Organisational restructuring is one of the most challenging experiences a leader can face. It combines professional uncertainty about their own role with the responsibility of supporting team members through an equally unsettling period. Leaders are expected to champion changes they may not agree with, to maintain team morale while people are losing their jobs, and to deliver business results while the organisation around them is being dismantled and rebuilt. Coaching during restructuring provides a rare space where the leader can be honest about their experience and develop strategies for leading through the disruption.
Supporting the Leader's Own Response
Before a leader can effectively support their team through restructuring, they need to process their own response. Many leaders suppress their personal reactions because they believe they need to appear strong and confident. This suppression is understandable but unsustainable. The emotions will find expression somewhere, whether in irritability with family, insomnia, poor decision-making, or a detached leadership style that team members experience as cold and uncaring.
Create space in coaching sessions for the leader to express what they are actually feeling. Are they anxious about their own position? Are they angry about decisions they consider wrong? Are they grieving the loss of colleagues and the organisation they knew? Are they exhausted from the sustained effort of managing through uncertainty? These are all legitimate responses that deserve to be heard without judgement.
Once the leader has acknowledged their emotional reality, they are better positioned to manage it constructively. Help them identify which aspects of the situation they can influence and which they cannot. Focus their energy on the former while developing acceptance of the latter. This distinction, borrowed from the Stoic tradition, is particularly valuable during restructuring, where the temptation to fight every battle can be overwhelming.
Leading the Team Through Uncertainty
The leader's team will be looking to them for reassurance, information, and direction during restructuring. Coach the client to communicate with honesty and compassion. This means sharing what they know, acknowledging what they do not know, and being transparent about the timeline and process for decisions that affect the team.
Help the leader resist the temptation to provide false reassurance. Telling the team that everything will be fine when the outcome is genuinely uncertain damages credibility and creates cynicism. A more honest approach, acknowledging the uncertainty while expressing confidence in the team's ability to navigate it, builds trust even when the news is uncomfortable.
Encourage the leader to increase the frequency of communication during restructuring, even when there is nothing new to report. Silence creates a vacuum that anxiety fills with worst-case scenarios. Regular check-ins, even brief ones, signal that the leader is present and engaged, which provides a measure of stability in an unstable environment.
Making Difficult Decisions
Restructuring often requires leaders to make decisions about who stays and who goes, about which functions are retained and which are eliminated, and about how resources are allocated in the new structure. These decisions carry enormous weight, both professionally and personally.
Coach the client to approach these decisions with rigour and compassion. Help them develop clear criteria for decisions rather than making them on an ad hoc basis. Ensure they have sought diverse perspectives before reaching conclusions. And help them prepare for the conversations that follow, particularly the difficult task of telling someone that their role has been eliminated.
Role-play these conversations in coaching sessions. Help the client find language that is honest, respectful, and compassionate without being evasive or patronising. The quality of these conversations has a lasting impact on the people involved and on the leader's own sense of integrity.
Rebuilding After Restructuring
Once the immediate disruption has passed, the leader faces the equally challenging task of rebuilding. The team that emerges from restructuring is different from the one that entered it. Some members are new, others are carrying survivor guilt, and trust may have been damaged by the process.
Coach the leader to invest deliberately in rebuilding team cohesion, clarifying roles and expectations, and creating a renewed sense of purpose. Help them acknowledge what has been lost as well as what has been gained, and to create space for the team to process their collective experience before moving forward.