The Elephant Problem 246 Filed under - Archived Content Manage the numbers We love to manage by targets and numbers. We divide our organisations up and target managers with very specific goals: Reduce waiting times Increase top line Minimise operational cost Maximise market penetration And off we go, convinced that our number is the most important number, striving to make it go the right way. But organisations aren’t numbers I can’t define you by your shoe size, nor can I define an organisation by its net promoter score (though the consultants will tell you different). Organisations are complex, interdependent systems. No one number can possibly tell us the whole story. In their book The Tiger That Isn’t, Dilnot and Blastland call this the elephant problem. It is best described in the poem by John Godfrey Saxe The Blind Men and the Elephant: A Hindu Fable It was six men of Indostan To learning much inclined, Who went to see the Elephant (Though all of them were blind), That each by observation Might satisfy his mind. The First approached the Elephant, And happening to fall Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl: “God bless me! — but the Elephant Is very like a wall!” The Second, feeling of the tusk, Cried: “Ho! — what have we here So very round and smooth and sharp? To me ‘t is mighty clear This wonder of an Elephant Is very like a spear!” The Third approached the animal, And happening to take The squirming trunk within his hands, Thus boldly up and spake: “I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant Is very like a snake!” The Fourth reached out his eager hand, And felt about the knee. “What most this wondrous beast is like Is mighty plain,” quoth he; “‘T is clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!” The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said: “E’en the blindest man Can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!” The Sixth no sooner had begun About the beast to grope, Than, seizing on the swinging tail That fell within his scope, “I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant Is very like a rope!” And so these men of Indostan Disputed loud and long, Each in his own opinion Exceeding stiff and strong, Though each was partly in the right, And all were in the wrong. So, oft in theologic wars The disputants, I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance Of what each other mean, And prate about an Elephant Not one of them has seen! Or to put it another way If you really want to understand how your organisation is working. Don’t obsess about individual numbers and targets… Author: Jonty Pearce Published On: 5th Jun 2014 - Last modified: 30th Oct 2017 Read more about - Archived Content Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Get the latest exciting call centre reports, specialist whitepapers and interesting case-studies. Choose the content that you want to receive. Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Invites to exclusive Webinars & Events Weekly Newsletter