How Do You Roll Back a Major Change?

I’ve had to roll back hiring decisions before, and it’s never fun.

I hired 2 different VAs from the Philippines because I wanted to buy back time on the office side. The idea made sense. I wanted help with lead follow-up, admin, outreach, CRM work, and the repetitive tasks that were pulling me away from higher-value work.

Both ended up being bad fits. Performance wasn’t where I needed it, expectations kept getting missed, and no-shows became part of the problem. Eventually I had to let both of them go. That experience taught me that creating a role because you need relief doesn’t automatically mean the role is ready, or that the person in it is the right fit.

In your situation, I’d probably separate 2 questions:

Is the position financially justified?

And is this person the right fit for it?

If the company has less capacity, margins are worse, and revenue is flat compared to last year, I think it’s fair to revisit the structure. I’d be careful about making it sound like a punishment if the bigger issue is that the role itself isn’t working the way you expected.

Something along the lines of:

“We created this position because we believed it would improve capacity and profitability. After 2 quarters, the numbers are telling us we need to restructure. I want to talk through where your strengths fit best in the company and what that transition could look like.”

They still may be disappointed. You probably can’t eliminate that. But being clear about the business reason, the numbers, and what you’ve learned gives you a much better chance of handling it respectfully than dragging out a structure that isn’t working.

Yes — you can roll it back without making it feel like a punishment, but the framing matters a lot.

I’d position it less as “you failed in this role” and more as “we tested a structure, and the structure isn’t producing what the business needs right now.”

Something like: We created this position to increase my capacity and help us grow, but after two quarters we’re seeing lower field capacity and the financial return isn’t there. That tells me the structure itself needs to change. I want to move back toward a more decentralized model and put people closer to the work where they’re strongest.

Then be direct about what their new seat is, why it matters, and what success looks like there.

I also wouldn’t overuse “financial reasons” if fit is part of the truth. If you only blame the numbers, they may feel blindsided if they know performance has been an issue too. You can say both:

“This is partly structural, partly financial, and partly about where I think you can create the most value.”

The biggest mistake would be dragging it out because you’re afraid of alienating them. A bad structure gets more expensive the longer you protect it.

I’ve learned that sometimes scaling means trying an org chart, realizing it doesn’t work, and being willing to redesign it without treating that as failure.

I have experienced a version of this. The main thing is to keep the conversation about the role not working separate from the conversation about the person not being good enough because those're truly different. Talk about the numbers and structure revenue is flat overhead is up you need people back in the field not about the person’s performance. Offer him the choice of the field role with clear pay and expectations before you advertise it outside. Most people can handle a demotion better than they can handle feeling blindsided. Have the conversation face, to face give him a days to think it over not an instant answer.