People & Organisation
9 min
The seventh-month stall: why reorganisations lose momentum
In 60 reorganisations we studied, momentum peaked in month four and stalled by month seven. The cause was rarely the design.
Ines Hartley
Managing Partner
Most reorganisations look finished on the day the new chart is announced. The hard part starts after that, when people have to work in the new structure.
What we found
We followed 60 reorganisations across eight industries. Decision speed improved for the first four months, then slipped back. By month seven, two thirds of the gains had gone. The design was rarely the problem. The new roles were sensible; the habits around them had not changed.
Three things the successful ones did
They named an owner for each of the ten biggest recurring decisions. They removed the old meetings instead of adding new ones next to them. And they measured decision time, monthly, for a year.
Where to start
List the ten decisions your business makes most often that cost the most when they are slow. Write down who owns each one today. That page is a better test of a reorganisation than the chart.
