Reorgs Don't Just Happen to You

Org charts can be negotiated.

I keep seeing the same pattern with my highest achieving clients: the ones who come out of a reorg or a leadership change stronger than before are never the ones who wait to see what happens to them. They're the ones who get in front of it, prepared, clear eyed, and willing to have the conversation before the decision is made.

Last week was a perfect example of it in action.

One of my clients, a well respected leader in the AI space who'd recently been promoted, found out a reorg was coming. The easy move would have been to wait and see. Let leadership sort it out, hope for the best, react once the new structure landed.

She didn't do that.

Instead, she got ahead of it. She met with her coach, built a clear point of view on how she believed her team should be structured, and requested a direct conversation with her new manager. The timing mattered more than she even realized in the moment: her manager had already started sketching out a structure that would have put her in a worse position than she was in before.

She got there right in time.

What she did differently:

• She thought like an exec, not just a stakeholder. She weighed what the business actually needed alongside what she needed, not one or the other.

• She made room for her manager to win too. She thought through where he could shine in his lane, not just where she wanted to expand hers.

• She advocated without losing the room. She listened genuinely to his perspective, but she was clear and firm about what she wanted. Not aggressive. Not passive. Prepared.

The result?

She didn't just protect her position, she improved it. She influenced her new manager's thinking enough to propose a better scenario for all three parties: herself, the business, and him. She now leads a team twice the size it was, with the ability to hire new talent and shape the culture she's wanted to build all along.

None of that happens by accident. It happens because she believed she was worth advocating for, and because she prepared for a conversation instead of waiting to be told the outcome.

The lesson for every leader watching their org chart shift

I see this play out again and again: reorgs are common in all industries right now. AI is reshaping org structures, budgets are tightening and expanding in the same breath, and leadership teams are redrawing lines faster than most of us can keep up with.

Here's what doesn't change: the people who shape the outcome are the ones who show up with a point of view before the decision is made, not after.

If you sense a reorg, a new manager, or a structural shift coming:

1. Get support first. A coach, mentor, or trusted peer who can pressure test your thinking before you walk into the room.

2. Build your POV, not just your wish list. What does the business need? What could genuinely work well for your new manager or leadership? Where do you fit into that, not despite the shift, but because of it?

3. Ask for the conversation. Don't wait for it. The people who wait for permission to be heard often find the decision already made without them.

4. Advocate like you mean it. Listen fully. Then be clear, firm, and specific about what you want. Those aren't in conflict, they're the whole skill.

Reorgs are happening all the time. Don't let them just happen to you. Be prepared, think like a leader, and be your own best advocate.