Tony Ryan

Ever heard of Zest Practice? Probably not, because I just made it up. I’m seeing it as a subtle yet distinct advance on Best or even Next Practice. It’s basically a no-holds-barred exhilarating immersion in your professional work.

Let me build up to this.

Ever heard of ‘best practice’? Who hasn’t? It tends to go along with ‘raising the bar’. Whatever that means. Probably refers to the fact that you’re working so damn hard that you need to drink even more to cope with it all.

World-best practice? There’s nothing inherently wrong with this concept. If you want to develop practice that is of astonishingly high quality, then this is a good thing. It’s just that the term gets bandied around so much these days, and it’s then difficult to know what it really means.

Some advances on ‘best’? Have you ever heard of Next Practice? Best is now, Next is whatever will be the best up ahead. Has been championed by the Innovation Unit in the UK, although first proposed by C K Prahalad, author of The New Age Of Innovation. Here’s a succinct comparison:

Derek Wenmoth over in NZ has mentioned this in an earlier blog as well. A good summation on Next Practice here from Derek.

Just for the heck of it…. I’d like to propose a further advance on Best and Next. Let’s refer to it as Zest Practice. Why Zest? For starters, it rhymes with best and next. It also indicates that it will focus on spice and energy… which is surely what education needs to be about.

Zest also has intimations of Zen. Given the relentless pace that too many people experience in their lives, they’ll all need a touch of deep spirit and revitalisation if they’re going to thrive through the next five years.

Some key points about Zest Practice??

* It would compel people to turn up. They would want to be there, because they would experience inspiration through the experience. Zest Practice would become a lodestone, a magnet, for inspiring practice.

* It would be provocative to the established order. Until it became the accepted way of doing things, Zest Practice would be considered as too risky by the mainstream.

* It would be based upon deep inquiry. A challenge would exist, and the process of resolving that challenge would necessitate an ongoing model of exploration and inquiry.

* Zest Practice would require a co-evolving learning environment. Learning 2gether, participants would adapt according to the flow of learning that occurred throughout the experience

* Zest Practice would lose sight of the shore. It would be uncomfortable and unsettling, because it would not yet be a practiced part of your everyday routines.

* Zest Practice would require, and indeed, would encourage, a deeper regenerative energy. Too many of our present global structures (including most educational bodies) consume energy, and exhaust their participants. A Zestful approach would regenerate your energy because of your inspiration for accomplishing the experience.

Three questions for you:

Q. Where do you presently engage in Zest Practice?

Q. Where could you engage in Zest Practice?

Q. Where will you engage in Zest Practice?