The restructuring itself — consolidating animal collections to really serve the course offerings across four campuses — was the straightforward part. The harder part was doing it while staff still had to show up every day, without the process eroding their confidence in the institution.

We committed early to two rules: no surprises, and no changes announced before the people affected had heard it directly from a manager, not a memo. Every decision came with a reason attached, honestly and transparently, including the reason being simply budget for part of it.

By the time the restructuring was complete, we’d delivered meaningful recalibration — but the number I actually tracked most closely was staff turnover during the process. It stayed comparable to turnover before the restructuring. That, more than the budget line, told me the sequencing had worked.