ings were sponsored for acquired airline employees. Following an
internal restructuring that included a reduction in force in a tele-
com giant, a single three-day off-site meeting was designed to help
people let go of the old and begin accepting the new.
Exhibit 12.1 provides a menu for preparing the venting meeting
agenda. Not all components are intended to be used in all meet-
ings, either because of their poor fit with the organization’s culture
or time constraints. The full agenda typically requires two days of
work but can be expanded to three days if strong holding-on forces
are anticipated. Alternatively, the meeting can be condensed to one
day or less if components like the mourning ceremony or the feed-
back session with senior management are dropped.
Set the tone and atmosphere of the venting meeting early on
by clarifying the meeting’s purpose and objectives, establishing the
facilitator’s credibility, and loosening up people through an ice-
breaking exercise. Icebreakers such as asking people to draw their
current feelings about organizational life on a piece of paper or to
describe them as a food or television program succeed at getting
people to open up and participate. Subsequently, raise awareness
of the adaptation process through a presentation that educates at-
tendees on organizational transitions and their impact on em-
ployees. This kind of presentation validates what employees have
been experiencing during and after the resizing, which in turn
gives the session and facilitator credibility and brings people’s en-
ergy and interest into the process.
The presentation typically is met with considerable head nodding
and verbal confirmations of how the discussion applies to the atten-
dees’ situation. In some cases, the attendees may be bursting to let
out their feelings in an emotional and energetic catharsis. In others,
a more conservative approach is taken by conducting a breakout
group activity that serves as a segue between the consciousness-

raising and reexperiencing components of the meeting. The in-
tention is to build up employees’ comfort level with the venting
process; people in a small group typically feel more at ease and
more responsible to contributing to the group discussion. Conse-
quently, attendees are assigned to small groups to identify and pri-
oritize the issues from the presentation that are the most pertinent
to their personal situation. A lively exchange usually ensues and
continues until the facilitator persuades the members to return to
the full group.
REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 291
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292 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION
Exhibit 12.1. Venting Meeting Agenda.
I. Introduction
• Meeting objectives
• Facilitator’s background
• Icebreaking exercise
II. Presentation on organizational and individual responses to
transition
III. Breakout group assignment
• Identify key issues affecting this transition
• Prioritize issues for discussion
IV. Full group meets
• Breakout groups report lists of high-priority issues
• Consensus developed regarding key issues for discussion
V. Discussion of key issues
VI. Mourning ceremony
VII. Presentation on guidelines for managing self and subordinates
during revitalization after resizing
VIII. Individual assignment
• What I can do to facilitate revitalization
• What the company needs to do to facilitate revitalization
IX. Breakout group assignment
• Consolidate “what I can do” and “what company can do” lists

X. Full group meets
• Breakout groups report lists
• Consolidated lists prepared
XI. Feedback session with senior management
• Review of lists with questions of clarification
• Commitment to next steps
In the full group, each breakout group reports its list of high-
priority issues. The full group achieves consensus regarding the
key issues in this particular transition and organizes them into a
set of discussion items to guide the reexperiencing portion of the
meeting. Now comes the emotional highlight of the venting meet-
ing: a facilitator-led discussion that addresses salient issues weigh-
ing on the minds of employees. Precisely following the consensus
list of items is less important than letting the group go where it
wants with the discussion. Invariably, one issue will bleed into the
discussion of another. The depth of the discussion will vary ac-
cording to the skill of the facilitator and the openness of the
group. The full reexperiencing step rarely occurs at one meeting.
Still, the facilitator may take advantage of the presence of the
group and conduct a mourning ceremony to facilitate bonding,
supportiveness, and acceptance of the end of the old organiza-
tional realities among the attendees.
In addition to covering the three steps of the letting-go process,
the venting meeting may include a module that readies people for
their responsibilities in the postresizing organization. This forward-
looking preparation typically addresses a common request by se-
nior leadership to finish the meeting on a positive note. Although
the mourning process itself may end in a celebratory fashion,
much like a traditional Irish wake, the notion of grieving retains a
negative stigma in most organizational cultures. To help people

look forward and feel optimistic about their chances for success,
the venting meeting can include a segment on preparing for life
in the new organization.
After a symbolic pause in the meeting, a break, or lunch, the
focus turns toward the future, with guidelines for managing the re-
covery period following resizing. In meetings involving nonsuper-
visory employees, this could be in the form of suggestions for
managing oneself. Typically, these guidelines include some mix of
tactics for continuing the work of letting go and adapting to the
new organizational realities. When the meeting involves partici-
pants who manage other people, guidelines for managing subor-
dinates during the revitalization period are presented along with
those for managing oneself. An individually focused exercise to get
people to distinguish between areas they can and cannot control
prevents attendees from fixating on matters beyond their influence.
REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 293
294 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION
Finally, the full group makes summary lists of individual and orga-
nization actions that can be taken as part of revitalization.
These lists should be reported to senior leadership as a first
step in using the data collected in the meeting to aid the revital-
ization process. If time permits and the climate is appropriate, the
venting meeting can conclude with a scheduled appearance by
members of senior leadership to hear the findings firsthand from
participants. This symbolizes leadership’s genuine interest in what
people have to say about what they have gone through and where
they are headed, and it lets executives hear the issues in employ-
ees’ own words and with their emotions attached.
Prepare executives for this portion of the meeting by remind-
ing them that this is the attendees’ meeting and not theirs. Their

role is to be active listeners during the reporting-back session—first
showing empathy for where the attendees have been and what they
are experiencing, and then conveying that they heard the em-
ployees’ ideas about how the company could help manage revital-
ization after resizing. Alternatively, summaries of the work produced
in the venting meeting can be presented to senior leadership in a
written report following the meeting.
Dealing with the Neutral Zone:
Monitoring and Communicating
Employees who let go of their attachment to the old have not yet
completed their adaptation after a resizing. They must contend
with the awkward period of feeling out new methods, roles, and
relationships. This reignites stress and uncertainty but is a critical—
and creative—step in revitalization.
The neutral zone is a time when the organization is no longer
what it was prior to the resizing but not yet what it can become fol-
lowing the transition. If well managed, the neutral zone sees the
easing of forces for the status quo and strengthening of forces for
the new. As such, facilitation during the neutral zone is built
around communication to clarify what is being abandoned and
what is being adopted. This includes upward communication to
monitor transition and downward communication to reinforce the
new and strengthen forces for desired change.
Monitoring people as they struggle through the neutral zone
can be achieved through common methods for conducting em-
ployee research. These include questionnaires, one-on-one inter-
views, focus group interviews, and observations. The content of the
employee research should focus on whether employees understand
the business and personal opportunities in the postresizing orga-
nization and what is needed to align their individual contributions

to work team and overall organizational performance.
Following the last in a series of plant closings, senior executives
at a manufacturing firm launched a formal revitalization program.
Working with an external consultant, internal human resource pro-
fessionals conducted a series of focus group interviews to monitor
how employees viewed the emerging organization and their readi-
ness to contribute to it. The focus group interviews were structured
around a few key questions:
• To what extent do you have the information you need to do
your job well at this time?
• To what extent do you see personal opportunity in the resized
organization?
• To what extent do you see a new and better organization
emerging?
• What cultural characteristics are predominating in the resized
organization?
• What makes you feel optimistic or pessimistic about the new
organization?
The standards of good organizational communication apply to
the neutral zone (for example, send timely, consistent messages
using multiple methods). There are no right or wrong methods of
communication during the neutral zone; use whatever works for
the organization and its people. However, messages about the
promise of the new organization should be repeated and rein-
forced through multiple media, including written, electronic, and
in-person communications.
The manufacturing firm launched a biweekly transition
newsletter, sent periodic letters to employees’ homes, printed pack-
ets to equip managers and supervisors with appropriate answers to
employees’ questions, created a Web page with transition updates

REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 295
296 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION
and information, sponsored town hall meetings, and rewarded su-
periors for holding small group meetings with their work teams.
Through all these outlets, some constant themes were reinforced:
• A clear and compelling argument for why the status quo is no
good
• An equally clear and compelling vision for a new and better
postresizing organization
• Ground rules and desired culture norms for the new organiza-
tion (including commitment to communication)
• The process for getting from the status quo to the desired
organization
• Setting a tone for the neutral zone, including setting expecta-
tions for things like inevitable mistakes being made and the
need for people to cut one another some slack during the
process
Managing the neutral zone requires the solid application of
good change management practices. The delicacy comes in the ex-
ecution of these standard practices. Managing the neutral zone in
a manner that contributes to weakening forces for the status quo
and strengthening forces for desired change requires adequate re-
sources to monitor and communicate during the period following
resizing; attention must be paid to time, staff, and budget. The or-
ganization will not reorient itself by accident, and people will not
automatically embrace new practices and perspectives congruent
with the new organizational order while abandoning the ones that
served them well prior to resizing. Monitoring and communication
provide the feedback and detail required to stay on track to attain
the desired organization. Almost as important, these efforts

demonstrate senior leadership’s acknowledgment of the adapta-
tion process and the need to manage revitalization following re-
sizing. As a result, during the neutral zone, leadership has the
opportunity to model the communication and feedback norms it
wants to characterize the postresizing culture.
Accepting the New: Bringing Vision to Life
For a workforce that is letting go of the old and contending with
the confusion of the neutral zone, a well-articulated vision of where
the organization is headed plays an important role in revitalizing
employee spirit after a painful transition. Vision makes it easier for
people to let go of their grasp on the status quo and instills a sense
of confidence that they and their organization can manage
through the neutral zone. When coupled with guidelines for de-
sired values and behaviors, vision directs employee actions in line
with the desired postresizing organization. However, most efforts
to communicate corporate vision and subsequently direct em-
ployee behavior miss the mark. In the typical scenario, a CEO takes
his team off site to hash out a vision statement. On returning
home, an article appears in the company newsletter heralding the
arrival of the new vision, a video is made to explain the vision in
detail, and plaques are ordered so that all employees can have a
constant reminder of the vision hovering above their desk or work
area. The CEO and other senior executives then get back to run-
ning their business.
Employees want to learn more about the vision, how it will be
attained, and precisely how they can contribute to achieving it as
the organization rebounds from a resizing. To convey an adequate
degree of precision, middle managers and direct supervisors must
reiterate and reinforce the CEO’s statement of vision. Employees
prefer face-to-face communication on matters of organizational

change to other styles, and while senior executives must set the
tone in communicating direction, employees want to hear directly
from their immediate superiors (Ackley, 1992). Unfortunately, mid-
dle managers are themselves often unclear about the vision and,
following a resizing, often put a higher priority on producing busi-
ness results than on contributing to organization change and de-
velopment. First-line supervisors are even further in the dark about
the vision and how it will be attained. Although newsletters, in-
tranets, videos, and plaques are important supplements to face-to-
face communication, they are not substitutes for the personal touch
that employees seek to revitalize them after a resizing. Moreover,
without any involvement in the development of the vision statement
or the plan to roll it out, managers and supervisors tend to be cyn-
ical about the promise of a vaguely worded statement, threatened
by the changes it suggests. With no sense of ownership of or stake
in the vision, they resist rather than support its attainment.
Eventually, the CEO gets some kind of feedback that indicates
that people are not clear about where their organization is headed
and have increasingly lost faith in leadership’s ability to move the
REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 297
298 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION
organization forward. This feedback may be in the form of find-
ings from an employee attitude survey, persistent nudging from a
consultant or human resource director, or disappointing financial
results. This typically frustrates the CEO. “Haven’t I already told
the people the vision?” asks the baffled leader. Yes, perhaps, but
the CEO’s message and intentions have not been brought to life.
Living the Vision
Statements of vision in and of themselves do little to restore faith,
create hope, or generate the motivation to act in an organization

recovering from a resizing. To facilitate revitalization, the vision
must jump off the paper on which it is printed. It must become an-
imated and integrated into people’s actions on the job, not merely
be spoken about or pointed to. The process of aligning employee
behavior with the desired postresizing organization is called living
the vision.
Figure 12.2 represents a model for living the vision through ac-
tivity up and down the organization. It is built from the vision of
senior leadership at the top of the organization, but it requires the
support of each level from the bottom up. This activity at all levels
engages people in living the vision. Senior leadership articulates a
clear direction for the organization; managers and supervisors in
the middle link business unit mission statements with the corpo-
rate vision and develop guidelines for employee behavior. In work
groups, employees translate the vision, mission, and operating
guidelines into day-to-day operating practices. This process involves
employees in aligning their work with the new organizational order
and provides answers to the prominent question of how they can
contribute to overall organizational success. Finally, working back
up the pyramid, supervisors and managers review proposed new
ways of approaching work to ensure they support the mission and
vision and to provide coordination across work areas.
Living the vision succeeds at rebuilding employee spirit fol-
lowing a resizing for a number of reasons:
• High credibility. Living the vision directly addresses employees’
questions such as, “Where is this organization headed?” and
“How do I align my work accordingly?”
• High validity. Changes in work procedures are based on em-
ployees’ own recommendations for aligning work with the
vision, not some consultant’s suggestion or some program’s

prescription.
• High involvement. Care is taken each step of the way to ensure
genuine support for suggested revisions before the process
engages the next level.
• High relevance. The vision is linked with people’s daily work
situation.
These qualities contrast with common approaches to abiding
by vision statements. Visions can wither if people feel they must
read tablets of stone passed down from above. Allowing people
some participation in developing initial vision statements, subse-
quent mission statements, and operating guidelines can help boost
energy and enthusiasm in the postresizing organization. This in-
volvement provides the emotional glue that holds together the var-
ious parts of the organization and complements the strategic and
financial plans in revitalizing after resizing. And, no small matter, it
REVITALIZATION AFTER RESIZING 299
Figure 12.2. Model for Living the Vision.
Operating
Practices
Operating
Policies
Operating
Principles
Mission
Statements
Statement of how to
operate on the job
Statement of what to
do when operating in
the organization

Statement of an underlying
operating philosophy
Statement of business
unit purpose for being
Statement of where the
organization is headedVision
Individual
Work Groups
Supervisors
Managers
Executives
CEO or President
300 RESIZING THE ORGANIZATION
engages people close to the work in recommending and adopting
new on-the-job behaviors.
Articulating Vision
Vision statements need not be elegant. In fact, the simpler they
are, the easier they are to communicate and the more accessible
they tend to be for translation into on-the-job behaviors. Fre-
quently, vision statements include core values that should ac-
company efforts to attain the vision. Values represent what the
organization believes in and how people should work with and
treat one another. They are the attitudes that subtly sanction or
prohibit behaviors on the job.
The process through which the vision statement is developed
is as important to revitalizing people after a resizing as the content
of what it says. The extent to which an organization’s vision is sup-
ported by top executives is an early test of how the vision will be
received through the ranks and of how facilitative it will be in align-
ing people and their work with the new desired organization. If

people at the top of an organization do not understand or support
the vision, then most certainly neither will people at the middle
and lower levels.
The case of a retail sales conglomerate shows how support for
the process can be built concurrently with the crafting and com-
munication of the vision. The firm experienced multiple waves of
downsizing, store closings, and restructurings as part of an effort to
close unprofitable locations while attempting to centralize decision
making and rein in autonomy from business units. A consultant
conducted one-on-one interviews with the CEO and business unit
presidents to identify issues, concerns, and priorities related to busi-
ness direction and vision. At an off-site meeting with the executives,
the consultant reported the interview findings and facilitated a dis-
cussion to align their perspectives about the desired end state for
the restructured firm. Key concerns of autonomy versus central-
ization were addressed head-on and examined through rounds of
give-and-take discussion. As the CEO put it, “We now have a vision
that is not just a bunch of words, but something that each of us has
influenced, really believe in, and commit to achieving.” Anything
short of a consensus among the top team would have foiled im-
plementation in the business units.