What happens when layoffs lead to organizational flattening, fewer managers, and larger teams? It’s a trend we’re seeing in the tech industry at large right now impacting team dynamics and career paths. To understand what’s really happening and the overall impact, we pulled in former guests Abby Clobridge, Shailvi Wakhlu, and Leanne Elliott in a roundtable format.
In episode 347, we explore the trend and the unique challenges it presents to consulting firms, managers, and individual contributors working with and inside flatter organizations. Listen closely for the impact to job levels, what this means for top-tier individual contributors, how companies are thinking about knowledge management, employee loneliness and wellbeing, and where some unexpected opportunities lie for those willing to step up.
Original Recording Date: 09-27-2025
Topics – Framing Our Discussion and a Slightly Different Format, Defining the Trend, Impact on Career Structure and Ambiguity, The Challenge of Reaching Top Tier Positions, Internal Risk and Potential Loss of Knowledge, Strains on Execution, Impact to Team Dynamics, From Problem to Opportunity
1:01 – Framing Our Discussion and a Slightly Different Format

* For today and in next week’s episode, rather than introducing a guest to share their career story and lessons learned, we’re trying something a little different.
* Recently we sent a follow up question to a former guest whose response sparked an idea for this format.

* The trend of organizational flattening in our industry has been top of mind for us. We’re seeing the continued layoffs in tech often time result in fewer management layers and an increase in the number of people reporting to a single manager.
* This topic is too big and has too many angles for a single conversation. We wanted to bring together multiple expert perspectives on this issue in a single episode. We’ve reached out to a handful of former guests and sent them specific questions on this topic. Those guests were kind enough to record their answers and send them back to us.
* Consider this a Nerd Journey roundtable or collection of hot takes from trusted voices. Our goal is to amplify their advice and provide a diverse set of strategies for navigating this landscape.
* In the first episode (this week), we explore the trend of flatter organizations and the consequences for your career path and team culture. Next week in part 2 we will focus on actionable insights for thriving in this environment.


* Here’s the full set of episode links we will share throughout the conversation if you would like to hear more from one of the former guests who participated:

* Abby Clobridge

* Episode 292 – Library Science: Information Architecture and the Synthesis of Details with Abby Clobridge (1/2)
* Episode 293 – Enterprise Knowledge Management: A Consultative Approach to Solving the Right Problems with Abby Clobridge (2/2)


* Shailvi Wakhlu

* Episode 210 – A Collection of Ambiguous Experiments with Shailvi Wakhlu (1/2)
* Episode 211 – Structure the Levels of Contribution with Shailvi Wakhlu (2/2)
* Self-Advocacy: Your Guide to Gett...