Even if they would prefer not to deal with it, leaders are regularly faced with the need to reorganize their management team, whether it’s the Executive Committee or the Management Committee. This reorganization occurs either when directors decide to leave the company or are forced to leave due to underperformance or behavioral issues, or when the company faces new challenges such as performance issues or development or transformation projects. The management team, often made up of the company’s main leaders, is generally responsible for defining the strategy and ensuring its implementation. It is the driving force behind change and the cornerstone of organizational performance. Therefore, it is essential that it is efficient, effective, equipped with the right skills, shares a culture aligned with the company’s objectives, and demonstrates excellent coordination and cooperation. As a coach specializing in redesigning and improving the efficiency and cohesion of management teams, I share with you a five-step methodology to transform your management team into a real lever of success for your company.

1. Strategic Vision / Define the goals and needs of the company

First and foremost, it is crucial to clearly define the short, medium, and long-term strategic objectives of the organization. It’s important to create a consensus around the strategic vision and objectives, encouraging active participation from team members. This will ensure their alignment and commitment and will help to decrease resistance to change. From the definition of these objectives stems the identification of the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and values necessary within the management team to achieve these goals. For example, a company wishing to accelerate its international development will need to integrate talents with an international culture accustomed to geographical expansions. Similarly, a company in financial difficulty, needing to cut costs and restructure, will require profiles focused on profitability and accustomed to crisis situations.

2. Team Evaluation / Identify strengths, gaps, and potentials

This step includes a thorough analysis of the skills, performance, but also the personalities and values of the current management team members. It is useful in this phase also to identify potentials at the N-1 levels, considered as candidates for a succession plan. This evaluation allows identifying both the strengths to capitalize on, the gaps in skills to be filled in relation to the needs identified in the first step, and the opportunities for internal promotion or development. In this essential step, integrating 360-degree evaluations and professional assessments conducted by external experts ensures a comprehensive evaluation and an external perspective.

3. Designing The New Team / Redefining roles and responsibilities and the transition plan

Based on the identified needs and evaluations performed, design the optimal structure of the new management team. This includes defining roles, responsibilities, and job profiles.

In this exercise, pay attention to several aspects:

• Strategic alignment of roles: Ensure that each position is directly aligned with the strategic objectives of the company.
• Precise definition of responsibilities: Develop precise job descriptions for each team member. Avoid duplications of roles and ensure that each function has distinct and complementary perimeters and responsibilities.
• Balance of skills: Create a diversified team with an appropriate mix of skills and experiences. The balance of skills in the management team ensures a diverse representation of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives, thus promoting more informed decision-making, increased innovation, and better resilience to organizational challenges.
• Flexibility in design: Design a flexible organizational structure to adapt to future changes in the company, involving an evolutionary and flexible approach, the modularity of teams, and decentralized decision-making processes.
• Transition plan: Also develop a detailed transition plan that covers necessary recruitments, repositioning of internal talents, as well as possible departures, ensuring to minimize disruptions.

4. Recruitment Process / Select talents and manage transitions

Engage in a rigorous recruitment and selection process to fill vacant positions, and in parallel, manage exits and transitions in a respectful and professional manner.

• For your recruitments, find candidates who not only match the skills needs but also fit well into the company culture.
• For new recruits, offer onboarding coaching to facilitate their understanding of the company and their role, helping them to adapt and be effective and efficient as quickly as possible.
• For team members changing roles or leaving the organization, provide them with support, offering for example career transition services or coaching to ensure the best possible continuity of operations.

5. Integration And Strengthening / Development and coaching of the new management team

Once the new team is in place, focus on their integration, continuous development, and coaching. Without effective integration and support, several obstacles can compromise the efficiency and cohesion of the management team:

• Lack of strategic alignment: Even the most competent leaders can fail to contribute effectively if they are not fully aligned with the vision, goals, and culture of the company. Integration helps ensure that all members understand and adhere to these essential elements.
• Team cohesion issues: An effective management team requires more than individual skills; it needs strong cohesion and the ability to work together towards common goals. Without an integration and team-building process, new members may struggle to integrate and collaborate effectively with their colleagues.
• Resistance to change: The arrival of new leaders can cause uncertainty and resistance among existing teams. Adequate support helps manage these transitions, facilitate the acceptance of change among employees, and integrate new members into the organization smoothly.

To successfully launch your new team, set up team coaching sessions to strengthen cohesion, strategic alignment, and facilitate the integration of new members.

Redesigning an management team is a complex but essential process to ensure the company’s success in facing its challenges. Of course, some reorganizations will be more or less profound and more or less significant depending on the stakes for the company. In any case, it is essential for a CEO, the team leader, to consider these 5 steps. It will also be up to them to ensure that the team works well together and thus to invest in the collective animation to ensure engagement and retention of talents when things become more difficult.

To go further

At WINGMIND, we support leaders in redesigning and coaching their management team. Discover our service Team Boost.