Why Reorganizations Need More Than a New Org Chart, According to Eric Partaker

In a recent LinkedIn post, Eric Partaker discusses why reorganizations can fall short when leaders focus on structure alone. This article reports on Partaker’s argument and the example he shared; it is coverage of his post, not an article written by him.

“Only 23% of reorganizations meet their goals.”

Partaker places that figure alongside his account of McKinsey’s 7S model, which he says was developed to broaden the way organizations think about change. He cites research discussed in the book CEO Excellence, then points to a 1980 paper by Tom Peters, Bob Waterman and Julien Phillips, “Structure Is Not Organization.” As Partaker recounts it, the paper added five organizational levers to strategy and structure, forming the seven-part model.

When growth changes the leadership relationship

To illustrate the model, Partaker draws on his experience as a strategy consultant at McKinsey and a CEO in his accelerator. The CEO had built the company around an open-door approach, making himself available to employees at nearly any time. As the company expanded, meetings crowded out those conversations. Partaker says service weakened, morale declined and conflict increased.

According to Partaker, an outside consultant summarized the problem this way:

“These guys miss you. They miss your personal attention.”

Partaker says one leader was close to quitting. The CEO took him to a conference abroad for a week, and the leader returned with renewed energy. In Partaker’s interpretation, that episode showed how a company’s changing structure can unsettle other parts of its operating culture.

The seven levers move together

Partaker frames the CEO’s challenge as a mismatch: the organization’s structure had grown, but the leader’s style had not adapted. He argues that the effects reached staff and shared values, too. The model’s seven elements are:

• Shared values: beliefs guiding major decisions.
• Strategy: the plan to win and current priorities.
• Structure: ownership and decision-making responsibilities.
• Systems: repeatable processes for getting work done.
• Style: leaders’ day-to-day behavior.
• Staff: the people hired and how they are placed.
• Skills: capabilities built through experience.

As Partaker notes, “Change one of the seven, and the other six feel it.” His post’s practical message is that leaders considering a reorganization should examine how proposed changes affect the full set of levers, rather than treating a revised chart as a complete solution.

A broader check before restructuring

Partaker closes by asking which of the seven areas leaders overlook most. The question extends his central point: organizational change involves relationships among responsibilities, processes, people and leadership behavior. His account presents the 7S model as a prompt for assessing those connections before redesigning reporting lines.