The Seven Steps of a Successful Restructure

It’s been a tumultuous time over the past few years, and that means every business has had to adapt and change. As we know this can be exciting but also challenging. As a leader this means restructures, shifts in senior leadership, and changes to roles within the business.

Change is necessary and can be great, but the change process itself can be difficult and if you get it wrong the risks are high.?

Mishandling can disrupt your culture and morale, cause you to lose people, or open you up to personal grievance. At Sprout we want to help you and your leaders do right by your people. Drawing from our work with many of the growing businesses you know, here are some key insights to help you effectively navigate change within your business.??

Why Restructure?

There are many reasons but they always boil down to the current organisational structure isn’t fit for purpose. Common drivers for this are a downturn in work, financial reasons, business growth,?and a refocus of roles for greater efficiency/productivity.?

You shouldn't restructure to deal with Performance issues OR remove an employee from the business - it should always be about the role - not the person.?

10 Best Practice Tips for a successful Restructure

1. An employer has the right to propose changes to an employee, but they must have genuine reasons and must?act in good faith.??
2. While it is a formal process with formal documentation, deliver the message in a respectful manner and?show empathy.?What is challenged most often is the process rather than the rationale - so always follow the process.
3. Job descriptions are important!?These are relied on when disestablishing roles and creating new roles. The rule of thumb is that the new role needs to show 20% change from the existing role.?
4. Once you have made a role redundant, you can’t then decide in a month to recruit for that role. So plan any changes carefully with a clear overall design for your business.?
5. The Employer must have a genuine business reason for the restructure and be able to back this up e.g. you can’t just say “we’re losing money” or “we forecast massive growth so we need to hire a more senior/experienced role” and leave it at that.?There needs to be data to support the rationale.?
6. Redundancy should be the last option,?the employer must seek to redeploy where they can. Failure to do so could result in claims of unjustified dismissal.
7. Duly consider all feedback. Don’t rush the process, allow plenty of time for the employee to digest the info and provide feedback.The outcome should never be predetermined.
8. If your business requires change, look at the bigger picture and where possible?carry out all change in one go?as it can cause a lot of disruption and impact negatively on culture.
9. As hard as it is - remove the emotion and?look at things objectively.
10. Restructures should never be about the person, it’s always about the role.

The 4 key ways to mitigate the risks that come with a restructure

1. Follow the process!
2. Have a solid/genuine reason
3. Use a reasonable timeframe
4. Act in good faith?

Seven Steps to Organisational Change

Navigating change can be daunting and it can be risky, however these shouldn’t be reasons to not do it as at the end of the day, for your business to succeed you need to have an organisational structure that is fit for purpose now and for the future.

It can be an emotionally-charged time for both parties, so reach out to us for an experienced partner that can take you through the process and be an objective voice. If you have any questions, we are here to help.??

Download the guide below for a step by step overview of the organisational change process. If content like this is helpful to you follow our?Linkedin page?to get notified.?

>> Get The Guide

If you need help with navigating an organisational change or a tricky restructure reach out to our employee relations and change management specialist Kaylene Froggatt .