A Restructuring Checklist: Manage It Like a Marriage, Not the Wedding
Tanya White
Marketing Paratrooper | Interim CMO & Fractional Marketing Mentor | Operating Advisor & Board Member
[This is the TL:DR version of the full-length article available for free on Medium; Original Photography by Tanya White, Half Moon Bay, California]
Restructures are tough work. A reduction in force (RIF) or mass layoff is even tougher. You need in-depth plans for how much needs to be cut and where, which functional teams will support customers more effectively, and which business lines no longer fit the business strategy. Executive leadership must agree on the restructure philosophy: what are we trying to accomplish with these changes and how do we want to navigate them?
Your entire business will be impacted, either directly or through distraction. A refreshed structure, a renewed focus on the market, this is an exciting time. This is when you jettison pieces of the business that no longer fit your strategy and work towards the RIF/restructure day when you get to tell everyone what you've been working on for months: it's the Tell Everyone Day (TED).
The TED typically gets all the attention, like a wedding does, when it is just the beginning of an exciting new era, just like the marriage.?This is a restructuring checklist, for after the announcement.?
Customer Coverage: Convert the Retention Exercise into Relationship Deepening
The common tactic is to ensure proper coverage, especially for key accounts, and arm those newly assigned reps with talking points and access to history of activity with the customer. Think a little deeper, does the new rep have the product and industry knowledge that will win your potentially-concerned customer over? Have you thought beyond the initial outreach informing of relationship changes and the transition time for the customer to believe in your team again, is a renewal around the corner? Anticipate the worst reactions with a 911 “what if” playbook and be ready with your response before you are faced with the emergency situation. Items to consider:?
Marketing Activities: Master Future Funnel Revenue
Your marketing team is probably running full-steam executing against the current strategy. Conduct an impact assessment, help marketing understand how messaging, targeting and TAM change as a result of the new approach to market. Key contributors to marketing campaigns, like speakers and product experts, may have left the business, consider coverage for conferences and all events, have a backup plan to either replace key personnel or walk away from the activity. Items to consider:
Account Assignments: Don’t Let Your Pipeline Stumble
After the TED announcement is made, sales managers will need to manage handoffs to avoid lost revenue and stalled deals. Get that spreadsheet ready to map important accounts and who is taking them over. Have you thought about the salesops support required to implement all the changes, how long it might take, are the instructions clear, or even better, is it a time to reevaluate pipeline processes? (SAL is a must-have for B2B companies). Inbound leads and high priority demo requests will keep coming in (if your website is performing!) regardless of what’s happening internally. Your action plan can be “for now”, don’t get bogged down worrying about longer-term decisions, for now, the priority is not to let those marketing investments go stale unwittingly. Items to consider:??
Recruiting: To Open, or Close, That is the Question
Hiring doesn’t necessarily stop during a restructure. In fact in some cases, it’s the opposite. As a business sheds underperforming products or business units, it bolsters those it intends to expand. Items to consider:
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Internal Communication: Be the Change Visionary
Be prepared to over-communicate and have a robust plan that engages all levels of your organization. This is an enormous and fundamental change management opportunity. Develop a plan to get remaining employees on board with the new strategy. Hold practice sessions with management teams to rehearse messaging. Consider all message formats, complementing traditional meetings and emails with fireside chats and video messages, that can be effective and easy to create. Items to consider:
External Communication: In Your Face vs. Under the Radar
You may decide to support the restructuring activity with an official announcement, like a press release or media blitz. No matter what, word WILL get out. People impacted by the restructure will speak to their friends and professional network (see next section about treating employees and partners right). Are you ready for it, if things get ugly? Items to consider:
Balance an Operational Mindset with Empathy
Think ahead about which work streams must be shifted and which can be…well, left behind, or at a minimum, stalled. Your entire business will be impacted, either directly or through distraction. This is a change event and those changes are significant. Lead with empathy, generosity, and kindness throughout the process—for those who remain and those departing. After all, boomerang hires comprise up to 30% of new hires, and your recruiting strategy may need these people or someone from their network in the future. Be as generous as possible and make the process fluid and easy. Items to consider:?
*Original Photography by Tanya White, Half Moon Bay, California
About Tanya
Tanya is a growth advisor and marketing paratrooper for B2B technology companies in transition. The fundamentals are key during high periods of change and can help any marketing team transition with remarkable success. Let’s get focused. Let’s get growing.
Read all my articles on Medium, written with enormous thanks to Stephen Castillo , a brilliant copywriter who helps me bring my knowledge to you.
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2 个月To extend the relationship/marriage analogy, there’s also a lot of misunderstandings, miscommunications, confusion, and hurt feelings in these situations