Operational Excellence | Organizational Effectiveness | Lasting Change
September always feels like a fresh start to me, maybe it’s all those years of school! This month, I’m looking at a pattern I’ve seen derail more transformation efforts than almost anything else: organizations can make all the right structural changes and still lose the capabilities that made them effective in the first place.
THIS MONTH’S INSIGHT
What are you protecting while everything changes?
A pharma client called me six months after a major reorganization. They had restructured their entire R&D function with new teams, new reporting lines, and new processes. The changes looked great on paper.
But when I went to the Gemba, I found something troubling.
The problem-solving capability they had spent two years carefully building had quietly collapsed. Teams that used to solve issues in days were back to weeks. People who had learned to act confidently were asking permission again.
“What happened?” I asked the VP who had led the reorganization.
She paused.
“I think we changed everything except what we should have kept.”
WHY CAPABILITY GETS LOST DURING CHANGE
Most change initiatives are designed to improve outcomes such as speed, quality, efficiency, and cost. What they rarely account for is the effect of the change process itself on the team’s problem-solving capability.
Here’s what happens in almost every major transformation:
Clarity disappears temporarily. New structures mean new priorities, and until those are explicit, people default to waiting.
Decision rights reset to zero. New roles mean new authority boundaries, and until those are mapped, people escalate everything.
Trust erodes. Change creates uncertainty, and uncertainty triggers the cultural behaviors that kill problem-solving.
The result? Organizations that implement change well from a structural standpoint can accidentally destroy the capability they most need to execute the change.
THE KEY TAKEAWAY
Change that doesn’t account for capability preservation doesn’t just slow things down temporarily. It can set an organization back years.
The VP’s reflection was exactly right. They had changed reporting lines, team compositions, and process ownership. But they hadn’t preserved, or explicitly rebuilt, the things that made problem-solving work: shared clarity on priorities, clear decision rights at every level, and the psychological safety to act.
The antidote isn’t to change more slowly. It’s to be intentional about what you’re preserving while you change everything else. Treat problem-solving capability as an asset to protect through the transition, not something to rebuild from scratch afterward.
PUT IT INTO PRACTICE
Four things to protect during your next change
1. Map what’s working before you change it.
Where is problem-solving flowing well today? Identify the behaviors, structures, and decision-making practices enabling it. Those are the things you need to protect.
2. Re-establish decision rights on day one.
Don’t assume new roles carry old authority. Define who can decide what in the new structure before the change lands.
3. Communicate strategic priorities immediately.
The first question people ask during change is, “What matters now?” Answer it explicitly before they start guessing.
4. Check capability, not just metrics.
Three months after a major change, go to the Gemba and ask: Are problems being solved as quickly as before? Are people still acting with confidence? If not, capability erosion may already be happening.
ONE QUESTION TO TAKE WITH YOU
As you look at your current or upcoming change initiatives, ask:
What are we deliberately protecting while everything else changes?
Have you identified the problem-solving capability you need to preserve? Re-established decision rights for the new structure? Made your priorities clear enough that people can act without asking?
Change is necessary. Losing capability in the process is not.
Let’s change without losing what works.
Eli Sharp
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