Leading Up the White Elephants.

Can we optimize processes that are already optimized? The answer to this question must be categorical and definitive. The answer is "yes". If we answer in a negative way, we would deny all the advances in operational processes from the invention of the wheel to space travel. In addition, we must remember that all optimization processes were done over those that were already in their optimal stage some time before.

These processes of permanent optimization are what we call continuous improvement. However, they are not free of charge, since it requires investment, innovation, commitment, leadership, talent and above all: tolerance to frustration, because in innovation and continuous improvement, it is most likely that we will face fiascos.

Many initiatives that have ended in fiascos, are what we call "white elephants", a term that refers to the custom of the kings in Thailand to give white elephants to their less loved collaborators, and those had to maintain them, feed them, care for them and allow the access of other people to worship them, generating greater expenses than benefits to the unfortunate receiver of the king's generosity.

These "white elephants", in the operational processes, remain as silent witnesses to the need for innovation, to optimize some processes to make them more efficient, but they failed because some of the assumptions in their design or implementation stages were wrong. There are visible white elephants and there are also invisible ones. The visible ones are those materialized in infrastructure projects and they can be appreciated in all their magnitude, even some of them have been baptized with the names of those who "dared" to innovate. The invisible ones are more difficult to define; they correspond, generally, to projects of improvements of processes, through consultancy services that seek to impact on processes of resources management or operational practices. These white elephants become visible in the financial statements when it becomes clear that the promised benefits won’t become effective, whether this promise has been through an economic, social or other type of improvement.

Fortunately, the great white elephants are scarce, and in very few opportunities all the factors converge to a fiasco that is at the level of a catastrophe, but the white elephants of small size are many and they are everywhere. It is much easier to find a cover that does not cover, a wheel that does not roll, a plan that does not plan, than to find a bridge that does not allow you to cross a river, this is the reason why this bridge will be news worldwide.

However, there is something that these white elephants leave us as a lesson, whether they are big or small, and it is called learning. And there is where the characteristics of every leader should appear: capitalize learning, manage frustration, empower talent, promote investment to make that fiasco, a step in the correct direction to success. When everyone thinks they have stepped back, whoever has the leadership responsibilities must take control, motivate the team again and persevere in innovation, because this is the way through which humanity has progressed from the invention of the wheel, to the Space travel… leading up the white elephants.

Escrito por:
Dagoberto Marcelo Pérez Herrera.
Magíster en Gestión de Negocios UAI