Okay, You’ve Made the Decision to Reorganize, Now What?

With the decision made to reorganize your staff (see Is Reorganization your Right Solution? ), now it is time to focus on how to make this happen, i.e the reorganization process. There are two big blocks in the reorganization process map; design and implementation. Each block is broken down into various activities that you can run sequentially, and some activities can be executed in parallel.

But before even looking at the process, a team needs to be created to conduct this work. Consider creating a core team that sees the entire process through, and add and subtract other team members as necessary.

The key roles you need to have on your core team are:

• Sponsor / Business Lead

• Project Manager

• Human Resources partner

• Organizational Design partner

• Change Management lead

• Communications lead

The diagram below shows when these core team resources can be brought on and let go, although ideally its best to have all resources on through the duration of the process. The sponsor and HR partner need to be involved throughout the duration of the reorganization.

With the core team in place, staff can be added to the team for specific activities as necessary. For example, when designing the new organization, it is a great idea to include the full leadership team and key influential staff. When that work is complete, release those individuals and continue to work on other required activities.

Here are the typical reorganization activities:

Design Process Activities

• Review mission, vision and strategic objectives

• Develop design criteria – Identify the key characteristics that will make your organization win. These characteristics become the criteria around which the organization is designed.

• Complete current state activity analysis

• Design multiple organization design options

• Choose best design based on the design criteria. Refine chosen model if necessary

• Make formal agreement on best fit design

Implementation Process Activities

• Review current state employee map

• Create future state employee map based on new organization design

• Create transition plan; includes moving current employees within the organization, identifying redundancies to eliminate and creating hiring plan to fill any gaps

• Review job levels and adjust if necessary

• Create education materials to upskill employees

• Prepare launch plans and engagement plans

• Launch the new organization

• Conduct systems changes (HR, IT, etc)

• Conduct check-ins with employees

• Measure change and adjust as necessary

This seems like a lot. It is a lot! And it takes months to plan and execute this change well. Leaders need to go in eyes open so they recognize the amount of work required to conduct the reorganization correctly. One reason reorganizations fail is due to not following a good process. To reduce risk of failure, do your homework and plan the change properly.

Next we will cover some best practices when conducting a reorganization.

Is there anything you would like to add? Please leave your thoughts and comments below.