Worksheet: Match each profit number to the levers

A manager held to a profit they cannot move learns to argue about allocations. This sheet sets each unit's profit number beside the levers its owner holds. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Each main unit (branch, product line or customer segment) has an owner who is accountable for a contribution they control most of.

Step 1. Numbers against levers

Unit	Owner	Profit or contribution they are held to	Controls price?	Controls staffing?	Controls purchasing?	Levers held by someone else
e.g. Northern branch	Branch manager	Branch contribution	No, head office sets it	Yes	No	Pricing, freight contracts

Step 2. Give the levers, or take the number

Unit	Decision	Levers moved to the owner	Or the number they will be held to instead	From when

Start with the unit whose owner has the number but the fewest levers.

Step 3. Write the shared-cost rules once

Shared cost or internal service	How it is charged to units	Who owns the charge	Reviewed when

For a service one unit sells to another, use the market price where one exists. Where none exists, use the cost of providing it.

Done when: each main unit has an owner held to a contribution they control most of, and shared costs are charged by written rules.

Adapted from our own org design point of view (PSP, 2012).