M & A Blues? Your Going to Want to Read This

Mergers, Acquisitions + Employee Retention

When companies are going through a merger or acquisition, it's a great time of change and upheaval. Can you relate? Have you been part of an acquisition?

How did it go?

Did you feel like you were joining someone else's house? Were you welcome there? Was their culture like the one you came from?

Did you feel like you had two left feet in a quest to get your sea legs? Fearful of missteps. If so, you are not alone. In fact, a study by Harvard Business Review indicated a failure rate of M & As between 70 to 90%.?

"Julie, we feel like the stepchild of XYZ company (former client in the health sciences space). "?It's been three years and not one executive [from acquiring company] has come?to visit with us," said one notable company?that was acquired. "We do our best to keep our original culture and processes."

One reason so many M & A's fail is the lack of an integration approach, engineering, and planning. How are you truly leading people through change? People feel very concerned about a myriad of factors from layoffs to skillsets and benefits and as a result of that insecurity, start polishing up their resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Communication internally is crucial, but with Zoom fatigue- its hard to really reach everyone.

The pandemic made it harder to meet your new colleagues in person and truly feel part of the new culture. So how can companies replace the proverbial water cooler conversations to help new and current team members adapt to the change?

One thing that I have seen work?really well has been the establishment of a?Peer-to-Peer Mentor Initiative. In fact, I had the opportunity to build one with my former colleague Daniella* a Chief People Officer for her company after they were acquired.?

She wanted people managers who really understood the change taking place to match with people managers in the newly acquired company. We used the theme 'Iron Sharpens Iron,' in all our trainings and created a customized vehicle for people to find their own matches through a specialized experience that had tenants of speed dating. People at the CXO level for both companies came to the table and signed up to be peers, knowing that as iron sharpens iron, we can grow sharpen and stronger together. That no one is better than another. They all have so much to offer each other.

The goodwill?has been off the chart and we have seen a collective sigh of relief that people have someone to go to to help them navigate the turbulence for 6 months (a 10 - 12 hour total commitment of time including training).?

"One of our physicians was planning on leaving," the client shared with me. "But now has benefitted from their mentoring relationship so much, they plan to stay on and have weathered the storm."?

Gallup has done extensive research on the value of having a Best Friend at work for increased job satisfaction, retention, collaboration and so much more.

I would argue that every M&A should have a Peer to Peer Mentor initiative in its DNA. Your new team members and legacy team members are so worth it and you will likely save millions in the cost of turnover, toxicity built from incorrect assumptions and tension.

Julie Silard Kantor is CEO of TwoMentor Employee Engagement Solutions. She believes in mentoring, sponsorship, and helping people flex their leadership muscles for a healthy engaged workplace