Restructuring with Impact: Five Critical Decisions Before September

By Mehdi El Idrissi, Senior Partner – Alides | ECI Group

In a world where strategic cycles are accelerating and organizations face multiple pressures — macroeconomic, technological, societal — the configuration of the leadership structure becomes both a driver of performance and a lever for agility.

If September is the season for announcements, July and August are the backstage.It is in this window of relative calm that the most exacting leaders undertake their most consequential reflections:Is our organization truly aligned with our ambitions? Do we have the right CEO, the right executive committee, the right governance to navigate the next 18 months?

Clarify the Strategy to Make It an Organizational Lever

Every successful organizational transformation begins with one essential prerequisite: strategic clarity.Too many executive teams operate on vague intentions, unresolved trade-offs, or diluted ambitions.In times of volatility, such imprecision is a source of fragility.

Clarifying the different strategic horizons — core vs. new bets, short vs. long term, growth vs. resilience — allows leadership to decide which critical responsibilities must be strengthened, merged, or redefined.

Challenge the Executive Committee’s Balance

The composition of leadership teams can no longer rest solely on loyalty, tenure, or historical knowledge of the company.The value of an executive committee lies in its ability to generate creative tension, surface blind spots, and collectively champion strategies that may be unpopular in the short term.

This requires opening the conversation: Do we have the right profiles for the world ahead? Which roles are over-invested, and which are underutilized? Should new positions be created — Chief AI, Chief Impact, Head of Resilience?

Initiate Succession Without Disruption

Replacing a CEO, Managing Director, or other key leader is an inherently political act — but also an opportunity to rethink decision-making chains and the culture of power within the organization.

Anticipating succession — even a year in advance — allows for a structured transition plan, interim governance, and leadership onboarding. It also sends a clear signal to shareholders and the market: the company is not dependent on a single individual but guided by deliberate, strategic leadership.

Align Leadership with Value Creation

Inspired by the “Talent to Value” framework, this principle focuses on positioning critical talent in the roles that genuinely drive value.Too many organizations preserve comfort zones or redundant layers for senior profiles no longer aligned with future priorities.

An effective reorganization demands an uncompromising mapping of value-creating activities — followed by the true redeployment of top talent to the roles that matter most.

Transform Quietly, Yet with Intent

The classic mistake in organizational transformation is to make it spectacular but ineffective. In contrast, the most successful transformations are often discreet, progressive, yet highly intentional.

They engage the right decision-making circles, integrate cultural barriers, and use weak signals — voluntary departures, managerial disengagement, interfunctional friction — as valuable indicators for course correction.

Summer Strategic Series

1. Editorial – Setting the tone for a season of decisive leadership moves, where strategic clarity and timing become a competitive advantage.

2. Restructuring with Impact – A structured roadmap to align leadership architecture with strategy during the summer pause.

3. The False Move of False Change – How to distinguish optics from substance and avoid political, cultural, or human missteps in reorganizations.

4. Appointing a CEO Today – The new leadership standards boards now demand: clarity of vision, team alignment, and political acumen.

5. Silent Transformation – Real-world examples of coherent execution, delivered without ostentation — yet with authority.

6. Reading to Decide Differently – A curated selection for leaders engaged in strategic reflection.

About Alides

Alides is Morocco’s exclusive member of the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), delivering discreet, high-calibre executive search Morocco, leadership assessment, and succession planning across Africa and the Middle East. As part of the global ECI Group network, we partner with boards, CEOs, and investors to secure transformative leadership for growth, digital reinvention, and cross-border expansion.Every engagement is guided by the highest ethical standards and a singular objective: to ensure leadership becomes your most enduring competitive advantage.Learn more at www.alides.org.