The financial crisis put a damper on merger activity over the past year, but it looks like things are picking up as companies are feeling stronger about the recovery and want to get their targets while their stock might still be at a bargain price. Also on the rise is the acquisition of companies in Chapter 11, as they bargain hunt for firms that are hard hit, but still have a solid business base.
The combination of companies is an interesting territory for organization development, as the high stakes game gets played out in real time. To realize the business objectives of the merger, a complex and crucial process happens on the ground. The employees often go through a time of uncertainty and intense change. Many leave rather than live with the daily stress that often lasts for months. Our job as consultants is to support a process that addresses the issues raised by the combination in a speedy and transparent fashion, helping the businesses to keep functioning during the transition period, and to create a new "business as usual" that utilizes the best of the heritage organizations.
On the people side of things, we like to get everyone involved to gather the inherent wisdom that has existed at all levels, as well as finding out what the concerns and questions are and addressing and finding answers. There is often a tendency to fight for keeping what one liked about their old culture and business practices, but our goal is to facilitate a process to invent a new culture that builds on the past, yet still represents what the company needs to succeed going forward.
My favorite tool to bring into a merger environment is "Beyond The Blues". It is a program from Face The Music that gives people an opportunity to express their issues, their "merger blues," and find common ground on which to move forward. The creativity and fun atmosphere of the program give the people from both heritage organizations the opportunity to see what they have in common, connect on a personal level, and say whatever they need to say. Charlie Portwood, an executive at Aventis after the HMR-RPR merger that formed Aventis said, "You accomplish in three hours or less what I have seen take weeks." He felt the integration work with MCG and the Beyond The Blues experience helped his people hit the ground running in creating and delivering results in the new organization.
Among the companies that have incorporated Beyond The Blues into their merger strategy are JPMorganChase, Aventis, Millennium Pharma, Pfizer, Bank of America, General Mills, BlackRock, Oliver Wyman, and King Pharmaceuticals. Although there is a lot of other support that goes into a successful merger execution, Beyond The Blues is a secret weapon that develops crucial interfaces, helps clear the table for the work that has to happen, and gets people pointed in the same direction.
Paul Kwiecinski
The Greatest problem of Communication is the Illusion that it has been Accomplished.
~ George Bernard Shaw
Merger Step 1: Connecting
