Issue 6: Is It Time to Reshape Your Leadership Team?

⏱ 5-minute read

The people who got your business to where it is today may not be the same people—or roles—you need for where it is going next.

The Boardroom Question

When was the last time your board considered whether the structure of the senior team still reflects the needs of the business?

Organisations evolve.

They grow, enter new markets, adopt new technology, face different regulation, acquire businesses and respond to changing customer expectations.

Yet senior structures can remain remarkably static.

Roles that made perfect sense five years ago may have expanded beyond recognition. Responsibilities may overlap. Important new capabilities may sit too far down the organisation—or not exist at all.

Reshaping a senior team doesn’t necessarily mean replacing people.

Often, it means asking a more fundamental question:

Is our current structure still the right one for the business we’re becoming?

Structure Should Follow Strategy

A senior team shouldn’t be designed around the individuals who happen to occupy it.

It should be designed around what the organisation needs to achieve.

If international growth has become a strategic priority, does the senior team have sufficient international experience?

If digital transformation is central to the future, where does responsibility for it sit?

If regulation is becoming more complex, does the right expertise have enough influence?

If an organisation is moving from entrepreneurial growth to a more mature operating model, does it now require different financial, operational or people capabilities?

These questions become particularly important when strategy changes.

The CIPD’s guidance on organisation design reinforces this principle: organisational structures should be aligned with strategy and reviewed as priorities, goals and circumstances change.

Before automatically replacing a departing executive like-for-like, there is an opportunity to reconsider whether the role itself should remain the same.

The Vacancy That Creates an Opportunity

A senior resignation can understandably create pressure to recruit quickly.

But it can also create a rare opportunity.

Rather than immediately dusting off the previous job description, boards can ask:

• Does this role still need to exist in its current form?
• Have its responsibilities become too broad?
• Should some responsibilities move elsewhere?
• Are there new capabilities we should introduce?
• Could two roles be combined—or one role divided?
• What will the business need from this position three years from now?

Sometimes the best replacement for a departing executive isn’t someone who looks exactly like them.

It may be someone with a very different background because the organisation itself has changed.

Look for the Signals

The need to reshape a senior team doesn’t always arrive with a resignation.

There are often earlier warning signs.

Decision-making may be becoming slower.

Senior executives may be spending too much time outside their areas of expertise.

Important initiatives may repeatedly fall between functions.

The CEO may have too many direct reports.

New areas of the business may lack representation at senior level.

Or the organisation may have ambitious plans but no obvious executive accountable for delivering them.

Reviewing how an organisation is structured is increasingly part of adapting to change. McKinsey’s research into operating-model redesign found that two-thirds of surveyed organisations had redesigned their operating models in the previous two years, while half expected to undertake a redesign in the following two years.

None of these signals automatically means the senior structure is wrong.

But together they should prompt a conversation.

Don’t Design Roles Around People

This can be one of the hardest disciplines for a board.

When respected executives have been with an organisation for many years, roles can gradually evolve around their individual strengths.

That’s understandable—and sometimes extremely effective.

But it can also mean that when someone eventually leaves, the organisation discovers that their job has become a collection of responsibilities that would be difficult to replicate in another person.

Rather than searching for an exact replacement, this is the moment to separate the person from the position.

What does the business actually need?

Which responsibilities naturally belong together?

What expertise should sit elsewhere?

Only once those questions have been answered should the organisation define the person it needs.

Reshaping Doesn’t Always Mean Recruiting

Changing the senior structure doesn’t automatically require an external appointment.

Sometimes the capability already exists within the organisation.

Responsibilities can be redistributed.

An emerging executive can be given a broader remit.

Reporting lines can change.

A role can be redesigned around future priorities.

In other circumstances, however, restructuring exposes a genuine capability gap.

That’s where understanding both the internal pipeline and external talent market becomes particularly valuable.

The objective isn’t to create more senior positions.

It’s to make sure every position around the senior table has a clear reason for being there.

Publishing: When Traditional Structures Meet New Priorities

Publishing businesses have evolved considerably, while many of their traditional functions remain fundamental.

Editorial, sales, marketing, rights, production and finance still matter enormously.

But the environment around them continues to change.

International growth, direct-to-consumer opportunities, data, digital products, audio, intellectual property development and emerging technology can create new strategic priorities.

That doesn’t necessarily mean adding another executive every time something changes.

It does mean periodically asking whether accountability for these priorities is clear—and whether the people responsible have sufficient authority, experience and visibility.

A publishing business planning its next stage of growth may therefore need to think beyond replacing existing roles and consider the capabilities its future strategy requires.

Financial Services: Structure in a Changing Environment

For Financial Services organisations, changes in regulation, technology, customer expectations and operational risk can alter the demands placed on senior teams relatively quickly.

Responsibilities that once sat comfortably within one function may become significant enough to warrant greater executive attention.

Transformation programmes may require different experience.

Growth may expose operational weaknesses.

Regulatory developments may change the importance of particular capabilities.

The challenge for boards is to ensure the senior structure evolves alongside those demands rather than several years behind them.

Beware of Adding Without Subtracting

There is another risk when organisations evolve.

Every new strategic priority can result in another role, committee or reporting line being added.

Over time, senior structures can become more complicated rather than more effective.

Reshaping should therefore involve subtraction as well as addition.

What no longer needs to sit at this level?

Where are responsibilities duplicated?

Could accountability be clearer?

Are too many people involved in decisions that should belong to one executive?

The goal should be clarity, not complexity.

Use the External Market as a Reality Check

Once the future structure has been considered, external market intelligence can provide another useful perspective.

How have comparable organisations structured their senior teams?

Where do particular responsibilities typically sit?

What backgrounds do executives leading similar transformations have?

Are competitors introducing capabilities that your organisation hasn’t yet prioritised?

This doesn’t mean copying another company’s organisational chart.

Every business is different.

But understanding how the wider market is evolving can challenge internal assumptions and help boards see alternative ways of structuring responsibilities.

Five Questions for Your Next Board Discussion

1. Does our current senior structure reflect our future strategy—or our history?
2. Which capabilities will become more important over the next three to five years?
3. Are responsibilities and accountability clear across the senior team?
4. If a senior executive left tomorrow, would we replace the role like-for-like—or redesign it?
5. What can the external market tell us about how comparable organisations are evolving?

Those questions can be valuable even when every senior position is currently filled.

Key Takeaways

• Senior structures should evolve as business strategy changes.
• A vacancy can be an opportunity to rethink a role rather than automatically replace it.
• Reshaping a team doesn’t necessarily mean replacing people.
• Roles should be designed around future business requirements, not individual incumbents.
• Adding new responsibilities without reviewing existing ones can create unnecessary complexity.
• Internal talent and external market intelligence can both inform organisational design.
• The strongest senior team isn’t necessarily the largest—it is the one best aligned with where the business is going.

The Boardroom Question

If you were designing your senior team from scratch for the business you expect to be running in three years, would it look the same as it does today?

At Mosaic Executive Search, we work with organisations across Publishing and Financial Services as they plan for change, succession and future growth.

Through executive search and talent mapping, we can provide insight into how senior roles are evolving, where relevant expertise sits and what talent may be available when an organisation identifies a capability gap.

Further Reading

Boardroom Insights | Issue 04
External Hire or Internal Promotion?

Boardroom Insights | Issue 05
Why Every Board Should Understand the External Talent Market