Are there two bigger words in business jargon than empowerment and accountability? Perhaps, but both are certainly in the top 10.
So is P&L.
The past two journal entries were on the topic of organizing Zayo Group into three distinct businesses. A business relationship certainly exists between the three units; Zayo Managed Services and Onvoy Voice buy transport services from Zayo Bandwidth. I described the reason for three distinct businesses as being (a) focus and (b) financial transparency. Two other benefits are worth discussing.
Accountability, specifically around P&L, will be vastly improved. We will have three groups maintaining their own financials all the way to down to the balance sheet and cash flow level. This might sound fairly basic, but for reasons I will explain in the next blog entry, this is a big deal in the telecom industry.
My guess is that people at all levels of our organization will experience something they haven’t had in a long time in their career, if ever. They will feel empowered. They will be energized. They will feel invigorated.
On a daily basis, employees will see an increasingly direct relationship between what they are doing and how it is impacting our bottom line. Capital decisions will center more on how expenditures will really impact cash flows—and less around how to dress up a business plan to convince corporate to approve. Expenses will be scrutinized—are they really essential for us to win business and provide great service to our customers? Winning and retaining business will feel more important than ever—with a more direct relationship between revenue and cost, every dollar of revenue will matter a ton more.
Though feelings of discomfort are inevitable, I believe most people will respond well to more clearly defined financial accountability. I guess we will see.
Leave a response (0 so far)
Subscribe via RSS
