Coping with a Restructure: 6 Essential Steps
Restructures are horrible. There I said it.
But there’s no getting away from them. As the rate of change in our world continues to accelerate, companies are restructuring more than ever before, and it WILL keep happening.
I’ve been through it too, more than once.
Even late last year the company I work for announced a restructure, just 3 months after I’d joined them. I still remember the wave of dread that came over me as the man on the call read from his official script: “The role of Scrum Master doesn’t exist in our new organisation”. “Oh Sh*t”, I thought.
Here are some tried and tested ways of coping with a restructure from my own experience of getting through them, more than once.
1: Acceptance is key
The quicker you can accept that it is what it is, and it’s happening, the easier it will be for you. Regardless of whether you think the company is making the right or wrong choice about it, it’s happening anyway. Acceptance will be easier for you than spending the next few months wasting your energy, being resistant to the change.
Remember, in life, everything has a cost.
Whether you’re working in an organisation where you get paid holidays, share schemes private medical, generous pensions along with your pay, or a company where you are paid and not much else. It all comes at a cost. Control.
You are not in control of deciding whether or not a restructure is going to happen, you sacrificed that when you accepted the pay check.
The quicker you accept the restructure is happening, the more energy you can put into positive things.
2: It’s not you, its them.
When the powers that be are deciding on a restructure, they aren’t looking at individuals, they are looking at numbers. Numbers do not have feelings, family circumstances or bills to pay, they are just numbers.
It’s nothing to do with your ability to do your job, your skills, or who you are as a person.
In the recent restructure that experienced, I initially took that fact that they were getting rid of Scrum Masters personally. It felt a bit like them saying “You know all that hard work you do? Well, we don’t care.”
In a way that is true, they don’t care, because the decision is based on the numbers.
Don’t take a decision that’s based on numbers personally, it’s only you that will suffer.
3: Do something for yourself
Sometimes restructures can take time to be put in place after they are announced, especially big ones. I know the one I’ve experienced recently felt it took, and still is taking, forever.
If you’re looking ahead and it’s going to be the best part of 3 months until the consultation period is complete, never mind the new organisation going live, have a think about what YOU could do with that time for YOU.
If you’re at risk, don’t sit and wait.
Update your CV. You could even apply for jobs if you see any that are interesting. At least then you’d have a few irons in the fire if the worst happened. Reach out to a few trusted people you know in your network; you never know what opportunities could come out of those conversations. Do a course and learn a new skill, you could open up a whole new career path.
Try not to sit around waiting, doing something is always better than nothing.
4: Keep a look out for opportunities
Change always brings opportunities. Keep you mind open so you can spot them.
You never know where the people in your immediate network will end up as part of the re-org, keep in touch with them, they might just end up in a new team where there are new opportunities for you.
You might even get the chance to step into a more senior role once the dust has settled and the inevitable gaps that have been left become clear.
Keep an open mind, you never know what could be around the corner.
5: Embrace the learning curve
If there are new ways of working coming into force, get ahead of the curve and commit to learning all the new ways as quickly as you can. Be in a position where you can help others who are struggling, don’t get left behind.
The ability to help others can be a really rewarding experience even if they are in your your mind “easy things”. For the people you’re helping they aren’t and I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.
Learning is how you grow.
6: Be patient
Be patient with yourself, your colleagues, and the business.
Whilst the number crunching makes sense on paper, it doesn’t into account the impact on individuals. You can expect things to slow down. If, like me, you find this difficult, prepare for it and practice the skill of patience.
Find other ways to let of steam about your frustrations when everything feels like it’s going nowhere. Points 3 and 5 can be a good place to start. If people around you still haven’t got their head around point 1 though, you’ll have a long way to go.
Make patience your top skill.
Are you in the middle of a restructure and struggling? Or facing into redundancy?
You don’t need to go it alone.
My tailored coaching programme will support you while you’re coping with a restructure; through all the ups and downs. Take time to prioritise yourself you can read more about it here:
