31. Why Reorgs Don't Work

At Work with The Ready

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14d ago 49:45

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It’s reorg season…again. And for many companies, it always is. Every 12 to 18 months, another wave of layoffs, leadership swaps, and org chart redraws rolls through the system. And yet, little changes. Strategy stalls. Trust erodes. Work doesn’t get better, just messier. So why do so many organizations keep reaching for the reorg lever first?

This week, Rodney and Sam unpack the seductive logic (and systemic failure) of reorgs as a change strategy. They dig into why structure work always feels like the fastest, most visible move a leader can make and why it so rarely delivers. Along the way, they explore the very real fallout of these moves on culture, trust, and performance, and offer smarter starting points for those considering a shake-up.

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Mentioned references:

The Ready's OS Canvas
"16% of reorgs deliver the expected value"
Sunshine, Twilight, and Midnight Zones: The Ready's Depthfinding
"layoffs episode": Brave New Work Ep. 152
Team Topologies, 2019 book by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais
holacracy
sociocracy
"retention increase if you have a best friend at work"
"new job is one of the most stressful life events": Holmes and Rahe stress scale, see combined score of “dismissal from work”, “change to different line of work”, and “Change in responsibilities at work”
DAO Miniseries
"Jeff Williams departure"
"value flow mapping"
Haier and micro-enterprises

00:00 Intro + Check-In: What feature is really important in your living space?

03:27 The Pattern: Orgs trapped in a cycle of endless reorgs

05:15 The fastest, most visible sign of change a CEO can show to a board or investors

09:55 Structure work should always come last, but most people do it first

12:22 Reorgs to hit a number come at the expense of workflow, culture, and strategy

19:07 Stop changing the structure without touching the ways of working

22:19 Fundamental components of structure work

25:14 How The Ready approached it’s own reorg

26:34 Fallout of bad reorgs on your team and culture

31:17 Companies underestimate the stress of reorgs on individuals

34:40 Hot takes: org structure in the age of AI; legal OS around restructuring

38:15 Idea 1: Use reorgs to recalibrate roles back to defaults

39:42 Idea 2: Value flow map your company before considering a standard reorg

42:53 Idea 3: Test new structure in parts of phases, not everything all at once

44:30 Idea 4: Accept that some centralization is required

47:50 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your coworkers!

Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Coupe Studios⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

236 episodes

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