Leadership Development
Opportunity: During a time of turmoil, Lakeru was tasked with running the Business Operations Division of a major telecommunications company.
Click to read moreAt the time, the division had a highly dysfunctional leadership team that was often seen bickering and at odds with one another. Other issues included severe cost overruns throughout the business, an unhealthy relationship with key vendors and suppliers characterized by deep mistrust and a lack of respect, the lowest employee satisfaction scores in the company, and a pervasive identity issue among its leaders. Since the leadership team was performing so poorly, Lakeru was asked to assume responsibility, conduct an evaluation and deliver a list of those who should be released from their jobs as part of a massive cleanup.
Approach: Lakeru immediately started working intensively with the leadership team. Setting new performance expectations and the construction of new leadership team standards, established from within the team itself, was an important first step.
Click to read moreRecommendation: Lakeru, along with the team, made the following recommendations:
Click to read more- Establish a new culture within Business Operations. Starting with the leadership team, respect, professionalism and competence would be key tenets. Team members would be accountable to each other for the new standards.
- Develop and share a strategic plan for the business with all employees. This would reflect goals for the business as well as a new leadership tone towards employees, enrolling them in the business.
- Institute a full-scale change in behavior and attitude towards vendors and suppliers across the department. This would include acknowledging that vendors are valuable partners that are necessary to drive results within the business. It became universally accepted that significant success was not possible without their help.
Results: With the renewed commitment and focus of the leadership team, Lakeru achieved the following results:
Click to read more- Restructured the distribution network, improved forward logistics order cycle time from 79 percent to 99 percent on target, reduced reverse logistics business cost by 31 percent, increased distribution productivity by 35 percent, increased handset recycling 500 percent, decreased handsets liquidated by 21 percent, and reduced cost per unit for the business by 15 percent all within a three year time period.
- Posted an annual savings of $350M in negotiated handset pricing on the direct procurement side, $101M across the company in in-direct procurement savings and negotiated $179M of marketing development funds (MDF) from OEM partners.
- Business Operations lowered CCPU (cash cost per user = total expenses/customers served) by 35 percent (best performance in the company) while the company’s CCPU grew 3 percent over the same time period.
- Business Operations began the year with the worst employee satisfaction scores in the company, but posted the highest single year growth in employee satisfaction in any department within the company (69 percent employee satisfaction to 81 percent). This level of employee satisfaction was among the highest in the company for large departments (500+ employees) and was consistently maintained under Lakeru’s leadership.