Rebuilding after a restructure

Advice Employer Restructure

The ultimate goal of any restructuring process is to make a business more efficient, productive and competitive. The weeks leading up to a restructure cause a significant mental and emotional load, with focus and energy going into the planning and facilitation of conversation stages, with less emphasis often given to the final step of re-building teams.

Re-energising your team following a restructure and keeping your remaining employees engaged, motivated and productive is a critical component to the process and should not be overlooked. We all understand the risk around the loss of key team members as the unintended fallout following a process of change. A proactive, honest and consistent approach to positively contribute to the team wellbeing and culture is key.

Here are some practical tips to help begin the process of re-engaging and re-focusing individuals and teams who have just been through change:

1) Consistent Communication - have an “open door” policy and “walk the floor” as a leader, ensuring you are a visible and accessible. This allows staff to voice their concerns and ask questions. Sharing information regularly and consistently will restore calm, rebuild trust and confidence, and fill the void for negative speculation.

2) Recognise Reactions – Employee feelings can range from fear to relief. Remaining employees may feel guilty that they were able to keep their jobs, whilst some may feel anger. Provide a safe space and sufficient time for your team to come together and talk about the after-effects and recognise how each individual is feeling. Acknowledge that the restructure was difficult but necessary for the ongoing stability of the organisation.

3) Creating Clarity - Effective leadership is critical post a restructure. Employees may be unsure what they are responsible for and who they report to. Take time to provide clarity to reduce role conflict and stress. Ensure everyone is on the same page and be clear about their contribution to the organisational purpose.

4) Rebuild Trust – A mix of formal and informal team-building activities will all go a long way to creating a healthy and happy team culture. Team building activities, social events and shared experiences can help to foster camaraderie and a sense of community.

5) Resilient Mentoring & Leadership - Work to ensure that your employees can trust the company and leadership as consistent, resilient and dependable, along with being committed to developing both the team and a culture of continued excellence.

6) Readdress workload demands - Often departed employees' responsibilities are shared out amongst those remaining, causing extra pressure. Coaching, mentoring, and training is critical here to retain your top talent. Present these additional tasks as opportunities for learning and growth.

How you treat your people during tough times matters. It’s actually the recovery and beyond which is the most beneficial and influential factor rather than the process itself. These processes are often a necessary part of the evolution of business, they are challenging to go through, emotional and disruptive for all. The key element to rebuilding is how well you look after your people, to recover and grow post-restructure. This is where the value is added and will determine the success around your process of change.