Reset after a restructure: how to rebuild and stay true to your practice

When your content team gets cut, the way you worked before won’t work now. 

You need to rebuild relationships, clarify your role and responsibilities, and create processes that fit your new reality.

Here's how to take control of your practice during times of change.

Acknowledge the impact

Many organisations do not address the negative side-effects of making staff cuts, such as:

• low morale,
• less time to work on our priorities,
• knowledge gaps and incomplete handovers,
• more work without team support or fair compensation,
• anxiety about being laid off,
• the breakdown of established teams, relationships and processes,
• reduced trust and self-censorship.
  

Without content designers, cracks can appear in products and services. User needs stop being the starting point for content decisions, business goals and user needs can become misaligned, accessibility issues slip through and brand voice becomes inconsistent across the user experience.

Remind your organisation of the skills, knowledge and expertise that have been lost so responsibilities can be redistributed and content quality and user experience do not suffer. 

Prioritise your workload 

You cannot do the work of 10 content designers with a team of 3. Everyone will need to do less and your organisation will need to make trade-offs.

If you do not have time to do everything, decide: 

• what you’re willing to let go,
• what is non-negotiable.

Ask your delivery manager or product owner what to prioritise. Explain the risks so they can make informed decisions. 

With fewer resources, you’re forced to prioritise what matters most for your users and organisation. 

As Sarah Winters, CEO of Content Design London, wrote in Things move fast, and content can too, the best thing you can do for users is create clear, organised content. Less content, done well, serves users better than lots of content you cannot maintain.

Once you have clarity, tell your team and stakeholders so they know your priorities.  

You can also explain what you were able to do before compared to now. For example: “I used to have time to check every piece of new content, but now I only have capacity to check high-risk content, which means developers need to check their work against the designs.”

Design and document new processes

If your old processes no longer work, create new ones that everyone understands. 

For example, if you do not have time to check if content is accessible, add guidance to the design system so knowledge and responsibility are shared.

Keep solutions simple and document what works.

Make sure your voice gets heard 

Change can feel destabilising, but it also creates opportunities to shape your role and influence.

Working in a smaller team can create space to: 

• lead or redefine content design in your organisation,
• coach or support other teams,
• demonstrate the value of your expertise.
  

If your voice isn’t heard, content can quickly become inaccurate, hard to navigate, or even non-compliant with accessibility requirements.

Ask your delivery manager or product owner to invite you to squad meetings that affect design or content. These keep you connected to your immediate team's decisions.

Also, look beyond your team for cross-functional projects where content design can add value. Even if you can't attend everything, knowing what's happening helps you spot opportunities to contribute.

For example, at one organisation I prioritised their data standards meetings to make sure content design had a say in the terminology and language chosen.

I also worked with its training team and shared the style guide and knowledge of how the product worked. This helped users have a more consistent experience and meant I could flag accessibility issues before training materials went live.

Remind yourself why you’re a content designer 

During a restructure, you might question whether you want to continue in this profession. This is normal.  

Go back to the fundamentals if you're losing sight of your expertise. Re-read books like Content Design to reconnect with the principles of the practice and why your work matters.

Think about: 

• why you became a content designer,
• what you have invested in your career,
• the ways your work has improved people's experience,
• what you want to be doing in a few years. 

Restructures are hard, but your voice and expertise matter. Keep advocating for users and your craft, and you’ll continue to shape your organisation and your career.