Welcome back to a short 3-part series on everyone's favorite topic... reorgs! In our first post, we focused on what to look for when a reorg has resulted in you taking over a new area or department, as well as how to effectively set the tone and move forward. In our second post, we tackled what to do if you get a new manager as a result of a reorg.

This final post will cover the last group affected by reorgs... the individual contributors.

Often, individual contributors end up getting lost in the shuffle when a reorg happens. Here's what I see:

1. The reorg deciders (this can happen at the C-Suite level, or lower, depending on the size of your company) have had months to look at options, map out different scenarios, think through what works best, and socialize this with one another.
2. The direct reports of those folks are looped in. Usually a few weeks to a few days before the reorganization, so that they have time to wrap their heads around what will happen, align on the messaging, and get on the same page about any working agreements, teams, or processes that may need to change as a result.
3. Individuals are informed through wide-reaching and then subsequent communications that announces the plan, what's changing, resulting organization structure, and why.

Now, don't get me wrong. I actually think this is the right approach. I don't think reorgs should be decided through committee or we should strive for consensus when doing this. For many reasons, it's best when this decision comes from an individual who has solicited feedback from various levels about the new plan, not in the least because individuals have different appetites for change. Some would be fine with a new team or reorg every week. Others get stressed when it happens once a year.

But where I think many places go wrong is expecting this announcement to be a quick blip in the workday and then expecting everyone to get right back to work, without any productivity loss, as if nothing happened. At the very least, people need a little bit of time to process to figure out what it means for them and if there are any changes that are impacting them and their work. So here are a few suggestions, that can be executed at any level, to help make reorgs more palatable for your group and hopefully both allow for and diminish the productivity loss through these announcements.

Ensure the 'why' is there

I've seen varying degrees of effective high-level communications. Sometimes, these are excellent and other times they leave a lot to be desired. Additionally, depending on how much trust there is in leadership levels (or how many layers there are between individuals), the whys that are stated may need to be additionally reinforced. Make sure to provide this information to your subgroup. I'll give a couple of scenario examples:

1. Communications come from a CEO and there are 4-6 layers of managers between the CEO and individuals. If your group is more than a skip level away from whomever the communications are coming from, you should reinforce either with the same or more nuanced messaging specifically for your group(s).
2. Communications from a CEO that is only 2-3 layers of managers in between but there's a lack of trust, or the communications feel very broad and the why isn't super relatable for your subsegment. Here, you also want to provide additional communications and messaging for your group so that they aren't left guessing or filling in those blanks for themselves.

For any messaging about the why, you want to make sure it's aligned with the overall message, is as specific as possible, and reassuring. You're likely not going to win over everyone, but hopefully for the folks in that mushy middle, many of them feel better once seeing both overarching communications and messaging from you.

Help people clearly understand what is and isn't changing for them

I've said this before and I'll say it again, in the absence of a story, people will create their own. Oftentimes, that wider-reaching messaging is meant to be broad and not specific. What it means is that the more specific you get from company to department to multiple teams to single team, it doesn't feel specific enough. Some things you want to make sure to answer specifically...

• Is my day to day work changing at all?
• Are the people I work with changing at all?
• Are the expectation for me and the role I'm in changing at all?
• Is the way I do my work changing?
• Is there a new team or department mission? Beyond that, if some of this is unsure, make sure to say that and provide what answers still need to be figured out and by when (ideally) there will be some answers around any changes rolling out.

Help people rightsize the change by having a little fun with it

During periods of high growth, or high contraction, reorgs are going to be more frequent, because people are being given growth opportunities and/or it doesn't always make sense to backfill every individual. When this happens, the reorg fatigue is real and can become very disenchanting for folks. The "why" doesn't matter as much when it's happening so often and it can feel like there's constant change happening without any ability to restabilize. Sometimes, this is true, but more often than not, even though team names, structures, or other aspects may change, the actual work that's being done, processes people work with, and more, aren't actually changing that much. My goal is always to help people try to see some positives in the reorgs and also understand that maybe it's not such a big deal.

I was at one company where someone made a "reorg playlist" and whenever a reorg was announced, that playlist was posted and played. One of my favorite things to do is toss a few fun questions about change into Slack throughout the day. Things like: What's your most versatile piece of clothing? Or what's the piece of furniture in your house that has moved around the most? What's your favorite song about movement or change? Any of these can be fun ways to both recognize that people are probably less productive and having more Slack conversations day-of while also adding a bit of fun and levity to these announcements. Now, of course, one warning, when I'm talking about these fun messages, I'm referring to specific reorg announcements. If your company is announcing massive layoffs and there's a reorg announcement coupled with that, please don't try to ask fun Slack questions in that scenario.


Good luck if you're in the middle of a reorg! And if you're not, keep these in your back pocket for when you are, because it's probably just a matter of time.

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Going through a reorg and realizing that what your group really needs is time together to make decisions and just get to know each other better? Have an intro conversation with me today about designing and facilitating your next gathering. You won't regret it! Book a free chat.