Leading In Organization-Induced Chaos

It is common in most larger organizations to restructure from time to time. These restructures are generally carried out for the right reasons, but are too often ill-conceived in terms of how much value they will generate, when weighed against the disruption, cost, and uncertainty that come as a by-product of the restructure.

Most often, a big part of the justification for restructuring is reducing cost by making a number of roles being made redundant. Any redundancy decisions may seem irrational, when looking up from below. And even if they do appear sensible, they create a lot of angst, as sometimes very good people are moved on.

Regardless of the objectives of the restructure, and the perceived rationality and effectiveness of the decisions, you are often the one left with executing the decisions… it’s up to you to convey the bad news.

In the chaos that often ensues, it’s important to take accountability for managing the outcomes to the best of your ability. You should be a beacon of stability and hope for your team.

Here are my nine top tips for getting this right:

1. If you’re the one deciding which roles are made redundant (and therefore which people no longer have a job) you should be the one to face the individual in this conversation. Don’t palm it off to HR, or one of your lower level leaders to do your dirty work for you. You’ll get a lot of credit for shouldering this responsibility personally
2. Rehearse what you’re going to say and what questions they might ask. Be ready to answer them intelligently, and have your facts straight before you go in
3. Always try to do it in person. The tyranny of distance, and our growing comfort with video conferencing shouldn’t give you a false sense of security. Don’t hide behind a Zoom camera. If possible, you should give each person the respect of looking them in the eye when delivering potentially life-changing news.
4. Be prepared for their reaction. There are potentially a number of these: anger, joy, shock, denial, acceptance, tears, arguments, or the worst…total silence
5. Be sensitive to timing. I’ve seen this done on a Friday afternoon – tagged on to the end of a regular weekly catch up meeting. You leave the person hanging over the weekend with no emotional support structure, not knowing what to tell their families and friends.
6. Don’t be in the room alone for this discussion. You can get caught out with ‘he said / she said’ situations when people claim you have offered them things you haven’t. Often, they’re not in an emotional state to take things in properly, so you’d ideally have someone else there with you. HR people are best, if one is available, as long as you don’t abrogate your responsibility for leading the conversation to them.
7. Go into the meeting with something that the employee can take away in writing so that things are clear. The only thing they want to know is what does this mean for me….so be ready to answer that exact question no matter what. Most people don’t hear anything after you say “your role is being made redundant”, so make it easy for them to sort it out once the dust settles.
8. Maintain confidentiality to the greatest extent possible. I know this sounds obvious but DON’T tell other people before you tell the impacted employee (other than the few select leaders in your organization that need to know)
9. Never make this about you. I have heard leaders say “this is the toughest thing I’ve ever done. Well, guess what? No one cares! You’re not losing your job, your tem member is!