Reorgs that start with the org chart almost always fade. The ones that last start somewhere else entirely.
The single most common mistake in organizational change is starting with the boxes. Leadership draws a new org chart, announces it, and waits for performance to improve. It rarely does — because the chart was never the problem.
The work that actually changes performance happens upstream of structure: clarifying which decisions matter, who owns them, and what the real work of the organization is. Get that right and the structure becomes obvious. Skip it and no chart will save you.
The org chart was never the problem. How decisions get made is.
We see the difference starkly in transformation outcomes. Roughly 70% of change programs fail to deliver their intended value — and the failures cluster around organizations that reorganized boxes without redesigning how decisions get made.
For leaders facing a reorg, the discipline is simple to state and hard to hold: design the operating model first — decisions, accountabilities, ways of working — and let the org chart follow. Then run the change with the frontline, because adoption, not announcement, is what makes it stick.
Key takeaways
- 01Design the operating model before the structure
- 02Adoption beats announcement
- 03Run change with the frontline, not at them
Elena Reeve
Elena led organization and operations transformations at Bain across healthcare and financial services. She co-founded the firm on a simple conviction: change only counts if it sticks. She leads our operating-model and change practice and our Compass Method™.
