Department & Organisation Case Studies
Post Merger Performance
Who is going to be able to work well together after the merger?
Are we keeping the founders or the young guns? Who will have the best impact on the company’s future after the acquisition?
We have just signed an M&A deal, and now we need to determine who to keep in what position for optimal future performance.
In the world of M&A, agreements will be made (in advance) as to what shifts will take place in department and team setups. From operational- to commercial and even executive teams.
We have acquired a smaller company based in another country, which holds valuable technology that will allow our business to keep its market leadership position in the coming years. With the acquisition, we want to respect the knowledge and skills of the employees as we see them as valuable assets to our future success. We need to combine several departments and start integrating the technology into our daily business and training everyone on how to use it.
Determining who will be best equipped to take the lead, taking characteristics, drive, required roll-dependent (leadership) skills, and much more into account is no “paper napkin science”.
In the first analysis phase, we sit down with the C-Suite to discuss the required changes, possible differences and similarities between company cultures, goals and KPI’s. With this in mind, we look at what support and resources are needed to ensure the successful transfer of people to new positions and structures. This will result in a bespoke Exponential Leadership and/or Team Architecture program.
In the next step, we will dive into the team characteristics required for future success, which can vary per department. We work with individuals to uncover key aspects such as motivational drivers, emotive capabilities, key characteristics and more.
Based on this information, we sit down with the C-Suite/leadership team to discuss recommendations for team combinations.
In the next phase, the new teams and their leaders will be supported with training to fast-track them through the phases of forming a new team (Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, -Mourning/adjourning). This will cut down integration time from forming to performing from 8 months on average of 8 weeks.
Results are not really results unless they are long-term. Our results in mergers have to do with talent retention and growth.
You keep people for a reason. They need to not only stay but also perform. Individual performance tends to be measured comparatively. The only real objective way of seeing individual performance is when you look long-term at who got promoted, who is still with the company and what value is being created through people’s input/contribution.
This is where our results excelled. After two years, the client’s retention rate was over 90%, and the people that left did so amicably. More than 20% had changed jobs within the company and are on a growth trajectory that saw them become leaders and continue to deliver value even three years later. The C-suite attributed the ability of the new resulting organisation to work effectively in large part to our Leadership and team architecture programs. The new resultant leaders have also been seen as the high-growth talent that will be the driving force behind the organisation’s future.
