Restructuring is only half the story
I did a major spring clean over the recent long weekend. Pulled apart the contents of every cupboard and drawer in our kitchen and laundry. Not exactly the most fun-filled few days, but super productive and satisfying once I was done.
Those few days of effort were tedious but worthwhile because we’ve now gone from a setup that simply hadn’t been working, to something that’s already making life easier (which means a lot when the kitchen’s the most used room in the house).
I wasn’t only happy with what I achieved - it’s an exercise that’s also reminded me of a similar pattern I keep seeing in organisations and why being deliberate about change matters.
Organisations are facing into a lot of headwinds right now. CEOs and Boards are grappling with how to remain operational and sustainable as a combination of factors challenge existing operating models.
Significant time and energy are going into figuring out how to respond to and align with regulatory change, diversification of funding, and the evolving nature and needs of the workforce amongst many other things. And when it comes to the crunch, sometimes what work gets done or not needs to change, and there is an in inevitable impact on structures, roles and people.
Restructuring is needed sometimes.
Often because there are external factors squeezing the current operating model and structure, so the way work and people are organised is no longer fit-for-purpose in the context of the current vision, mission or strategy and/or things aren’t quite working as best they could be.
Sometimes this means removing some work or roles that are no longer serving the needs of the organisation, changing reporting lines or spans of control.
Right now, I’m seeing this happen a lot at the Executive and/or senior leadership level. As the work organisations do and what they deliver is changing, functions are being consolidated, roles are being reshaped and as a result, there are movements of people in, out and within these top organisational layers.
Necessity and/or opportunity, it’s a chance to start from a place of first principles, wipe out assumptions about ‘how things always have been’ and re-think how things can be organised to improve engagement, efficiency and effectiveness.
But here’s the kicker…whatever a restructure involves, there’s something way more important than the lines and boxes on the org chart.
The people!
Sometimes we over-rely on structure - we can mistakenly treat it as the whole answer. And this is where my kitchen story comes into focus…because even though I was chuffed with how spacious and user-friendly my restructured kitchen became post clear-out, it was in the few days that followed that I realised I’d fallen into a trap I see all too often in organisational restructures.
I overlooked what it really takes to make things function at their best - keeping the people who use/work there at the forefront of re-organisation.
Restructuring alone is only half the story.
Just like moving appliances, plates and cups around can make things run more smoothly (why didn’t I think to move my stick blender under the bench with the power point earlier?!), it doesn’t automatically make everything work better. And the same goes for people in organisations.
Many restructures fall short of expectations because leaders assume that once the roles and people are reorganised, the job is done. This isn’t always a conscious thing, but a product of competing priorities mixed with time pressures.
Position descriptions are re-written, the new structure is announced, and backend systems are updated so workflows and payroll do what they’re meant to do.
Except optimisation doesn’t magically happen just because the structure has changed.
Sure, organisational structures are systems that can and do influence behaviour, but they don’t single-handedly or miraculously create better engagement, performance or impact.
This only happens through deliberate connection and conversation, with all the people that are involved in delivering the work that will serve purpose and strategy.
And nowhere is this more important than when we’re talking about restructuring leadership teams.
Restructuring that sticks means investing time in making sure what’s intended translates into reality.
It means understanding the ‘why’ for structure change, the ‘what’ is expected of new roles and teams, and creating space to define, align and commit to how the people within them will operate together so that what’s intended translates into reality.
You’d think I’d be right on top of this given the work I do every day, side by side with leaders navigating change with a people-first mindset. But I am imperfect as all humans and leaders are, so what is second nature with my professional hat on didn’t automatically transfer to my personal life and kitchen.
I was proudly taking ‘after’ photos of my cupboards being all spick and span and thinking how logical my reorganisation of appliances and kitchen ‘stuff’ was when everyone started using the kitchen and I realised I had stopped short of completing the job.
It seems that my ‘logic’ for repositioning certain kitchen items wasn’t as logical to everyone else in the house. For the first few days, there was a lot of bumping into each other as we (including me!) tried to find things, and a lot of ‘Where is [obscure cup, mixing bowl or dish]’ and ‘Why is this even in this cupboard?’ being directed at me.
It’s one thing to not know where anything is, but the real impact beyond confusion was wasted time and frustration that the family couldn’t just get on with what they needed to do and it could very well have devolved into a finger pointing exercise and arguments.
I failed in change leadership 101.
Total lack of engagement, zero conversations, just pride in my wonderful achievements and an expectation that it would all work brilliantly for everyone else in the house because the changes all made sense to me.
I’m not blind to the reality that leaders are up against it right now.
Decision making time is compressed and implementation of change - restructures or otherwise - is being fast tracked, quite simply because continuity of the organisation’s operations and long term viability may well be at stake.
But what my kitchen revamp brought home to me is that time spent on communicating and engaging with people about change is not a cost but an investment. We don’t always get it right, but we’ve always got the opportunity to be deliberate next time.
When leaders overlook the value of bringing a top leadership team together through change, the negative impact can be seen and felt in many ways within the team and throughout the entire organisation…
Disillusionment with role, team and organisation, creating engagement and retention risks.
Lack of clarity on priorities because there’s no shared view of what matters to the whole organisation.
No unified purpose or vision for the work that only the leadership can and must do to lead the organisation and change.
More meetings emerge in an attempt to make sense of what’s happening and what needs to be or not.
Everyone working in their own silo.
An ‘us versus them’ mindset can creep in.
More work being done ‘in’ the business (noise) than ‘on’ the business, compromising progress on what matters most strategically.
Accountability takes a hit as no one is clear about who owns what and how they need to work together to deliver and make impact.
The frustrating thing about this all too common scenario is it doesn’t have to be this way, but the damage that can be done lasts far longer than people’s memory of the change itself - it fundamentally undermines culture, performance and impact (the very things the change is meant to enable).
In contrast, when value is realised from organisational change, it’s in large part down to leaders who are deliberate about how they lead it.
Whether or not we lead deliberately will be the difference between whether our people ‘get it’, get on board and adapt to whatever’s changed so that the intended benefits of implementing it are realised, or a case of change being ‘done’ to them, resistance being the default, and dysfunction being created.
Adaptive Leadership theory, and no doubt your experience, will reinforce the reality that people don’t resist change as such, they fear what they might lose in the process of change. They may or may not be part of the decision making process that results in changes for their role or team mates, but they absolutely need to be front and centre in understanding why, what and how the change is going to happen - because people are what make effective and sustained change possible (or not).
This isn’t about complicating or dragging out change. It’s about getting clear upfront about how you want your people to feel and what you want them to do to enable change - then leading deliberately to create the conditions for these things to materialise.
This working ‘on’ the team is too often the missing piece of the change leadership puzzle, but when there’s deliberate investment in it, you get a top team who show up as a collective, who are genuinely on the same page and ‘singing off the same song sheet’ when they engage their teams - and the vital bonus is they also tend to collaborate more effectively to operationalise strategy.
Being deliberate starts with recognising it’s even a thing - the need to step up and out to lead change, rather than staying ‘in it’.
My Deliberate Leader™ model is all about providing a practical framework to guide how leaders show up and lead their people in a way that aligns with achieving the results, outcomes and impact they need and want to see in their teams and organisations. Why? Because the leaders I know want these things to happen deliberately, not by default.
If your top team is reorganising (or about to), here are a few Deliberate Leader™ prompts to guide your thinking about work ‘on’ the team so you can get clear and aligned and realise the benefits for your organisation sooner and for longer. Importantly, these need to be considered in the context of your organisation’s current purpose and strategy.
Direction
What is our vision for impact as a team going forward?
Dialogue
What are the conversations we need to be having as a team to get on the same page about who we are, why we exist, what we need to focus on, and how we will lead collectively?
Discipline
Forget what you’ve always done - what are the rhythms and routines that will set you up for success as a team now?
Distinguish
How and when will you regularly create space to reflect, share feedback and evolve your collective leadership?
The more deliberate you are, the more likely you are to lead your people and culture in a way that’s aligned to delivering on your purpose and strategy. So it pays to be deliberate!
Hi 👋🏻 I'm Louise Gibson from With Verve.
I help purpose-led SME CEOs and Exec Leadership Teams have the conversations that matter to realising their potential for sustainable impact by getting more real about the leaders they want to be, more deliberate in their focus and more connected with their people and purpose.
If you'd like to have a chat about how I can partner with you and your team, please send me a direct message or email me at louise@withverve.com.au.