Five things to check before you redraw the chart

Reorganisations are the most expensive way to avoid a conversation. Before you move a single box, here are the five checks that tell you whether structure is really the problem.

Overview

A new chart changes reporting lines. It does not change whether two directors can be in a room together, and it never changes what your customers experience for at least two quarters.

Check one: name the behaviour you want to stop

If you cannot say it in a sentence, the structure is not the cause.

Check two: count the conversations you have avoided

Reorganisations are often the polite version of three overdue conversations. Have them first and see what is left.

Checks three to five

Who loses status and have you told them yourself; what breaks for customers in the first sixty days; and what you will measure in month four to know whether it worked.