Mergers: Leading beyond mere integration

Mergers can bring new leadership, enthusiasm, and a fresh approach to business challenges and present the perfect opportunity to lead decisively and set out how the ideal future might look, rather than merely creating a roadmap to the halfway house of integration.

Mergers can be all-consuming. They represent a time of heightened risk as they bring together people, structures, systems and varied working practices. Throughout this chaotic process, it is crucial to guard against any detrimental impact on both customers and the continuity of business operations. However, this raises an important question: what exactly constitutes “business as usual”?

Mergers bring new leadership, enthusiasm, and a fresh approach to business challenges; they also present the perfect opportunity for change and transition, both for the leadership and the people within the organisation.

This moment is ideal for reaffirming how we want to deliver the core business to customers and re-evaluating the way operations are positioned. Increased scale means different things to different parts of a business, and this is the time to address those variations.

Too often, there is a hope or trust that the necessary repositioning will happen organically further down the line, as teams assess and adjust their ways of working after they are brought together. While some of this organic adjustment will happen, it is not a guarantee of success.

From my experience, the negativity surrounding mergers within an organisation typically materialises in the following areas:

1. Many employees simply do not believe that the merger will create a better organisation.
2. Employees often feel they are not involved enough in shaping the future and that their opinions are not valued.
3. When integration drags on without delivering marked improvements, it can deprioritise important strategic projects and more impactful work, leading to frustration.

Of course, it is possible to complete a merger, integrate well without making significant changes to operations, and address some of this feedback. However, the earliest stages of a merger, hot on the heels of working through the value proposition, present the perfect opportunity to lead decisively and set out how the ideal future might look, rather than merely creating a roadmap to the halfway house of integration.

This is the best time to engage everyone, listen to their ideas, and generate excitement about the future. Ensure that the future organisation is cohesive and appropriate to the new business, rather than biased towards a few service areas or the most keenly felt business challenges.

By thoughtfully considering the target operating model during the merger process, organisations can transform the potential negativity into positive, proactive engagement. This approach not only mitigates risks but also capitalises on the merger as a unique opportunity to redefine and enhance the business. Mergers, therefore, should not just be about combining resources but about seizing the chance to innovate and improve the way the business operates more fundamentally.

To learn more about how Altair’s Transformation and Change team can help your organisation, contact Helen Coleman.