As comms leaders, we know one of the most important tasks you will face is designing your team structure. Whether you’ve gone through a restructuring before or are new to the process, it’s natural to have many questions about where to begin and what steps to take next. Helping leaders navigate this process is part of how we support our members at Kademy – and we wanted to share some valuable advice with you.
The key trends impacting comms team structures
It’s safe to say that the fundamentals of a good team structure remain relatively unchanged, but the environment in which communicators operate is evolving significantly. As you approach a team redesign, we suggest you keep these trends in mind:
- Rapid technological advancements, such as AI, the shift to hybrid work and the proliferation of digital channels demonstrate how quickly the business landscape is changing. Comms team structures needs to be agile and adaptable to meet fast-moving business needs and circumstances. You’ll also want to ensure you have strong change comms capabilities within your team.
- Budget cuts and constraints are pressing concerns that are likely to persist in the near future. If you are approaching a redesign with a smaller budget or headcount, consider increasing self-service resources, allowing leaders and managers to do more independently. We’ve also seen some comms teams moving away from 1:1 executive support and adopting a corporate voice role to optimise team resources.
- Over the last few years, businesses have been paying increasing attention to their impact beyond the bottom line. When designing your team, think about how you can serve essential business priorities such as ESG, sustainability and DE&I. Some forward-thinking comms functions have started structuring themselves around business priorities rather than business units.
The five steps to designing your team
When it comes to designing your team, remember that there is no perfect structure or library of cookie-cutter templates to choose from. There are, however, common activities, processes and structures that form the basis of every function. At Kademy, we view the redesign process in five distinct stages.
- Define your redesign goals: Establish your redesign goals at the outset so you are clear on your objectives and what a successful outcome looks like.
- Set out your business context: Gain clarity on your business context and organisational structure. A growing business will have very different needs from one that is making difficult cutbacks. Moreover, your team design will need to mirror the organisational design and decision-making process.
- Build your team design: List all the activities you need your team to deliver and consider how you can best deliver these.
- Put your people in the right place: Work closely with HR and your team members to assign roles within your new team. It’s wise to get key stakeholders on board from the onset and constantly review and refine your process.
- Embed your new structure: The redesign process doesn’t stop once you have your new team structure in place. It’s important to dedicate time to embedding it, focusing on building psychological safety, team development and addressing ingrained behaviours.
We don’t think of a redesign as being a one-and-done process. Business needs and contexts change rapidly, so continually evaluating your structure and assessing its effectiveness is crucial. While a complete overhaul should not be required frequently, you should anticipate ongoing adjustments.
Looking for further guidance and practical tips for approaching each key redesign milestone?
Download our brand-new guide, Designing your comms team structure, for helpful insights to guide you through the process.
In the middle of redesigning your team structure? Get in touch to find out how we can help you.
