When there is a Reorganization, do this First
From “Hello, random strangers. Let’s look at our new product,” to, “Oh, it’s you again,” wonderful humans have been subject to team and reporting relationship shuffling for ages. And currently, it’s a very frequent event. You would think businesses and humans would be better at reorganizations, given all the practice we’ve had. (This is the point where purists raise their pitchforks and torches to say, keep the teams together! This is your corporate investment! It’s a debate for another day.)
Possible scale for a corporate reorganization.
Wherever the reorg lands on the spectrum of awfulness, experience was a disaster or something less than perfect, or less so, some of the best opportunities to establish alignment and connection.
Priority one is to make the time and space for the team and management to process or work through the reorganization change(s) individually and together. If your reorganization has already happened, it’s not too late to pause, retrospect on the current state, and adjust to a new strategy. If you as a leader are willing.
Give your management a chance to process change is a strategic, strengthening activity, not a sign of weakness. Slow down to go faster absolutely applies to even the most rush reorganization. You can learn more about the details of this work in my book, The Employee-Coach Handbook, designed to build strategic and resilient teams.
Teams need a chance to process and work through the change as well. They need time and space to reflect personally and as a tea, and to voice their ideas about the reorg. It’s not too late for the team to reflect and innovate on better ways of working with each other and stakeholders.
This work takes time and is nonlinear. This is not what executives want to hear. These are likely the same people pushing off that tech debt for another quarter. The pressures are real in a business and yet considerations for the impact of change on humans and relationship systems is so often missing. Begin today. It is never too late to improve.