Targeted Advisory case study

Restructuring? Tell Managers First. Script the Hard Talks.

34stakeholder groups, each with its own treatment
4levels in the cascade, from leadership to all staff
10+support sessions for managers and staff
13divisions in scope, each with its own workforce plan

The situation

The question behind the question.

Months after it had refocused its people strategy, this organisation faced a harder conversation. Funding was tightening, and leadership launched a restructuring across all 13 divisions: workforce plans, a voluntary separation scheme, internal-first recruitment. Each lever had an owner and a timetable. What nobody owned yet was how people would hear about it, in what order, and where they could turn once they had.

As it was asked

“Help us communicate the restructuring.”

As we reframed it

Treat change as a sequence, not a broadcast: who is affected and how much, who must hear first so they can answer the next layer, and how staff are heard back while decisions are still being made.

How we worked

How the work unfolded.

01

Map who is affected

We started with impact, not messages. Each restructuring lever was rated for how hard it would land, and 34 stakeholder groups were mapped by influence, interest, impact and awareness. The map then decided treatment: staff on temporary contracts, long-serving staff eligible to leave early, managers, and staff whose stay in the host country is tied to their contract each got their own messages, timing and support. 2 personas turned the segments into journeys people would recognise.

02

Sequence the message

Then the order. Every announcement ran through 4 levels: the executive committee, the extended leadership, line managers, then all staff. Nobody was asked to explain a decision they had heard about at the same time as their team. Each milestone had its owner, its channel and its date: emails from the head of HR, town halls, an intranet page, FAQs updated as questions came in, and a weekly rhythm aligning HR, communications and the workstreams.

03

Equip managers, support people

Then the support, for those delivering the news and those receiving it. Managers got talking points, templates and group sessions of their own. The hardest conversations got their own script: when an application to leave was refused, after a criticality review run as a separate stream, leaders explained it as a recognition, not a rejection. Staff got a support offer from counselling to coaching, and HR set out who answers what.

04

Listen and escalate

A restructuring changes while it is announced, so listening ran throughout. Anonymous Q&A sessions after each milestone, forums with the staff council and the leadership, and feedback synthesised every few weeks. What people said became new FAQs and adjusted messages; what the change team could not fix went to the head of HR with an owner and a mitigation.

The instrument

A cascade with a way back up

Down. Every decision travels 4 levels in order, so each layer can answer the one below it.

Across. One weekly rhythm keeps HR, communications and the workstreams telling the same story on the same day.

Back up. Q&As, forums and a feedback synthesis bring questions to the people who can change the answer.

A cascade without a way back up is a broadcast. The way back is what keeps people listening.

What moved

What changed, and what didn't.

450managers and staff in support sessions, rated 4.5 out of 5
Evidence Decision taken Adopted in practice Measured impact
What moved

The voluntary separation scheme launched on time, and every agreement was signed within a month. More than 10 support sessions reached about 450 managers and staff, with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5. Staff feedback singled out clear, timely communication and the FAQs, and the head of HR formally closed the first phase.

What didn't move

Reach and satisfaction were measured; readiness and adoption were not, and the planned pulse check had not run when the phase closed. Some questions stayed open longer than staff wished, among them when temporary contracts would end, and parts of the support offer remained under-used.

What we'd say to a peer

In a restructuring, the order in which people hear the news matters as much as the news. Brief each layer before the one it must answer to, script the hardest conversations, and build the way back up before the first announcement. Then measure more than attendance: plan the readiness check from day one.

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Method note:

Own approach in 4 steps; lever impact rating; 34-group stakeholder map with tailored treatment; 2 personas; 4-level cascade; manager and employee support; Q&A and feedback loop.

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