Best practices are defined as commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective (Oxford Languages, 2022). By this definition, professional and commercial procedures, which are actions as part of or within a process are separate. Commercial practices are not specific to a form of advertising, being via the television or online video advertising, but can be considered a word that summarizes that type of work. The word Professional should not be considered separate in its definition because all procedures and practices should be professional, in both commercial and private. It is factual that some commercial products, or commercialization efforts are considered unprofessional, which is a subjective matter of opinion and style, differing among organizations. Commercialization the process of creating economic endeavors with the goal of profit or bringing and managing things in the marketplace; evolving from physical products to virtual products, or online materials, such as advertising or standard procedures for specific processes as a product. Instructional materials were not often considered commercially available products and are offered free of charge via the Internet. They are still considered commercially available products of professional value, offer best practices for a specific item, system, or process. Most are created and shared professionally, while some offer free instructional material found in message boards and other areas of the Internet, by individual volunteers, which are not considered commercially and professionally prepared and shared, although their words and acts might be considered correct and professional, it is often clear which material has been commercially prepared for publishing. Best practices are to follow the official instructional, unless not officially published and shared material is available, or if other, non-commercialized material is found sufficient to understand, gain skill, or follow procedure, process, or complete a task. Professionalism is considered competence or skill, but it also includes standard behavioral traits of interaction, called respect, maturity, and other highly valued characteristics. Some commercially available products or procedures can be automated or standardized to follow professionally written and trained communication styles. These are usually routine process, where professionalism is based on customer service and communication interaction. Other types of professionalism in commercialization are the presentation of material, its content, and delivery. There is no list of ‘commercial best practices’ generally available without a subject for the best practice, but a good example is phone, meeting, and internet etiquette. Those are areas where best practices have been created, which are also called ‘guidelines’ for effective communication and use.
The Career and Professional Development Center at Virginia Tech suggests twelve ways to develop and practice professionalism (Virginia Tech, 2022). The best practice for finding a best practice is to know what it is that is sought after to put it into practice; not referring solely to athletics, but to learn new ways of doing things and follow the recommendation. Best practices are considered lessons learned and made available by other professionals, which can be found on the Internet, searchable by keyword or phrase. Results depend upon the subject material. Searching for best practices in Banking and Finance process for budgeting, one might search Budgeting or Budgeting Practices to find useful resources for that subject. Evaluating best practices in written works, ideals, and recommendations requires comparative evaluations, which is why the Internet offers more than one author and why readers must evaluate and compare, before using it as their own best practice or procedure. There is no “Best Practice Certifying Agency” therefore, best practices are considered professional recommendations, made by multiple organizations, professionals, and agencies of varying process, system, and style. A basic internet search using the three words “Budgeting Best Practices” provides several results, some with clearly listed recommendations, such as 9 Budgeting Process Best Practices (Solverglobal.com, 2022). The selection depends upon the readers preference, with many different options available. Implementing one or more requires the full understanding of the best practice, business process review, planning, and a project designed to implement the changes or the best practice. Best practices are defined as being corrective and effective, therefore the implementation must be managed with those two goals in mind, and although not written, it is to create a high standard that all can follow for collective effectiveness across the wide range of business operations. A “best practice” to collect and maintain best practices for a specific business or subject area, is to search and bookmark the best practices and implement each one, and finally conduct post-implementation comparisons to measure effectiveness. Implementing or changing procedure is not a simple matter of search and understand, but search, select, evaluate, implement, and monitor using program and project management techniques.
Oxford Languages Dictionary, “Best Practices,” accessed via the Internet at
https://www.google.com/search?q=best+practices on October 30, 2022.
Virginia Technical University, Professionalism, accessed via the Internet at
https://career.vt.edu/develop/professionalism.html on October 30, 2022