Fit for Growth

15Morale, Emotions, and ExpectationsLeading during a Restructuring

Until now we have focused on the actions and roles of those who initiate and run a Fit for Growth transformation and are most directly responsible for its success. We have described the responsibility they have to strengthen their company's differentiating capabilities, how they can use various levers to cut costs, and how they can manage a programmatic transformation journey.

But the people on the transformation team who are changing the business are not the only ones dealing with challenges during a transformation; the senior, middle, and front-line managers who are running the business bear a heavy burden, too. These managers must guide, coach, and support their employees through months of uncertainty. And when the transformation design is complete, it will fall to these managers to stand up the new organization, convince a reduced workforce to implement and adopt improved processes, and transition to working in a different way, while also managing the business. Their role will include helping employees adapt to the changes and often will also include the agonizing business of managing headcount reductions. In this chapter, we discuss how these managers can surmount the challenges of a transition—and how they can rally their employees to do the same.

To augment our experiences in helping clients accomplish Fit for Growth transformations with additional first-hand perspectives, we interviewed several mid- and ...