Inclusive Leadership

BY JENNIFER BEYER

Empowerment, Transparency, and Collaboration

Beginnings often shape your perceptions and how you maneuver in your life – professionally and personally. At the beginning of my career, I worked at Cox Communications in Rhode Island, first as a broadband analyst, and then eventually creating and leading the first marketing sciences department in the company. These beginning experiences at Cox Communications and working among well versed corporate operators shaped my choices, trajectory of my career and ultimately my experiences.

Cox Communications, at the time, operated based on a decentralized model. Each region was essentially its own mini headquarters, responsible for ensuring operations ran effectively and profitably, with analysis and recommendations running up to headquarters. Like most high-end operationally oriented companies, at the heart of the engine, were two things: data and people driving decisions based on that data.

The way the executive team operated had a profound impact on the business. With transparency, accountability and empowerment in mind, on a monthly basis, finance would invite the heads of each department, their direct reports and a few front-line representatives to keep us grounded in the reality of the employee and customer experience. Every line in the budget was discussed. Actual vs forecast, the why, who and the dependencies that resulted in the final “actuals”, and how to remedy issues, were openly discussed in this transparent forum. Every functional leader would provide their reasons for the actual results and would call on other departments for help. Problems were addressed and mitigated on the spot.

The professional rigor displayed by everyone in the room was a clear marker of the culture. The bar was high. Each person knew their critical datapoints and were audible ready. You had to be open to hearing the impact of your decisions on the business and on other people. There wasn’t much debate, we trusted one another, there was an incredible bias for straight talk, identifying issues, acting on those issues, and a willingness to team.

This was the formula for success that impacted people, process and product, and it was created by an open and effective leadership team.

Key Elements Important for You on Your Journey:

• Know your data (I cannot stress how important this truly is).
• Know how your decisions and actions impact other departments and people.
• Be audible ready.
• Stay connected with others.