How to Prepare Employees for a Merger and Acquisition
As part of a management team, it’s your job to prepare your staff for any eventuality. This post is designed to assist you with one of the most difficult of these eventualities– the reality of a merger or acquisition happening to your company. Although it can be a challenging task, there are proven ways to navigate the difficult transition involved in a merger and acquisition scenario.
Mergers and acquisitions have been part of corporate culture for decades, but that doesn’t make them any easier for people to handle when they actually happen. Your staff will almost certainly react very strongly once the news of the merger or acquisition breaks. Here are a few of the best ways to prepare your people for a merger and acquisition.
General Guidelines
First, here are 5 general guidelines for helping your staff during the merger and acquisition process:
Expect emotional reactions and be prepared to listen patiently to everyone’s concerns.
Except a lot of resistance, especially to anything that seems vastly different than what your people are used to.
Stay as positive and reassuring as you can realistically be.
Focus on the short and long term future by describing the roadmap management has drawn for your staff’s individual and group success.
Be transparent and fair when it comes to establishing criteria and deciding on any cuts or promotions.
Open Communication– The Message and How To Deliver It
Good communication becomes vital the moment that the merger or acquisition becomes a certainty. Rumors about lost jobs, demotions, and a host of other sweeping changes will start to fly immediately, so get out in front of any false information by communicating as openly as honestly as you can.
Remember that you’re delivering an important and sometimes frightening message when a merger or acquisition starts happening. That means you’ll have to manage this message well, both its content and the way it’s delivered. Work with your other managers to present a unified front regarding the details of the transition.
Decide as a group what, when, and how you’re going to tell your staff about the merger or acquisition. It’s especially important that everyone receives the information at the same time and in the same forum. Morale will be bad enough without managers pulling friends aside and whispering this or that advance info into their ear.
Hold a Staff Meeting as Soon as Possible
The best way to communicate information about the transition openly is to hold a meeting as soon as possible. Make it a Townhall style meeting, one where everyone can ask questions comfortably. Answer these questions as openly and honestly as you can during the session, making it clear that their concerns matter to you.
You can also use this time to discuss the criteria you will be using to make important personnel decisions during the merger or acquisition. This includes any possible firings, promotions, or changes in role. Your staff will know that some key changes are probably in the works, but they deserve to know in advance how their future with the company is going to be assessed.
Handling the Fallout
Lastly, let’s have a look at how to handle some of the fallout that can ensue after a merger or acquisition.
Unfortunately, lost jobs are sometimes inevitable during the merger or acquisition process, especially in departments where overlaps and redundancies clearly exist. If you’re forced to let staff members go, it’s best if the cuts occur during as brief a period as possible. Inform each employee personally if they’re being let go, and take this time to offer any outplacement or counseling services your company has prepared for them.
Let your people know when this dismal period is over. That way, the rest of your staff can breathe a sigh of relief and start focusing on the future. Arrange meetings with your various departments, where remaining ask whatever questions they might have and management can begin to clarify roles and its blueprint for the future.
Mergers and acquisitions are always a formidable challenge, but yours will go much more smoothly if you get started on these preparations right away.