Overview

This roundtable brought together senior transformation leaders from different industries to discuss the critical challenges of leading organizational change during periods of cost reduction. The conversation revealed that cost-cutting can deeply hamper transformation goals and erode workforce trust. That being said, the most successful organizations find ways to lead through both financial constraints and important strategic work. Participants shared practical strategies for managing workforce reductions, supporting employees through uncertainty, and maintaining transformation momentum despite budgetary pressures.

This roundtable was held on October 29th, 2025.

Roundtable Participants

Led by Debra Mazloff, Highmark Health - Director, Product and Operational Excellence

• Aisha Jordan, Wells Fargo - Executive Director | Risk Strategy & Transformation | Chief Operating Office

• Akita Somani, U.S. Bank - SVP, Director - Inclusive Growth Strategy

• Amisha Kapoor, Biogen - Global Finance Transformation Leader - Payroll Strategy

• Ana Coronel, Transformation Executive

• Archana Lamoureux, Citi - Head of Standards and Innovation

• Besa Kodra, Royal Caribbean Group - Head of Org Design & Strategy

• Bill Munley, Business Transformation & Operational Excellence Leader

• Brian Hricik, Sherwin-Williams - Change Management Lead

• David McVay, US Bank - SVP, Head of Strategic Program Management 

• David Kaempf, Enterprise Transformation Leader

• Doug Schwieger, Catchcart Rail - Chief Transformation Officer

• Emeline Forbes, AstraZeneca - Change Management Lead

• Emily Stowe, Abercrombie & Fitch - Sr Director, Organizational Effectiveness and Change Management

• Eric Orlaska, Mastercard  - VP, Commercial Business Operations

• Evan Piekara, Director, Change Management 

• Gayatri Ohri, AWS - Sr. Manager, Gen AI for Operations

• Grégoire de Chevron Villette, Head of Transformation

• Heather Anthony, IMAX - SVP, Head of Enterprise Transformation

• Jackie Cazar, Moody's  - SVP Process Excellence

• Jeffrey Fisher, Wipro - Senior Director

• Jessica Cormier, BPM - Transformation Strategist

• John Nolan, City National Bank  - SVP Strategic Change

• Karena O'Sullivan, Davy (Bank of Ireland) - CFO

• Kitty Deshmukh, Daimler Truck North America - Director of Continuous Improvement, PMO

• Kristina Sobolciakova, Baker Hughes - Operational Excellence Leader

• Mahesh Adnani, Coherent Corp  - VP of Transformation - Business Data and Insights

• Marjorie Etter, Meta - Global Training, Knowledge & Change Management Leader

• Matt Twitchell, Stryker - Sr Director, Manufacturing Operations & Business Excellence 

• Meredith MacLean, Maersk - Head of Continuous Improvement

• Michael Wiersma, Carrier - Lean Transformation Leader

• Rajan Gupta, Synopsys - Executive Director, Global Legal Technology, Strategy and Operations

• Sarah Merriman, JLL - Change Management Director, COE

• Sharon Daniels, BT Group - Transformation Change Management & Internal Communications

• Stacey Chery, Thermo Fisher - Digital Transformation Leader

• Stephanie Coleman, Sodexo - Program and Transformation Office, Senior Director

• Tosin Akinwekomi, CIBC - Engagement Lead, Transformation Leader

• Tusar Dash, Synnergie - VP - Strategy & Transformation 

• Valentin Balzer, Uniper - Senior Vice President, Transformation And Excellence for Commercial & Business Development

  
  

Part I: The Human Impact of Cost-Cutting

Supporting Survivors, Not Just Those Departing

The conversation opened with a critical observation: organizations focus heavily on the employees being laid off, leaving few to no resources to those who remain. These "survivors" often represent top talent and must carry the organization forward yet they often receive minimal support for processing the change. Leaders emphasized the importance of addressing survivor's guilt, providing coaching to help teams adjust, and ensuring that remaining employees understand the strategic rationale behind reductions.

The Middle Manager Crisis

Middle managers emerged as another forgotten group in cost-cutting transformations. They receive information at the last minute (with confidentiality often cited as the reason for exclusion) yet they bear the brunt of supporting their teams through the emotional weight of change. This group serves as the primary source of information for frontline employees and plays a critical role in mitigating risk but they rarely receive adequate preparation or resources.

“Throughout the business, we need to start communicating as though we’re on a flight. Here’s our destination, here’s what things will look like when we arrive. Right now, we’re facing some turbulence, some uncertainty but there is an end goal in mind and we will get there together.” 

Sharon, BT Group - Transformation Change Management & Internal Communications

Part II: Strategic Approaches to Cost Reduction

Beyond Labor Cuts: Value Creation vs. Value Destruction

Several leaders advocated for a more strategic approach to cost reduction that extends beyond headcount. Organizations should conduct thorough assessments to identify where they create value versus where they destroy it. This analysis should examine facilities, office space utilization, subscriptions, technology platforms, and other non-labor expenses before defaulting to workforce reductions. This approach prevents short-sighted decisions that eliminate talent needed elsewhere in the organization.

Unified Messaging: From Cost-Cutting to Transformation

Successful organizations frame cost reduction as part of a broader transformation narrative rather than a standalone initiative. When cost-cutting and growth strategies appear contradictory, employees become confused and disengaged. Leaders emphasized the importance of creating one coherent story that explains how efficiency gains will finance innovation and new business opportunities. The shift from "cost-cutting" to "simplification" or "optimization" helps employees better understand the strategic intent.

Part III: Practical Tools and Tactics

The Manager Pack

Leaders shared the idea of creating a comprehensive "manager pack" that equips middle managers to lead through change. This resource can include:

• Talking points tailored to the specific change

• Scenario planning with suggested responses to various employee reactions

• Frequently asked questions with approved answers

• Links to a centralized source of truth with detailed information

• Clear guidance on what managers can and cannot share

  
  

This approach recognizes that employees want to hear from their direct managers first and provides managers with the confidence and tools to have difficult conversations effectively. However, people experiencing change can't absorb all information at once. Leading organizations address this by using platforms like Tigerhall, where employees can explore details at their own pace. This allows managers to have initial conversations and then direct team members to comprehensive resources for deeper exploration. The platform becomes a central hub that evolves as new questions emerge, ensuring information remains accessible and current throughout the transformation journey.

Employee Redeployment Programs

As AI and automation reduce the need for certain roles, forward-thinking organizations are implementing redeployment programs rather than pretending jobs won't be affected. These programs identify employees whose roles are changing, assess their skill sets, and provide training to move them into growth areas of the business. 

Part IV: Building Capability and Resilience

Continuous Improvement as Cultural Foundation

Organizations with established continuous improvement programs (Lean, Six Sigma, Operational Excellence) are often better positioned to handle cost-cutting exercises. However, start-and-stop programs destroy trust and make employees cynical about change initiatives. The key is positioning improvement programs around "making things better" rather than solely focusing on cost reduction, with cost savings emerging as a secondary benefit. This requires sustained commitment over years, not quick fixes.

Leadership Competency in Transformation

Several participants emphasized that transformation should be a core leadership competency, not an occasional exercise. This requires:

• Baseline assessments of organizational change readiness

• Communities of practice where transformation leaders share challenges and best practices

• Steering committees or centers of excellence that develop enterprise-wide standards

• Dedicated training with practical application and follow-up

• Centralized resource hubs with tools, templates, and guidance for different stakeholder groups

  
  

Scenario-Based Learning

Traditional training programs often fail to prepare leaders for real-world challenges. Meredith MacLean (Maersk - Head of Continuous Improvement) explained how they’ve successfully leveraged role-play exercises that prepare middle managers for various situations before they occur and fireside chats where leaders discuss leadership challenges that don't fit neatly into formal training.

“More training doesn’t necessarily build more competency. We’ve gone from standard training to scenario-based sessions that allow executives to practice hard conversations in a safe place.”

Michael Wiersma, Carrier - Lean Transformation Leader 

Sentiment Monitoring and Reset

Employee sentiment shifts organically during cost-cutting periods, requiring active monitoring. Best practices include re-baselining sentiment after major changes, conducting pulse checks with leaders at multiple levels, and developing targeted interventions based on findings. This "sentiment toolkit" approach allows organizations to respond quickly to morale issues before they escalate.

Part V: Organizational Dynamics and Governance

The HR-Transformation Partnership Gap

A critical insight emerged around the relationship between HR and transformation teams. Reductions in force are typically led by HR due to legal and compliance requirements, but transformation and change management experts are often excluded from early planning. This creates challenges because HR professionals, while skilled in their domain, aren't transformation experts. The most successful cost-cutting exercises bring HR and transformation teams together from the beginning, leveraging HR's expertise in legal compliance and transformation's expertise in the human side of change.

The Aftermath Challenge

When transformation teams are brought in after workforce reductions have been announced, they're left to "clean up the aisles" rather than proactively leading change. This reactive approach is less effective than collaborative planning. Organizations should establish protocols for involving transformation expertise early in cost-cutting planning, even within the confidential "war room" where cascade communications are planned.

Finance-Led vs. Strategy-Led Cost Reduction

When finance departments lead cost-cutting by simply demanding budget reductions, departments scramble to make arbitrary cuts (one or two people per team). More mature organizations can respond strategically by aligning cuts to priorities and outcomes. Instead of piecemeal reductions, they uncover the true cost of cuts before they are made final, forcing leadership to confront whether they're truly willing to deprioritize strategic objectives. 

“Finance teams want to cut costs but leadership teams don’t want to slow things down. If you cut prematurely, you end up rehiring. These growing/shrinking/growing exercises harm workplace sentiment. One potential fix: having a core team approach and hiring consultants when you are in a growth phase.”

David Kaempf, Enterprise Transformation Leader 

Part VI: Alternative Models and Long-Term Thinking

Lean Transformation as Cost-Cutting Alternative

When leadership fully commits to lean transformation principles, organizations can often avoid traditional cost-cutting exercises. By empowering frontline employees to identify inefficiencies and co-create solutions, companies unlock value while building engagement. However, this approach requires genuine leadership buy-in at the board level and a willingness to change organizational culture, not just implement tools.

Balancing Quick Wins with Long-Term Investment

Organizations backed by private equity or facing immediate financial pressure must balance short-term cost reductions with long-term investments. Leaders who successfully navigate this tension push for quick wins that drive immediate savings while simultaneously advocating for slower-paced investments (like systems implementations) that reduce costs over time. Short-sighted focus on immediate reductions can ultimately cost more in the long run.

Key Takeaways

1. Survivors need as much support as those departing. Organizations must actively address the needs of remaining employees who carry the organization forward, not just focus on those being laid off.

2. Middle managers also need support. Equip them early with comprehensive resources, let them digest information sooner where possible, and build their change leadership capabilities well before crises occur. They cannot effectively support their team if they themselves are blindsided. 

3. Strategic cost reduction looks beyond labor. Conduct value creation/destruction analyses and examine all expense categories before defaulting to workforce reductions.

4. Unified narratives prevent confusion. Frame cost-cutting as part of a coherent transformation story rather than a contradictory initiative that undermines growth.

5. Manager packs are great, foundational tools. Provide comprehensive resources including talking points, scenario planning, FAQs, and centralized information hubs.

6. HR and transformation must partner from the start. The most successful cost-cutting exercises integrate HR's compliance expertise with transformation's change management capabilities from day one.

7. Continuous improvement programs build resilience. Organizations with sustained improvement cultures handle cost-cutting better, where start-stop programs destroy trust.

8. Transformation should be a leadership competency. Invest in ongoing capability building through communities of practice, scenario-based learning, and accessible resource hubs.

9. Employee redeployment demonstrates commitment. Be honest about AI's impact and invest in moving people to new roles rather than simply eliminating positions.

10. Vision and transparency drive engagement. Paint a clear picture of the destination and be honest about the journey, even when it's difficult.

    
    

The Executive Council for Leading Change

The Executive Council for Leading Change (ECLC) is a global organization that brings executives together to redefine the landscape of organizational change and transformation. Our council aims to advance strategic leadership expertise in the realm of corporate change by connecting visionary leaders. It's a place where leaders responsible for significant change initiatives can collaborate, plan, and create practical solutions for intricate challenges in leading large organizations through major shifts.

In a world where change is constant, we recognize its crucial role in driving business success. ECLC’s mission is to create a community where leaders can excel in guiding their organizations through these dynamic times.