Ten Best Practices for Restructuring the Organization RONALD J. RECARDOAND KLEIGH HEATHER Business leaders who have been involved in any as- pect of a restructuring understand the difficulty of crafting a successful solution. Experience gleaned from more than 50 successful restructuring projects and interviews with corporate executives point to 10 best practices that organizational leaders can use to accelerate the restructuring process and ensure that it meets its objectives: start with executive spon- sorship; tie strategy to design; use a structured ap- proach; keep business process work simple; collect data and use it; consider the various options; be aware of trade-offs; keep the focus on people; avoid declaring victory prematurely; and get an early han- dle on the IT systems. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.