When I was promoted to Head of Production, my first major challenge came fast: lead a department merger, cut costs by 65%, and keep things moving without losing people in the process. The task wasn’t just operational. It was deeply human.
I was stepping into a situation with overlapping roles, mismatched systems, and teams that didn’t quite trust each other … or me. One team had clear documentation and structure. The other relied on memory, improvisation, and legacy habits. Everyone had questions. Most had concerns.
This case study walks through how I led a department merger with clarity, empathy, and structure. From selection and offboarding to workflow redesign and cross-team alignment, it’s a story about how to lead change, especially when the stakes are high and the path isn’t fully paved.
The challenge: two teams, one goal, zero alignment
When I stepped into the Head of Production role, I inherited two separate teams: production and delivery. Months earlier, I had proposed a merger between the two as a way to reduce redundancy and improve performance, but now, due to budget constraints, it became a necessary reality.
Both were working toward the same outcomes, but operating with entirely different workflows, communication styles, and expectations. Due to budget constraints, I was tasked with reducing the total team size from eight to four. But simply “cutting” wasn’t an option. I knew that the way we approached this would shape not only our performance, but our team culture going forward.
The two teams had been built in parallel, with some overlap in responsibilities and little coordination between them. The production team had mature systems, detailed SOPs, and a strong sense of process ownership. The delivery team, on the other hand, lacked updated documentation and often relied on institutional knowledge and ad hoc communication. This created redundancies, delayed handoffs, and blurred accountability, especially in client-facing work.
Morale was also at risk. Team members didn’t know what the merger would mean for their roles or their future. I needed to lead a process that was not just efficient, but transparent and respectful. One that prioritized fairness, clarity, and care, even in the face of difficult decisions.
The action: designing a fair and transparent merger process
With trust and morale on the line, I knew the way we handled this merger would matter just as much as the outcome. I approached the transition like any high-stakes operations challenge: by designing a clear, structured process that prioritized fairness, transparency, and empathy at every step. From selection to offboarding to onboarding a new team, the goal was to create alignment, not just in workflow, but in purpose.
Selection with structure and empathy
To ensure the selection process was fair, I proposed including two additional candidates from other departments to widen the evaluation pool and reduce perceived bias. I also requested that the People & Culture Manager be involved from the start. Why? To validate the process and to serve as a point of support for any team member who had questions or concerns. Transparency wasn’t optional. It was foundational.
I created a detailed interview framework that included a structured questionnaire and a scorecard to assess each candidate based on performance, potential, and alignment with the newly unified team’s goals. I wanted to make sure that every team member, regardless of background, was evaluated using the same criteria.
I communicated timelines, next steps, and the decision-making structure clearly. Then I personally conducted ten one-on-one interviews, gathering not just performance data, but also personal perspectives, strengths, and support needs. The goal wasn’t just to “choose the best” team members. It was to build the right team for what we needed next.
Onboarding and offboarding with care
Once the final team was selected, I turned my attention to ensuring both a smooth transition and a positive offboarding experience. I developed individual offboarding plans for each departing team member, drafted communications, and coordinated closely with People & Culture to make sure no one was left in the dark. I offered personal support where needed and made space for human conversations, not just HR ones.
For the new merged team, I facilitated hands-on training—especially for former delivery team members, whose processes hadn’t been documented previously. I walked them through updated workflows, developed new SOPs, and ensured everyone understood not just what needed to be done, but why the changes were happening. It wasn’t about erasing what had been built before. It was about creating shared understanding and alignment moving forward.
I was aware of how I might be perceived: coming in, taking over, and replacing their former lead. But instead of asserting authority, I focused on clarity, care, and collaboration. I told them I wasn’t there to impose a new way of doing things; I wanted to understand what they were doing, what they believed could work better, and how we could improve together. If their process worked better, I would adjust mine. Over time, resistance shifted into curiosity, and then into buy-in. They saw that I kept my word, that I listened, and that I made expectations clear. By the end of the transition, some of the same people who had felt sidelined were now thanking me for the way I handled it. That transformation, from guarded skepticism to shared ownership, was the clearest proof I could have asked for that this approach was working.
Fixing what was broken: unifying workflows and client experience
While merging the teams, it quickly became clear that it wasn’t just roles that needed restructuring. It was how we worked across the board. Production and delivery had been operating from separate ClickUp folders with different standards and expectations. That fragmentation created delays, duplicated work, and blurred accountability. My goal wasn’t just to unify the folders. It was to rebuild the system so that it worked, for both the team and our clients.
We already had structured SOPs in place, built during my time as Operations Strategist. But now, the merged team required updated SOPs, reworked automations, and refined handoffs. I oversaw the redesign of those systems to reflect the new structure and ensure they supported clear ownership and efficient execution.
One of the most important changes I implemented was a client journey system in ClickUp. It provided cross-departmental visibility into every stage of production and helped us track ownership and blockers. It was designed to ensure nothing fell through the cracks and, when something did, we could immediately identify what happened, where, and why. It shifted the culture from finger-pointing to root-cause analysis and continuous improvement.
At the same time, I began developing a client-facing dashboard system: a single link where each client could access everything relevant to their content: status updates, resources, delivery timelines, and more. The idea came from internal feedback: when I built a centralized SOP hub for the team to reduce friction and confusion. I wanted to give our clients the same clarity.
The dashboard system wasn’t launched due to layoffs and leadership changes, but the vision was in place: reduce noise, increase trust, and streamline communication across the entire production lifecycle.
Through the transition, we reduced production turnaround from 33 days to 21 without sacrificing quality. That improvement wasn’t achieved in isolation. I worked closely with department heads and directors to streamline interdependent workflows, clarify accountability, and improve handoffs across teams. One example was the Strike policy, which I co-developed with other leaders to create consistency around performance expectations and escalation paths. This collaboration helped reduce ambiguity and build a shared language for accountability, not just within production, but across the organization.
The shift wasn’t just operational; it was cultural. By improving visibility, reducing redundancy, and reinforcing shared standards, we rebuilt trust with clients and with each other. And while some of the larger initiatives, like client dashboards, were paused due to company-wide restructuring, the foundation was there: systems that empowered teams, surfaced root issues, and laid the groundwork for long-term improvement.
The result: impact beyond the numbers
The outcomes of the merger went far beyond hitting budget targets. We reduced departmental costs by 65% while restoring productivity to 100% within the first month. Turnaround time for content delivery dropped from 33 to 21 days, and internal confusion gave way to clarity, collaboration, and shared ownership.
But the true result was in how the work got done. The merger didn’t fracture morale. It rebuilt it. The team transitioned from uncertainty and skepticism to trust and engagement. By leading with structure and transparency, we aligned around a new operational rhythm that empowered people instead of sidelining them.
Cross-functional alignment improved as well. With cleaner systems and clearer expectations, our team became easier to work with and more reliable to deliver. Initiatives like the Strike policy reinforced accountability across departments and laid the groundwork for a more scalable, sustainable production model.
I stepped into the role with a mandate to reduce headcount. But what I delivered was a stronger system, a healthier culture, and a more effective team.
Reflecting on the journey
This merger wasn’t just a structural change. It was a turning point in how I lead.
I’ve always believed that systems and people should work together, not in conflict. And this experience confirmed that belief. Even in a high-stakes situation with limited time and shrinking resources, it was possible to lead with transparency, invite collaboration, and deliver real results without compromising trust.
It taught me that change doesn’t have to feel chaotic. That clarity can be a stabilizer. That accountability, when paired with empathy, builds stronger teams, not resentful ones. And that sometimes, the most human thing you can do is build a system that makes work better for the people inside it.
Alex Gita | Driving Efficiency, Empowering Teams 