We need to restructure our delivery department to prepare for our eventual exit, but we want to do this without laying off any of our tenured staff. How do we redesign our Accountability Chart based on optimal structure without creating panic or losing our best people?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must separate the structure of the organization from the personalities of your people. This is the hardest part of building an exit ready superstructure. Start by locking your leadership team in a room and blanking out the Accountability Chart. Do not look at your current payroll. Design the ideal structure that will get you to your three year target and make the business highly attractive to a buyer. Once you have defined the true seats and their key responsibilities, only then do you look at your people. Run every team member through the GWC™ tool (Get it, Want it, Capacity to do it) and your core values. You will likely find that some tenured staff no longer fit their current seats in the new structure. Instead of laying them off, look for other open seats on the newly designed chart where their unique abilities and core values alignment make them a perfect fit. If a loyal employee GWC's a different seat, move them there. If they do not GWC any seat in the new structure, you must have an honest conversation. Keeping someone in a seat they cannot succeed in just to avoid a hard decision is unfair to them and damaging to your exit value. Be transparent about where the company is going and help them transition.