Why the Best Reorganizations Happen Before You Need Them

Reorganizations have an image problem.

The moment people hear the word, they instinctively assume something has gone wrong. Employees wonder if jobs are at risk. Leaders brace for difficult conversations. Clients start asking questions.

Somewhere along the way, we've conditioned ourselves to believe that reorganizations are a reaction to failure rather than a strategy for growth.

I couldn't disagree more.

In my experience, the healthiest reorganizations happen long before a company is in trouble. They happen when leaders have the courage to acknowledge that the business has evolved, even if the organizational structure hasn't.

Done well, a reorganization isn't about eliminating opportunity—it creates it. It gives people greater clarity, aligns them around a shared vision, and often becomes the very thing that protects jobs instead of threatening them.

Over the last few weeks, I've been leading one of the biggest organizational changes we've made at Do Good Digital since I started the company. It wasn't born out of panic or poor financial performance. Quite the opposite.

We have incredible clients, an amazing team, and we're continuing to grow. That growth, however, was exactly what forced me to ask a difficult question: Are we still operating like the company we were, or are we building the company we want to become?

The Weekend I Turned Everything Off

That question stayed with me long after I returned home from a major client launch.

Like most founders, I spend a lot of my time in execution mode. Client work has always come first for me, and when you're in the middle of an implementation or a launch, your brain is focused on solving today's problems. You're making decisions in real time, supporting your team, keeping your client successful, and doing everything possible to cross the finish line.

There isn't much room left for reflection. When I got home, something happened that hadn't happened in weeks.

I finally had space to think.

Years ago, someone I respected immensely recommended a book called The Chaos Imperative. It has since become required reading for every member of our leadership team. The book isn't really about embracing disorder; it's about recognizing that innovation requires white space. It argues that if every minute of your day is consumed by execution, your best thinking never has the opportunity to emerge. Creativity, strategy, and innovation don't happen between back-to-back meetings. They happen when leaders intentionally create room to think.

That weekend, I protected that white space.

I turned off Slack.

I stayed out of my inbox.

I grabbed my whiteboard, a stack of colored sticky notes, and started mapping out Do Good Digital—not as it existed two years ago when it was just me, an architect, and a Fusion developer, but as it exists today with more than twenty-five incredible people who have entrusted me with helping shape their careers.

As I started writing names, responsibilities, service lines, recurring challenges, and future opportunities onto those sticky notes, something became incredibly clear.

The business had changed. We hadn't.

Over the previous several months, I had been collecting observations without even realizing it. The same themes kept surfacing during retrospectives.

• Ownership wasn't always as clear as it could be.

• Some leaders had become responsible for nearly everything, while others had room to grow into much larger responsibilities.

• We had service lines that were mature, stable, and consistently funding the business, while others represented where we wanted to invest, innovate, and grow.

None of those things were problems on their own, but together they painted a picture that I could no longer ignore.

We had outgrown the organizational structure that had gotten us here.

Redefining What Success Looks Like

One of the biggest lessons I've learned as a founder is that businesses don't usually fail because they grow too quickly.

They struggle because they continue operating with structures that were designed for a much smaller version of themselves. Eventually, talented people begin compensating for unclear ownership. Leaders spend too much time making decisions that should have been delegated months ago. Teams work incredibly hard, but they don't always know what winning looks like because no one has stopped to redefine it.

That's what this reorganization became. Not an exercise in moving boxes on an organizational chart. An opportunity to redefine what success looks like.

Every service line now has a much clearer purpose than it did before. Rather than simply being responsible for delivering great work, each leader now owns the health of their business. That includes staffing and workforce planning. It includes operational excellence and process improvement.

It includes building relationships, contributing to business development, networking within the industries we serve, and yes, understanding the financial health and profitability of their practice.

That shift matters because ownership creates investment. People stop seeing themselves as contributors to someone else's vision and begin feeling responsible for building it alongside you.

We Were Measuring For The Wrong Thing

One of the boldest decisions we made during this process was removing utilization goals from the bonus structure for our full-time employees.

For years, I accepted what much of the consulting industry accepts: that billable utilization is one of the best indicators of success. But as I sat with the question of who we wanted to become as a company, I realized something uncomfortable.

We were measuring the wrong thing.

When leaders tell people that success is defined by hitting a utilization percentage, they shouldn't be surprised when people optimize for utilization. Our consultants are incredibly hardworking and deeply committed. They were doing exactly what we had asked them to do.

The problem wasn't the people.

The problem was the incentive.

As I reflected on the clients we've been fortunate enough to serve, I realized that the relationships I value most were never built because someone billed another eight hours. They were built because someone slowed down enough to ask a better question. Because they challenged assumptions. Because they delivered exceptional quality. Because they became trusted advisors rather than simply consultants completing tasks.

Those are the behaviors I want to reward.

So we changed what winning looks like.

Today, success at Do Good Digital isn't just about delivering excellent client work. It's about helping grow the company. It's about building stronger client relationships. It's about mentoring others. It's about improving our processes. It's about contributing ideas that make us better six months from now than we are today.

How the Team Responded

I'll admit something.

I was nervous to share all of this with the team.

As founders, we carry decisions privately for weeks before anyone else ever hears them. We imagine every possible reaction. We wonder whether people will see change as instability rather than investment.

What happened instead was one of the most rewarding leadership moments I've experienced.

People didn't push back.

They leaned in.

The conversations immediately shifted from, "What do I need to do to hit my bonus?" to, "How can I help grow this service line?" "How do we strengthen our client relationships?" "What can I do to contribute outside of my current role?"

The energy changed because the purpose changed.

People weren't being asked to survive a reorganization.

They were being invited to help build the next chapter of the company.

What I'd Tell Other Founders

Looking back, I don't think that weekend was really about sticky notes or whiteboards at all. Those were simply the tools I used to organize my thinking.

The real work was having the courage to admit that the company I dreamed of building deserved a structure that reflected where we were going, not where we had been.

If you're a founder reading this, I'd encourage you not to wait until you're forced to reorganize.

Don't wait for burnout. Don't wait for missed revenue. Don't wait for your best people to become frustrated by a lack of clarity.

Give yourself white space. Look honestly at the business you've built. Ask whether your structure still serves your people, your clients, and your vision.

Because the best reorganizations aren't a sign that something is wrong.

They're often the reason everything that comes next goes right.

Do you need expert help as you are considering a reorg?

We are here to help. We don't just support Adobe Products, we support organizations as a whole in process improvement, change management, and executive coaching.

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