CenturyLink

CenturyLink, a major telecommunications company, had announced plans to undertake a massive business reorganization. The restructuring entailed layoffs, relocation, increased workloads, and fewer resources, leading to significant job insecurity and an extremely charged atmosphere among the company's employees.​

7,000 People Choking the Company

The company's largest division had 25,000 employees, and its management was particularly concerned about the success of the business reorganization as well as its impact on productivity and employee morale. "We had 7,000 folks running around and literally choking the company. We were dying on the vine and none of us could see it," Carla Debow, former VP of Marketing, described the dysfunction.​

"I had to have a secretary to manage the secretary of my calendar when I was a director. Because I had to go to so many meetings in 14 states. They were all the same thing, it was all a bunch of nonsense, and it was all power plays," she explained about the bureaucratic paralysis. The constant meetings served no productive purpose: "We could fight for weeks. We were masterful at it."​

Lost Opportunities from Years of Fighting

"In marketing, you have a very narrow timeframe to make something happen or you lose because somebody else is going to have the idea. The window closes quickly," Carla noted about the competitive stakes. But internal warfare made capitalizing on opportunities impossible. "We lost an opportunity because we would sit in committee fighting all the time. We would fight for years. We were good, dig in our trenches."​

The division was characterized by feuding, competition for limited resources, and conflicting objectives. Issues that should have taken days to resolve dragged on for months or years. Realizing they needed to enlist the employees' support in order to make the reorganization successful, the division's management turned to Arbinger for assistance.

3,500 Managers Trained in Four Months

The work with the division began with training conducted jointly by Arbinger and internal company facilitators who had been trained by Arbinger. This training was followed by three implementation workshops held at one-month intervals and conducted by Arbinger consultants. Virtually all of the division's 3,500 managers completed the Arbinger training. Following this training, team managers were provided with advanced training, teaching plans, workbooks, and videos to further drive the Arbinger way of working within their teams.​

The scale and speed of deployment was unprecedented—training 3,500 managers across 14 states during a massive downsizing and reorganization. But the intervention provided exactly what was needed: a common framework for working together when everything else was in flux.​ 

From "What's in It for Me" to "For the Good of All"

"With Arbinger in place, we stopped thinking so much about what's in it for me... and what can I get out of this as opposed to what can I do that will make sure that Mitch's organization meets their goal and in kind I'll meet my goal," Carla explained about the fundamental shift. The change wasn't about compromise—it was about reorienting priorities. "We just flipped the switch a little bit so we don't have to go to the negotiation table and fight all day long. We broke down the barriers."​

The transformation enabled speed previously impossible. "So we would be able to jump through windows while they were wide open, because we could fix something fast," Carla described the new agility. She gave a concrete example: "You could go to a network meeting, a strategy meeting about plant and cable and we got this great promo but we don't have enough cable, there's not enough money. And you go, okay, I got $20,000 over here. Can we move this budget? 'Carla, are you willing to give up your 20?' I'll give up the 20. Why? For the good of all. That's why we're gonna do this when everybody comes to the table and we get there first to the marketplace and we deliver and we win."​ 

Following the Arbinger intervention, division managers reported significant process improvements in a wide variety of areas. They reported that the division—which had been characterized by feuding, competition for limited resources, and conflicting objectives—was now moving toward an environment of collaboration, resource sharing, and harmonized objectives. They attributed this to the fact that the Arbinger ideas provided common ground with which to identify and solve problems in a very difficult environment.​

From Years-Long Grudges to Instant Resolution

According to one manager, "There is a tremendous change in the company since the Arbinger training—more respect, more follow-up, and a higher level of trust…. I have never felt better." Importantly, this change was felt at even the most senior levels. One corporate officer noted, "Things are much different now on the senior team; we respect and honor one another more than ever before. We have sincere mutual regard. People are willing to forgive mistakes. Once, I lost my temper at someone and then apologized…. We talked things over and when we were done, the issue was completely settled. Before, this kind of thing could have lasted years."​

Initiative and Creativity During Limits

Managers also began taking greater initiative and, in an environment where the possibilities appeared limited, found creative ways to serve the division's customers. Employees at all levels became more attentive to others' specific needs and started taking initiative and personal responsibility for meeting those needs.​

This help was not confined to work issues, but extended to helping fellow employees who were affected by the business reorganization. Employees rallied to support one another by sharing job postings, coaching each other on interviews and resumes, and providing formal and informal managerial training.​

Saved Careers and Reduced Stress

Arbinger's work also had a strong, positive impact on employees' morale and well-being. Many reported feeling more in control of their lives and better able to cope with the changes taking place in the company. They also reported less stress, less anxiety, and increased ability to deal with common problems. Because of this, work satisfaction among employees increased by 20%.​

One of the senior managers said, "The Arbinger training has saved my career. I would have left or been forced out of the company had I not gotten control of my attitude and developed new ways of being with people. It has allowed me to make a contribution to the company I otherwise was not prepared to make."​ 

Unprecedented Business Results

Results of the company's internal employee survey helped quantify the impact of Arbinger's work. Even though this survey was conducted more than a year after the Arbinger intervention, those who worked with Arbinger responded more favorably on all questions compared to employees who had not worked with Arbinger.​

As a result, despite the difficulties posed by the business reorganization, work groups experienced gains in productivity and were better able to proactively anticipate and meet customers' needs. One regional operations manager remarked, "Without the Arbinger training, I don't think I'd be able to get any good work from my people at this point. But in spite of the reengineering decisions that are beyond my control, we're doing some pretty good stuff." This was not only felt within individual units, but across the whole division. As one corporate officer reported, "We're getting a lot more done, and we're doing it a lot faster now."​

Because people at all levels were working more effectively together, business results dramatically improved. The division president reflected, "As a direct result of implementing Arbinger's process and human technology, at the very time we were going through massive organizational changes and downsizing, we delivered the product our company depends on for its revenue more efficiently, at lower cost, and with higher quality than ever before, as measured by the following:​

• Revenue grew by 17%​
• Customer satisfaction increased by 21%​
• Efficiency improved by over 10%​
• Supplier relationships improved, resulting in a decrease of materials cost by 23%​
• Capital efficiency improved by 50%​ 

CenturyLink proved that massive reorganizations don't have to destroy morale and performance, when you give 3,500 managers a common framework during the chaos.

When the telecom giant announced layoffs, relocations, increased workloads, and fewer resources, the division's existing dysfunction threatened to make the transition catastrophic. With 7,000 people "literally choking the company" through years-long feuds over resources and "arch enemy" power plays, marketing opportunities closed while teams "fought for weeks" in meetings across 14 states. Traditional change management would focus on restructuring processes—instead, Arbinger trained virtually all 3,500 managers in four months through joint delivery with internal facilitators, followed by three monthly implementation workshops.

The transformation was immediate: managers went from viewing colleagues as "arch enemies " to "you just wanna hug and kiss" before getting down to business. Resource hoarding flipped to "I'll give up the 20 [thousand dollars]...for the good of all." The result: during downsizing when survival was the goal, revenue grew 17%, customer satisfaction increased 21%, work satisfaction rose 20%, efficiency improved over 10%, materials costs decreased 23%, and capital efficiency improved 50%. Senior team issues that "could have lasted years" resolved instantly. The lesson: you can't execute reorganization successfully when internal warfare prevents collaboration and years-long grudges block decision-making. Give managers common ground to identify problems and flip the mindset from "what's in it for me" to "for the good of all"—and restructuring becomes the moment for historic performance, not survival.