Guide your team through murky mergers and acquisitions

Life during a merger or acquisition gets interesting. Reporting structures change, systems need to align, new technology must be implemented — and that’s just logistics.

How people cope with these big changes will vary, and reactions can be subtle, extreme, positive, or negative. In most cases, you’ll experience a hearty mix of everything. 

We’ve shared how mergers and acquisitions often result in a new content strategy. The key to successful change management during mergers and acquisitions is supporting your biggest asset — your people. 

How to support your team

Communication and openness are the most important tools for supporting people. Your new organization has core business reasons for combining companies. Team members need to understand these reasons, and how their roles fit into the business plan.

Likewise, senior management needs to understand how tactical staff are responding to the new environment to address issues and needs that arise.

Management needs to promote transparency. Clearly communicating both upward and downward ensures that everyone understands the reasons for, benefits of, and impediments to embracing change. 

“Management needs to promote transparency. Clearly communicating both upward and downward ensures that everyone understands the reasons for, benefits of, and impediments to embracing change.” 

— Bill Swallow

In increasingly remote work environments, change management challenges are often amplified, and it can be harder to facilitate good communication. 

Tips for change management during mergers and acquisitions

Business goals are usually solidified before the merger or acquisition is complete. Though you can’t control the change, you can shape the new teams you work with.

Get people talking

Hold all-hands meetings with every peer team to get the ball rolling. Encourage them to reach out to their new coworkers. Foster their new professional relationships and promote collaboration across these new teams.

Make decisions openly

Don’t make decisions in a vacuum. Be transparent about additional changes you need to make (even the unpopular ones) and solicit honest feedback. You may receive better alternative ideas.

Talk to everyone directly

Everyone brings unique insights to the table. Your team has a wealth of information — whether they realize it or not — that you need to cultivate effective change management during mergers and acquisitions. Find out what’s been working well, what hasn’t, and whether your team has concerns or ideas. 

Identify expertise 

Many times, skilled team members are frustrated at the expectation of working differently. To refocus this frustration, give them a platform to utilize their skills in the new environment. Pinpoint people with specific job knowledge, acknowledge their expertise, and encourage these team members to collaborate with their peer teams to grow their collective skills. This eases interpersonal relationships in the transition and makes them powerful advocates for change.

Create connection

Whether your work environment is fully remote, hybrid, or in-person, have regular meetings or work sessions. Something as simple as a consistent 30-minute meeting gives your team a regular expectation of connection, without overloading calendars. 

Throughout the work day, encourage all teams to use a shared chat or forum for both work and play. We recommend creating unique outlets (such as Slack channels or chat threads) for non-work chat topics. This prevents isolation and promotes continued collaboration as teams discover more about each other, without bogging down regular work communication.

If you have a travel budget, encourage your teams to visit each other. Meeting face-to-face and working in each other’s environment is one of the best ways to spark collaboration and build mutual understanding.

If your budget doesn’t accommodate travel, find virtual alternatives for your teams to engage. This can include building structured chat times into portions of your meeting, virtual coffee/lunch hours, virtual games, and more. 

Avoid negativity

Many changes will be unpleasant. A critical step of change management during mergers and acquisitions is to focus on the positive aspects while acknowledging the negative. Hold space in the appropriate outlets for team members to share frustrations and obstacles. This is also an area where content consultants, or as our client put it, content therapists, can provide great support. 

Last but not least, (in fact, last but most important), regularly remind everyone of how they contribute toward key business goals, and guide their focus back on those goals.

“Regularly remind everyone of how they contribute toward key business goals, and guide their focus back on those goals.”

— Bill Swallow

We’ve led many organizations through the challenges of change management during mergers and acquisitions. 

If your team needs help navigating these waters, let’s talk!