What was the real reason behind your last restructure?
Could it be that…
The organisational design and operating model no longer served the business in pursuit of its clearly articulated goals to enable growth,
Your new ways of working transformation installed by a large consultancy left you with a workforce and skill mix that wasn’t providing you value or a ROI,
The organisation needed to respond to changing circumstances to be able to survive the current economic, technological, political, or other conditions,
You were new to your role and it was easier to bring in people you know and trust than to burn time learning about and developing those you inherited,
The organisation undertook a cost out exercise to reduce costs and improve efficiencies/productivity but did it in a tactical and reactionary way,
You didn’t want to performance manage a handful of people in the team and felt it was easier for you to trigger a restructure instead,
The organisations you consider to be your local, national, and global peers were doing it and so you felt you needed to do so too to remain competitive, or
Your previous restructure didn’t work because you only changed the structure without giving role clarity, capability development, or other support
There are endless other possible reasons your last restructure was enacted
But it doesn’t meant it was the right thing to do
As the senior executives making these decisions, and as the people in the room supporting the decision making process around restructures, you need to ask the hard questions:
What are the real reasons behind why we are doing this?
Are there other less disruptive ways to solve the problem in front of us, so that it doesn’t systemically distract us from achieving our core business goals?
What are the invisible costs (e.g. attrition, loss of knowledge and experience, etc.) that we need to account for that don’t appear as a line item on our P&L by default?
What impact will this action have on our brand and reputation given our position in the community and the influence we have on the broader economy?
Will this provide the clarity and stability that my people have been asking for?
What do I need to consider that will prevent me from having to restructure again in 3, 6, 12 months time?
Do I have the right change management strategies in place to make this a success?
Ask the hard questions now so that you don’t become the company people avoid working for because you’re onto your nth restructure this year
Want to go deeper on how to work through the people and politics of your next restructure?
Let’s work together on this. Here are three ways:
Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you
Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored to you
Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want your people to learn about people and politics