Stop Surviving Reorgs. Start Winning Them

So you are going through a reorg now what? Everyone is worried about their job. But a golden opportunity is hiding in plain sight. In this episode, I cover how to jump ahead of your peers during a reorg.

Timestamps

2:33 – Don’t Resist: You can’t fight a reorg. Just embrace it.

5:58 – Reinvent Yourself: Use your reorg as a chance to break bad habits and take risks.

10:28 – Build Trust With New Leadership: The faster you build trust, the further you move up. 

12:47 – Be a Vision Translator: Become a key influencer of the reorg and watch what it does to your career. 

15:35 – Challenge: Ask yourself 3 questions. What is senior leadership trying to accomplish? Where is there currently a gap? What could I personally do to fill the gap?

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Transcript

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New Boss Reality Check

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So my new boss walks into my office and asks me why my sales numbers suck. My company had just gone through a major re-org a couple of weeks prior, and this was going to be our first meeting. Now, my numbers had not been great that quarter, if I'm being honest. We'd been spending the bulk of our time trying to fix our operational gaps. And it was working because on our most recent audit, we actually scored 95%, which was considered excellent. So we're going over the numbers, and my new boss tells me she's really concerned about my performance. I start to defend what we've been doing and tell her about all of our awesome operational results. She pauses for a second and says, Austin, I don't really care about how well your audit went. If you aren't able to hit your sales numbers, maybe you weren't the right fit for this role. I immediately get flustered and start defending my value, but I can see it on her face. She doesn't want to hear it. As I drive home that day, I catch my reflection in the rearview mirror. I think to myself, well, Austin, all you've done in the past doesn't mean crap to this new person. This reorg was happening whether I was ready for it or not. And I wasn't alone in feeling that way. Research from Harvard Business Review found that reorgs cause more stress and anxiety than actual layoffs, and productivity drops noticeably in 60% of cases. So today, I'm going to talk about how to handle a re-org like a pro and actually come out better on the other side. This is your host, Austin Hopkins, and welcome to the Introvert Leader Podcast.

Nostalgia And Quick Follow Ask

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Okay, August was pretty cool. My wife was on sabbatical, and we got to spend a ton of time together doing all of our favorite stuff. And a few weeks back, we went and saw Coyote versus Acme. It's that new movie with Will Forte and John Cena, starring all the classic Looney Tune characters I grew up with. And I can't remember the last time I laughed this hard at a movie. I kind of felt like a kid again. And the entire theater was people 30 years or older, and we were all dying. My wife and I have been quoting the lines the entire week. And I'm curious, is there any cartoon that you totally associate with your childhood? Hey, I really appreciate you listening to the show. And the best way to support me is to subscribe. So do me a favor, click the follow button so you don't miss any content this year.

Reorg Mindset Stop Resisting

SPEAKER_00 2:14

So I'd be willing to bet a thousand bucks that at some point during your career you're gonna go through a re-org at your company. Now most people are gonna look at this situation from a place of fear. Everyone else is trying to protect their position during a re-org. You should be looking for the ways to improve yours. So settle in, it's time to learn something. Don't resist. When we experience something new, why is it our first reaction to resist it? We ask ourselves questions like, is my new boss gonna see my value? Will this new boss like me? Are they gonna help me with my career goals? What if I can't handle the new culture? What's gonna happen to my new job? Am I safe? Do I have to start from zero? What kind of opportunities does this close or open for me? We immediately go into the worst case scenario and look at everything that can go wrong. We resist a change that is already happening regardless of whether or not we feel ready for it. So

John And Gary Choose Your Approach

SPEAKER_00 3:04

I want to tell you a quick story. There was an account servicing team that helped customers troubleshoot in-process account applications. Now they were a service-only team for years. Their only priority was to provide service support. But one day, the senior leadership team decided a re-org made sense and that I would take over the new team. Now their role would need to evolve, and they would now have sales expectations. So I remember one of the reps resisted hard. John openly said he didn't think he could do it. He dragged his feet and talked about maybe moving to another team. For months, he was kind of quiet and unsure of what that re-org would mean for him. Here is why resisting doesn't work. Resisting a re-org is pointless. You have zero control over your company's re-org. You can be sad about it, you can be scared, you can have anxiety. The re-org doesn't care about your feelings. So while you're feeling sorry for yourself, you're actually painting a target on your back. You are showing the leader around you that you can't handle change. This doesn't help your career in any way. I know that's a tough pill to swallow, but that's the truth. People don't respond well to resistors. They want to see early adopters. Here's what you can do instead of resisting. So on that service account team, there was another guy, Gary. He was very new. He had been on the team for less than a year, I believe. And I remember that during our first team meeting, he looked really unsure about the changes, but he wasn't resisting. He asked what my expectations were and whether or not I was going to train him to be successful. It was like he accepted the re-org was happening and decided to just lean into it. Now, during our first quarter together, he did two things that instantly made him stand out. So the first thing Gary did is he asked for help with the changes. Gary didn't just struggle in silence. He asked for training and help. And it worked because he got good fast, like freaky fast. Actually, within a month, he exceeded my sales expectations and made a big splash in the department. The second thing Gary did is he felt the fear, but he did it anyway. Most people let the fear of something new overtake everything. He didn't. Now I won't say he wasn't still nervous, but he was going to jump in headfirst and figure it out. And my wife and I have a saying in our house, we're scared, but we do it anyways. We use this for interviews, for big risks in my business, whatever it is, that's our motto. It's okay and actually normal to be scared, but fear isn't an excuse to not at least take a risk and put yourself out there. Over the next six months, Gary killed it. I watched him consistently get out of his comfort zone and figure out how to be effective. And he ran circles around John, to be honest. But I'm happy to share that eventually John did figure it out. He watched Gary and realized if he could do it, so could he. Now, when I look back at that team, I'm really proud of both of them, but I wonder how much further John could have gone had he not resisted the re-org and just leaned into it. What you resist persists. So do yourself a favor and don't waste time stressing about something you can't control. Instead, use this as an opportunity to reinvent yourself. So let's

Reinvent Yourself By Breaking Bad Habits

SPEAKER_00 5:59

talk about reinventing yourself. Whenever a big shakeup happens at work, nobody thinks about the positive. We go right to the negatives. What's gonna go wrong? Why the change won't work? Why I think it's a bad idea. But what if the re-org was actually an opportunity hiding in plain sight? A chance to change our path, our reputation, our habits. From my experience leading for over a decade, I've noticed that the people who navigate reorgs the best use this time for reinvention. So let's talk about three simple ways to use this uncomfortable moment to your advantage. So the first thing you can do is break bad habits. The longer we do the same thing, the easier it is to keep doing it. We don't start off with bad habits, right? But over time we cut corners, we get lazy, and then one day we wake up with a list of habits that don't serve or help us. So when a re-org happens at your job, think of it as a cool chance to break those habits. I'm talking about the bad habits you've been ignoring for years because you didn't think they were important enough to change. So what's a bad habit you know you have? I bet if I asked you this right now, you could tell me one. Is it not following through? Is it gossiping? Is it doing the bare minimum? For me, it was not inspecting what I was expecting. I thought if I hired the right people and told them what I needed them to do, they would just do it. Unfortunately, this doesn't work in leadership. You can trust your people all you want, but if you don't validate your expectations in the wild, it ain't good. Stuff gets missed, and then you go about your day thinking everything is great when it isn't. So I remember we had this re-org, and my new boss noticed that I could talk the talk, but he asked why my results didn't match my expectations. And I realized this was a bad habit I needed to change. All of us have bad habits. When a re-org happens, everything is changing around us, and we have a built-in opportunity to get rid of those bad habits. This is our chance to label what we know we shouldn't be doing and change it. So use this moment to do what you know you need to do.

Change Your Reputation Then Take Risks

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Another cool opportunity is to change people's perception of you. If you've worked at your company for any length of time, you have a reputation at your work. People know and expect certain things from you based on all the times you've shown them who you are. Now, when a major re-org happens, the slate is kind of wiped clean to an extent. This is a moment to change what people think of you and what they associate you with. While everyone is busy freaking out with the uncertainty, imagine if you quietly changed how you showed up. So here's a quick example from my own career. I remember when my company changed the leadership structure for my area, and I used this chance to change my rep. Previously, I was kind of known as the guy who was slow to change. Now I'd been at the company for a decade at this point, so I was a little bitter about change, to be honest with you. I liked my routine, I liked my security, I liked predictability, but I figured this was a chance for me to change my rep. We had a change management consultant come in as a part of the leadership re-org, and he gave a talk about change and why we resist it. And I remember sitting in that meeting and feeling like he was talking directly to me. It actually made me feel embarrassed. So I decided that when the new leadership team asked for us to start something new, I was gonna be the first person to get on board, the first person to raise my hand. And at first I felt like an actor kind of faking it, and I didn't like the change. But over the next year, I started to get more comfortable with it. All right, another really cool opportunity is to take a big risk. So when a re-org happens, the company changes how it operates, and that creates opportunities. Gaps are gonna emerge that the senior leadership team has overlooked. Gaps to streamline communication, gaps to improve efficiencies, gaps to maximize revenue, gaps to add value. So, what if you studied what they were trying to accomplish and you took a risk to help fill a gap that needs filling? Most people I've worked with think this is the time to play it safe. Keep their heads down and not rock the boat. I'm curious, what might happen if you did the opposite? All right, let me kick you a scenario. Let's say your company hires a new head of operations. He's from the outside, he's bold, and he wants to cut costs across the board. Now everyone wants to hold on to what they have. They're focused on self-preservation instead of buying into the new vision. What if you raised your hand and shared an idea to eliminate duplicate work in the org? You've been seeing multiple teams doing the same thing, and yet no one is doing anything about it. You share your idea to keep one team accountable from start to finish. Now, my gut tells me the new head of operations would get pumped with an idea like this. When we reinvent ourselves, we take our game to the next level, right? We show the people around us that we can get out of our comfort zone. And senior leaders want to see growth from their top performers, and the fastest way to get on their radar is to build trust with your new boss quickly.

Earn Trust With New Leaders

SPEAKER_00 10:28

So let's talk about it. Build trust with new leadership fast. Do you want to know a weird secret? Your boss feels just as uncomfortable with the re-org as you do. They want things to work, but they don't know if it will. They want their new team to respect and like them. So an easy way to stand out is to be the first to build trust with a new leadership team. And I want to share a couple of ways how to do it. So the first way you can do it is ask for help. So, quick story. I took over this team a few years ago. One of the guys on the team had been there the longest and was a natural-born sales guy. Everybody loved him and he was consistently hitting his goals. And I remember I went out with him on a sales meeting early on. At the end, we recapped how it went. And I'll never forget he asked me how I would have approached one of the client's objections. Now I knew this guy could have easily handled this objection just like the others he did during the meeting, but he humbled himself and asked for my help. Now, from that day on, he had my trust. He showed me he respected me enough to ask for help. This was a classy move that I'm never gonna forget. P.S. Dave, if you were listening, you got my respect, brother. So could you let your guard down for a chance to earn trust? Another great way to build trust fast with your new boss is to solve a problem for them. So after a reward, their leadership team faces a whole bunch of new problems and changes. They're learning new stuff and trying to get results at the same time, which is stressful, right? Imagine you solve a problem for them quickly. There may not be a better way to build trust with them. I took over this new office back in 2014. And my co-leader knew I was struggling with operations. My ADHD brain had trouble staying organized. If you have ADHD, you know what I'm talking about. Within the first week, she created a daily task list that she and I could reference to make sure all of our operational processes had a repeatable framework. Without my asking, she solved the problem that I had. To this day, I still think of her as the best co-leader I have ever worked with. So I gotta ask you, what's one problem you could solve for your boss without them asking? So by now you probably realize that the senior leadership team holds the keys to your career success. If you want help figuring out your specific move during your re-org, I offer one-time strategy sessions. So click the link in the description. But first, let me show you the one thing that will make senior leadership actually notice everything you've been doing.

Translate The Vision With Early Wins

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Be a vision translator. When the senior leadership team decides to execute a reorg, they're taking a gamble. They believe that changing the swim lanes, the leadership or reporting structure is going to solve a problem. The reality is no one knows how this is gonna pan out. Showing your support and buy-in is a requirement for getting ahead in your career. The senior leadership team needs influencers to bring their vision to life. And when you do this, you become invaluable. Waiting on the sideline for the senior leadership team to ask for your help is a recipe for mediocracy. The highest potential employees use a re-org to become a vision translator. So let me show you how to do it. The first way to do it is to show them you were bought in. Now, with reorgs come leaders trying new ideas out. They want to get a sense of whether people are bought in. So showing you were bought in sends a clear message to the senior leadership team that you are engaged and capable. Now, most people they go silent after a re-org. They're too busy worrying instead of using this moment to make an impression. So I remember when my company decided to do a re-org and roll out a CRM for the first time ever. They invested millions of dollars into this platform, and their hope was that teammates would be able to provide better service and have more sophisticated conversations with clients. Now I thought the CRM was cool, but I made it a special point to communicate that I was bought in. I sent examples of client interactions that were improved because of the tool. I ensured my adoption was super high during the first six months. I wanted to show our senior leadership team that I was bought in and believed in their vision. I remember I got recognized as a super user, and 100% this helped me get on the radar for my next promotion. The next thing you can do is share early wins. So here's a fun fact leaders are some of the most insecure people at your company. You may not think it because of their cool title and power. They have little protection, and on the inside, they desperately want their ideas or reorg to succeed. So if you can show the senior leadership team that their idea is working, you immediately stand out from your peers. All your coworkers are gonna sit on the sidelines and wait to see what happens. They're not gonna stick their neck out. But if you can show the senior leadership team a quick win, they will trust you more. They're gonna tap you on the shoulder for bigger projects and maybe even promotions. Here's an example. So what if you raised your hand during the next meeting and shared a cool observation about the re-org's success? It could sound something like this. So I was a little nervous about both marketing and sales falling under one umbrella, but seeing how marketing now gets live data and feedback from our team who actually interacts with our clients has been really cool. I noticed we were making marketing changes much faster than before. And I think the re-org has a lot to do with that. If you can show the senior leadership team that you get it, you instantly stand out from the pack. They need key influencers to spread their vision and the best people to bring their ideas to life. And that person can be you. So here's your challenge for the

Weekly Challenge And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 15:35

week. If you are approaching a re-org, I want you to take 10 minutes this week and answer three questions. The first question: what is senior leadership trying to accomplish? Number two, where is there currently a gap? And number three, what can I personally do to fill that gap? If you don't know what their vision is yet, that's your first step. Then answer the last two questions. So if you're facing a re-org right now and you're trying to figure out what this actually means for your career, that's exactly what I help people work through. I've been through more re-orgs than I can count, and I have mastered what it takes to not only get through it, but to actually leverage it to get what you want. So if you want a pro to give you advice on your exact situation, I'm your guy. Click the link in the description. A re-org is inevitable and unavoidable. It doesn't matter if you feel ready or if you think it's a good idea. It's happening. Now that you've accepted it, it's time to use it to your advantage. Once you stop looking at a re-org as something negative and realize it's a unique opportunity, everything changes. I want to say thanks so much for listening. Make it a great day.