5 Things Leaders Should Never Do When Re-organizing a Company (like Twitter)5 Things Leaders Should Never Do
In today’s world, change is inevitable. Organizations need to quickly adapt how they organize themselves while keeping in mind that the ultimate goal is their customers’ success.
The news about Twitter went viral about what their new” Chief Twit” was to do. As the news has come out, some people have offered their critique, but some might say that chaos is inevitable.
As a Change & Culture Consultant, I would say these are five things I would never do when re-organizing:
1. Immediately removing the leaders and tribal chiefs: They have a crucial role in keeping everyone’s spirits up. People want to hear both the good and the bad from the leaders they trust and with whom they have relationships. Leaders can be formal and informal (the latter I like calling tribal chiefs), and they make a huge difference in the workplace culture!
2. Focus on the facts and business results only: We get it. The business needs to survive, and tough decisions have to be made. But people are the ones who bring the business results. You are set up for failure if you don’t consider the people who will be let go, their feelings, and what they need. Forgetting to focus on the people who remain and will likely suffer from ‘survival guilt,’ you are bound to create an anxious and toxic work environment where there is no trust amongst anyone on the team.
3. Keep people in the dark: If you want people to feel you manage a difficult change, or any change, with respect and integrity, you need to start communicating as soon as legally possible, focusing on first the why, then describe what is changing and how it will happen, in details.
4. Put a positive spin around retrenchments: while not every change brings about positive outcomes, people need to hear the truth, yet in an empathetic way. Leaders who dare to be vulnerable and show it is not easy to be the face of every change will do this much better than leaders who appear emotionless and cold.
5. Fire and then re-hire: I have seen it many times! Quickly making decisions to get the numbers in ‘better’ shape and then realizing it was a mistake, we still need those people. Let people go with grace and gratitude as Stripe did in this example (https://stripe.com/en-gb-nl/newsroom/news/ceo-patrick-collisons-email-to-stripe-employees)!
There is no ‘one size fits all’ solution for a massive re-organization.
Still, there are pointers to remember how to balance the rational and emotional journeys we, leaders and employees, go through.
If you want more information on how large multinational companies can effectively manage change in the workplace, be sure to download this chapter of my forthcoming book Change Matters.
In it, I elaborate on the experiences the top leaders had, the emotional upheaval before they were to become the face of this demanding transformation program of letting go 80% of their employees, and how they managed to find a way to do it all with respect and integrity.
Click here to start reading this chapter from Change Matters to gain insights that every leader needs: https://margittakacs.com/share/ .
Margit