it is ever put into practice. In fact, whole books, such as Strategy (2005) by the Harvard Business School Press and Business Strategy (2009) by Jeremy Kourdi, provide lengthy discussions on the topic. Clearly, finding a balance is essential.
It is not uncommon for leaders and organizations to spend inordinate amounts of time in attempting to develop absolutely the best or perfect policy, practice or course of action. And sometimes a project sits "on hold," waiting for a few nonessential details to be worked out.
In the interest of finding a practical balance, Trinity Services frequently utilizes the mechanism of an "implementation draft" to advance a new procedure or approach. Once a workable draft is developed, it is identified as an "implementation draft" and put into practice. The system has resulted in an interesting side benefit: employees have become comfortable going forward with new ideas or revised procedures though they know that all elements are not 100 percent field tested. They implement the change, aware that they may find problems, and that's okay.
The use of the concept of an "implementation draft" allows the organization to move more quickly. It also reinforces the expectation of change and improvement along with an acceptance of risk taking. Everything does not have to be perfect before one initiates a new organizational practice.
As would be expected, leadership staff pay close attention to the process of the introduction and implementation, and take note of the elements that may not be working as intended. Then, they make the necessary adjustments. After a threshold of satisfactory performance is achieved, the "implementation draft" label is removed in favor of the permanent designation.