Thinking about a Reorg? Consider these questions first.
I often see organizations put the cart before the horse when it comes to org charts. They have a general sense of the changes in workflow they’d like to see happen and jump from there right into updating their org charts to reflect the changes they’re hoping to see. While restructuring offers a quick way to shake things up, unless done right, it often fails to set up the long term, strategic shifts that an organization is seeking to make.
Big staffing shifts can have detrimental effects on staff morale and lead to losses in critical institutional knowledge. The decision to make one, therefore, should not be taken lightly. The questions below and subsequent decision tree seek to help organizations assess their readiness to make a shift and to help them complete the due diligence needed to make shifts responsibly, once they’re ready.
1. What is the impetus for the change?
When considering a reorg, it is important to think critically about why you are looking to do this and identify the true root causes of the challenges you are trying to address. I would argue that if the impetus for change is connected to any of the examples listed below, there is more work to do before moving forward.
Personnel issues - you have gotten negative feedback about a manager and want to restructure so that they have less direct reports or oversee less projects. In cases such as these, taking the step to think through alternative ways to deal with this personnel issue so that it will impact as few people as possible is critical as a first step.
Organizational silos: when parts of an organization that should be working closely together aren’t, there can be an urge to get them to working together more closely by merging or changing reporting lines. This can work in some cases, but it’s important to consider question #2 alongside a reorg if this is the case for your organization.
Loss of funding/budget cuts: as a leader having to make tough budget decisions, it can be tempting to use a reorg as a way to merge job functions. While ultimately, this can work, it is important to consider question #2 before moving forward here.
Alternatively, here are some instances where moving forward with a reorg could make a lot of sense:
The proposed restructure has come as the result of a robust planning process and is necessary to fully implement necessary changes identified through this process.
There have been consistent requests for change from staff at all levels within the organization.
2. Does your organization have the capacity to fully see this shift through?
It is easy to fall into a trap of putting all your time and energy into making a new org chart and communicating it out. But just as important, if not more importantly, you’ve got to think through the resources that it will take to implement the change effectively and whether you have them on hand. Here are some examples of resources you may need and the associated questions to ask yourself:
HR: who will be working with staff to update job descriptions, pay scales, and make salary recommendations for any staff seeing changes in responsibilities? Who should employees go to with questions and concerns about the new structure?
Budget: does this change require additional financial resources to roll out effectively? Are there promotions involved? Will it surface the need to hire new staff? Is the budget available to support these needs currently, or will tradeoffs need to be made? Have those tradeoffs been identified?
Staff Time: have you calculated in time for staff to engage in planning? This is particularly important if the restructure involves a merger of departments or work. Staff will need dedicated time to think through what that merger looks like in practice. What are the new goals for the team? What work needs to stop? What needs to start or be changed in order to move forward on the true intention of the shift?
3. Have you authentically engaged impacted staff members?
Before moving forward on a shift in org structure, it is essential to engage impacted staff directly. This should ideally happen through 1-1 conversations with each person. Relying on assumptions or the leader of a department who is proposing a restructure can lead to overlooking key aspects of work, assessments of morale, and other challenges that need to be addressed first. Without this critical information, proposed shifts are likely to be short-sighted. Doing this can accomplish the following:
It will enable you to get a better picture of what every staff member does on the day-to-day. Before making change, it is important to understand the work that is currently happening.
It is a great way to surface other challenges that your organization might be facing and to identify other potential changes that need to be made.
It is an important way to understand overall gaps or inefficiencies in work functions that will both inform your restructure and help you answer some of the budget questions outlined above.
It can be a good way to gain buy-in for any potential shifts. Staff want to feel like they are being heard and their roles are well understood as changes are being made. Allowing for input on what they see as the key challenges in current org structure is critical to building long term adoption of changes.
It will help you gauge morale. Staff morale is key to a change in structure going well. Even if you know you won’t be able to get all staff will be on board with a change, it is important to gauge where everyone is, and be able to identify where additional change support may be needed.
4. What big changes has the organization faced in the last three years?
Sometimes, there is value in holding off on big changes to org structure simply because there’s been too much change already within an organization. Any change that an organization makes, regardless of how it has been received, takes an emotional toll on staff. And the more big changes that occur in a short amount of time, the more likely staff are to disengage. Timing really is everything, and waiting until the time is right can go a long way.
Considering making a change to your staffing structure? Need help thinking these questions through? Reach out and let’s chat!
