Navigating Organizational Restructuring: The Least Bad Approach

Over the past 18 months, many New Zealand organisations—from government departments to private enterprises—have undergone significant restructuring due to shifting economic and political realities. These changes affect everyone, from executives making tough decisions to middle managers implementing them, to frontline staff experiencing the direct impact.

This article explores how managers and executives can best support their teams through restructuring. While frontline staff often bear the heaviest burden, leadership plays a crucial role in guiding teams with clarity, care, and integrity.

The Impossible Position

Restructuring presents immense challenges at every level. Executives must make decisions that profoundly impact people's livelihoods while ensuring organisational survival. Middle managers, meanwhile, must implement strategies they had little or no role in shaping, with targets they didn’t set and timelines they can’t control—yet they must champion these changes convincingly. The challenge at every level is the same: how to be honest about difficult realities while maintaining stability and support.

How leadership navigates this tension directly affects both individual well-being and organisational resilience. Clear communication, empathy, and consistency help people manage change. There may be no perfect approach, but getting it less wrong is a meaningful goal.

When Authenticity Meets Company Directives

During restructuring, leaders often receive conflicting directives—be transparent yet adhere to approved messaging. Executives and managers frequently know more than they can share, creating a delicate balancing act as employees seek clarity and reassurance.

The challenge is to navigate this tension without fueling unnecessary fear or eroding trust. Excessive caution leads to secrecy, while too much openness can create anxiety. Leaders must focus on clear, honest communication that acknowledges uncertainty without amplifying it.

Avoiding corporate jargon, being present, and recognizing emotional responses as valid all help. Getting leadership right during restructuring isn't about finding perfect solutions—it’s about making difficult choices with integrity and staying true to core values. It’s about remaining visible when instinct might suggest retreat and acknowledging uncertainty without allowing it to become an excuse for poor communication.

Communicating Change: Honesty with Compassion

One of the hardest balances to strike is between honesty and compassion. People deserve the truth, especially when their livelihoods are at stake—but truth without sensitivity can be cruel.

This means acknowledging difficult realities without amplifying fear, providing context without justifying the unjustifiable, and allowing space for grief and anger without letting these emotions dominate the workplace.

Employees facing potential job loss are experiencing a deeply unsettling time. They don’t need to be told how to behave; they need space and understanding. When someone’s professional identity and financial security are threatened, their responses—whether withdrawal, anger, or distress—are natural. Effective leadership acknowledges this reality and adjusts expectations accordingly.

Language matters. Terms like "rightsizing" might sound reasonable in a boardroom but feel empty to someone losing their job. Direct, empathetic communication—such as "We’re reducing our workforce by 15% due to significant revenue decline"—builds more trust than euphemisms ever could.

Leaders should also distinguish between hard truths that require immediate sharing and speculative concerns that can wait. "I don’t know yet, but I’ll find out" fosters more trust than vague reassurances. Acknowledging pain before offering silver linings allows people to process change more authentically.

Hope doesn’t require minimizing reality. It lies in how challenges are met: treating departing employees with dignity, providing clear paths for those who remain, and demonstrating that while the organization is changing, its core values around people need not be compromised.

When the Dust Settles

After restructuring, organizations settle into a new normal. The speed and success of this transition depend largely on how leadership conducted itself during the process.

Leading through restructuring is one of the toughest challenges a leader can face. There is no perfect way to do it, but leading with empathy, transparency, and fairness helps maintain trust and stability. While difficult decisions cannot be undone, how they are handled determines whether the organization and its people can move forward together.

Support for Leaders

3 Big Things provides tailored training, 1:1 coaching, and strategic support for leaders navigating restructuring or managing tough conversations. If you’re looking for support, get in touch—we’re here to help.