Building A Supportive Environment During Transitions

Rebuilding a High-Performing Team in an RTO World: A Client’s Success Story When my executive client was tasked with bringing his 650-person department back to the office after four years of remote work, we knew the challenge wasn’t just logistical—it was strategic - and his concern wasn’t just about getting people back to their desks but ensuring he had the right people in the right roles to drive business success. Through our collaboration, we decided to develop a two-phase approach that allowed him to manage change effectively while restructuring his team for optimal performance. Phase 1: Managing the Change of RTO (Months 1-3) Rather than rushing into assessments and restructuring, we agreed that it was best to focus on re-acclimation first. 🔹 Gradual Reintegration: He implemented a structured return—starting with three days in-office before scaling up—giving employees time to adjust. 🔹 Listening Sessions: My client led discussions with teams to understand concerns, workflows, and career aspirations post-remote. 🔹 Cultural Reset: He modeled the company values, reinforced the why behind RTO, and reinforced the culture in every meeting. Phase 2: Assessing & Restructuring the Team (Months 3-6) Once stability was established, the next step was restructuring the team for the future. 🔹 Skills & Contribution Audit: Partnering with HR and others, my client assessed whether each role still aligned with business needs. He found that some functions were now redundant, while others required a new skill set after four years. 🔹 Team Effectiveness Review: He restructured teams to improve efficiency and positioned high performers in roles that leveraged their strengths. 🔹 Strategic Reassignment & Exits: Some employees transitioned into new, more fitting roles. Others, who struggled to adapt or no longer aligned with the business, were respectfully transitioned out. Still others were supported in their current roles with new training to equip them to succeed in the future. Messaging the Changes: Transparency & Stability 🔹 Communicating the Vision: Early on, we knew framing the restructuring as an opportunity was important. 🔹 One-on-One Conversations: My client ensured employees moving into new roles—or out of the company—had clear, respectful conversations about their next steps. 🔹 Rebuilding Trust: By reinforcing that changes were intentional and strategic, employees recognized the thoughtfulness that had been invested in the changes. The Outcome? He's rounding out his six month and says his department is performing at a higher level than pre-pandemic. It's not been easy and there have been a few surprises, but he knows his team is set up for long-term success. What my client learned was that returning to the office wasn't the real challenge - rebuilding the right team was. If you’re navigating RTO and need to reassess your team for long-term success, let’s connect.👇

Transformation isn’t just a new org chart or a shiny tech stack. Transformation is what happens when people start showing up and working differently. When teams shift from confusion to clarity. From reaction to intention. From frustration to engaged. In every transformation I lead, we focus on three core levers: 💎 Enabling new skills that make change possible 💎 Embedding new behaviors that make change happen 💎 Designing new ways of working that make change sustainable Not that long ago, one of my clients had gone through rapid growth, an acquisition and a series of restructures. The future looked promising, yet the engagement metrics weren't reflecting the sentiment at all. From the first day I met with them, it was obvious that the organization was struggling with a common problem: people were exhausted, disengaged, and unsure how to move forward. Leadership was struggling to communicate effectively, and employees didn’t feel connected to the mission anymore. We started with a current state assessment of communications, behaviors, and decision-making norms. It only took a few hours of good questions, leaning into hesitant responses, and supporting moments of uncomfortable truths to ignite a spark of possibility. We rolled out a clear, simple communication strategy aligned to their business goals, hybrid work realities, and regional dynamics. We held a series of working sessions with managers to build their confidence in leading through ambiguity. And we established consistent communication cascades and feedback loops to reinforce the change. Within weeks things felt different. Within months, engagement metrics were up. Employees reported feeling more trusted, more aligned, and more equipped to represent the company with confidence. Most importantly, they began acting more like a team again and the company performance metrics soon followed. This is what real transformation looks like. New skills, new behaviors, new ways of working. It’s capability you build and nurture. It's powerful and it's contagious. Because when people feel clear, connected, and capable, amazing things happen. What has been a turning point for your organization? #TransformationTuesday #OrganizationalChangeManagement #ThePowerOfAnd #TeamCulture

‼️ My meeting with five executives turned into a town hall-style session with 100+ agitated team members. I was the IT lead for a major organizational change we were rolling out. ✈️ The executives at a large delivery center in Europe, which supported many customers across Europe, asked for on-site assistance with the rollout. 🥶 After I arrived, I was led into a conference room with five executives for a meet and greet. Few minutes into the meeting, the walls of the conference room slided out and I saw a large room with 60-70 people and more kept pouring in. 🆘 I could clearly sense that something was wrong. The executives told me that they have invited all the managers and their leads because they have several questions about the program. And the questions started coming,  ❓What were the reasons for this change? ❓What problems are we solving? ❓What metrics do we have to support the stated problems? ❓What results are we expecting from the change? ❓How did we validate if the change will yield the expected result? ⁉️ None of these were related to the system rollout, but about the business decisions. I realized that there was a lack of communication about the change. 💬 The dialogue continued throughout the week. I was able to answer many of their questions. While the team members still had some skepticism, they were more relaxed and offered many good ideas to make adjustments and improvements. ➕ Within few weeks of implementation, we were seeing good adoption and positive results. Based on this lesson, I flew to other sites for their rollout. 🤔 This wasn’t a one-off situation. I have been in the middle of several initiatives where the business leaders underestimate the need for organizational change management. ✅ Here are ten lessons from these experiences 1️⃣ Establish a communication and training plan to convey the changes. 2️⃣ Clearly document the need for the change with supporting metrics. 3️⃣ Anticipate the criticism, skepticism, and resistance. Be prepared to address them satisfactorily. 4️⃣ Create contingency plans to minimize risks and disruptions. 5️⃣ Partner upfront across the organization to create a sense of co-ownership. 6️⃣ Be flexible to accommodate regional and cultural differences. 7️⃣ Change often triggers many emotional feelings. Establish a support structure to listen, and empathize. 8️⃣ Reward behaviors that supported and improved the change. 9️⃣ Measure and monitor the expected outcomes. Adjust, as needed, along the way. 🔟 Transparently share results regardless if they are positive or negative. #ceo #cio #cto #informationtechnology #agileleadership #businessgrowth Agile C-Level Here several great posts and lessons on the same topic M. Scott Whitcomb Tyson Kopczynski Elaine Asal Khalid M. Nurain, BSc. Eng., MS CS, MBA, PMP, ITIL Courtney Morris David Tang Dr. Tony Prensa, ATP, PMP, PMOCP, PMO-CC, CPMOP Jessica Crow Don Davis PhD, MBA Eric Kimberling Elena Webb, MA, MBA, SAFe, Prosci