Common Mistakes Leaders Make When Landing Difficult Reorgs
Most common mistakes leaders make include: Moving too quickly (or not fast enough) after the reorg, not watching out for impact on existing teams, and underestimating impact of people changes.
We covered the core drivers of organizational changes in the post last week: why they happen, who initiates them, how new reporting lines are drawn, and important nuances around the communication strategy. This week, let’s dive into some common mistakes leaders make when planning for and landing successful reorgs and how they can be mitigated.
Mistake #1: Not Designing for What’ll Go Slower
Most reorgs due ot strategy or priority shifts focus on bringing people together for the new initiative. Leaders weigh in on what skills are needed, whether certain key people work well together, and how many people are allocated. Few leaders also consider the impact of the change on the other teams when resources are pulled away or their projects are demoted from top priority. This is one of the most common mistakes that slows down a reorg.
Imagine you’re working on a top priority project and giving it your all. Suddenly, leadership announces a new company priority and reorg. One of your best people is taken away for the new priority. Regular forums for leadership communication are reduced or eliminated. You are left to manage a project with no change in timeline or scope, but significantly lower team morale and scrambling as the rest of the team tries to cover the gap left by the moved team member.
Often, leaders fail to communicate explicitly with all impacted teams and give teams opportunities to reset timelines and expectations. A lot of air time is given to the forming of a new org — call out at all hands, broad org-level Q&A sessions. The new org has time to “ramp up” and set goals. In contrast, existing teams are not given any acknowledgement that they are either operating with fewer resources or a lower priority, or both. And so, projects slow down disproportionately even when the “re-org doesn’t impact them”.
To land a reorg well, leaders need to design for what they are okay with slowing down. Even if the new initiative is net new hires (this rarely happens), it still has a significant morale hit to your current high performers. When designing the new org, be conscious of which projects you’re pulling people from, and expect those to slow down or miss timelines. Keep existing cadences of communication for a few weeks after the reorg to keep morale high and the project moving along. Give the existing teams time to reset goals and scope if needed. In short, treat it as a reset for all teams, not just the new organization that is formed.
Mistake #2: Going Too Fast or Not Fast Enough
Sometimes, a reorg happens too quickly. There was not enough time given to address concerns and share rationale. Leaders push too fast for “business as usual”, leading to declines in engagement and morale. It is weeks or months before productivity returns to previous levels. On the flip side, sometimes reorgs take too long. The team is ready to get back to work, and yet there are more “reorg Q&A sessions” to come. Worse, multiple reorgs happen in sequence, or open questions on specific teams remain unresolved. The team is put in a state of imminent change or uncertainty for months.
The key to landing a reorg effectively is staying adaptable to the team’s response. Set up the initial forums for public and private conversation, and then adapt quickly. If the reorg is not as controversial, move on. With particularly upset team members, create more space for private conversation. If there are consistent broader questions, host another Q&A. The best leaders keep their ears to the ground and stay nimble in how they land the reorg rather than simply following a preset communications plan or playbook.
Mistake #3: Underestimating the Impact of People Changes
“We are still working on the same project against the same goals. Our work hasn’t changed. Let’s get back to it.” This is a sentiment I’ve heard too often from leaders after people-driven reorgs. It turns out that while the goals don’t change, bringing in new leadership changes how work is done in significant ways. Most leaders underestimate the time it takes for teams to adjust their approach.
The new leader comes with different expectations about what good looks like, preferences in communication style, their preferred working style, and more. Do they prefer written to verbal communication? Do they want to be more “hands-on” in the day-to-day decisions? Do they think a specific aspect of the work should be done a different way?
So while it seems like work should just continue as before, the working team needs time to adapt and adjust to the new leader’s style. With people-based changes, give the organization a chance to reset: realign on the goals, talk about the strategy and timelines, and restart the race together.
That’s all folks! See you next week at 3:14 pm!
Yue
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