We recognise that the business value of a merger, acquisition or joint venture can be compromised when People & Culture issues are not integrated effectively. Our approach is to first understand how the new business will drive business value through people, and then we address issues arising in the following areas to create an integration plan:
Culture
Assess areas of cultural divergence and the associated risks. (e.g.: differing decision-making styles, leadership styles, appetites for change, models of “personal success” etc.) Identifying mitigating strategies and implementing as needed.
Leadership
Identify key leadership issues to ensure ongoing leadership credibility and competence during transition and beyond.
Change
Define a relevant change management strategy supported by communications that employees can relate to, and performance goals that employees buy into.
Talent
Identify the key business capabilities and related Talent needed for transition phase and to drive business value going forward. Establishing redundancy and retention plans; addressing compensation and benefits issues. Ensure key talent is retained through a robust retention and engagement strategy that includes suitable compensation and contractual elements, consistent contact and consideration of feedback from key employees, and that links into a longer-term talent management strategy.
Engagement
Help all employees deal with change through training, coaching, and ensuring feedback mechanisms such as surveys and focus groups are in place. Develop an internal brand for the new entity, including an onboarding process, highlighting the new entity values & direction and acknowledging/empathizing with the changes and losses employees have experienced.
HR Service Delivery
Develop transitional and new entity HR policies, procedures, systems and documents mitigating People & Culture risks identified in the integration process.
Measuring & Reporting Success
Progress in all areas will be monitored using metrics & feedback from employees. A system for monitoring and reporting on progress, including hard reviews, will be built into the integration plan.