Spike in mergers and acquisitions
In a recent series of the David Attenborough show Life there was a very interesting piece on baboons in Ethiopia that caught my attention for a number of reasons, not least because it parallels very well the spike in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) we are currently seeing.
The action followed one stronger baboon troop taking the opportunity to press home their advantage of acquiring a smaller troop from the same area of cliff, by killing the largest male and capturing the most alluring female. The desired outcome was a larger and more powerful pack that stood a better chance of acquiring more territory from neighbouring troops on neighbouring cliffs. The real outcome was a group of baboons with new family members, a new leader, a mixture of cultures and an underlying tension that showed itself with outbreaks of violence and skirmishes.
In short, a badly co-ordinated, poorly disciplined and clearly disunited troop of baboons. In real terms this false harmony is potentially the very undoing of the troop in the future as they seek to press home their advantages of numbers and scale with rival troops.
Impact of mergers & acquisitions on staff morale
This is no different to the activity we see going on today, on the cliff tops of commerce; organisations taking advantage of the current commercial circumstances to press home their advantage by merging with or acquiring other organisations. The motives are invariably greater market share, competitive advantage and bolstering brand image and presence.
Yet again, the realities seem to be very similar to that experienced by the baboons; two organisations who go through a tremendously unsettling period as the prevailing culture, leadership, direction, power base and ways of working stabilise and become clear. Too often this period of stabilisation takes too long and the vulnerability, lack of alignment throughout the organisation and uncertainty and fear that go hand in hand significantly compromise the organisations success.
Organisations consistently underestimate the impact that uncertainty and competing cultural norms have on the morale, and therefore the performance and productivity of their staff.
M&A culture clashes
As someone who worked through the M&A of PwC Consulting by IBM Global Services, I have first hand experience of the negative impact that this has on teams. I had recently joined PwC so had no cultural allegiance, history or track record; it was like being a jungle referee. When threatened, exposed or uncertain, successful and competent professionals resorted to focussing on discrepancies right down the Maslow hierarchy of needs.
Arms were thrown up in anguish at the removal of the expensive coffee machines in offices around the country; emails written in their thousands to complain about the loss of first class travel and hundreds of hours lost in meetings establishing whether the assembled team one found oneself in was deep blue or light blue.
The net result - a lot of unhappy, poorly focussed, distracted and badly led individuals expected to go out and perform great client work while their uncertainties and anxieties were duly ignored. The new organisation focussed its transformation effort on crashing together the processes and order books to maximise the commercial synergies that were obvious. There was very little or no effort spent on trying to address some of the issues I have outlined above.
Change management - M&A transition
Five years on and IBM Business Consulting is a very successful consulting organisation with some great quality people, processes and solutions and its a great place to work. However, like the Kubler-Ross model it shows that the change journey organisations and individuals go through is inevitable; so why do organisations choose to ignore it.
In an M&A situation, organisations can choose to pretend that the people issues are not significant and will sort themselves out with little effort, or they can invest energy in flattening the curve and speeding up the journey along it.
Role of leadership in mergers & acquistions
So what should a newly acquiring and / or acquired organisation spend leadership time resolving?
Recognise and acknowledge the issues that will present themselves at the outset and create space for people to air their views.
I have yet to meet a member of staff in any organisation who comes to work to do a poor job; we all strive to do a good job and are perceptive enough to identify the fears and concerns that arise in an M&A situation. Leaders should acknowledge these fears, create space for them to be discussed in a positive, supported and controlled way. The conversations will happen at the coffee machines, in smoking rooms and the canteen anyway why not be part of the conversations and shape the discussion to speed the process up.
Finding common ground during M&A activity
Build a single, clear, compelling and emotionally engaging picture of the future for the new organisation.
No M&A activity is ever undertaken lightly and will always have very clearly defined commercial goals or Benefits associated. Often this is the only yardstick or measure that gets talked about and it is often rational and emotionally unappealing and disconnected from the majority of staff in the business. Businesses need to create a compelling picture of the future that people can emotionally engage with, create a common currency that can be used to fight the inevitable discrepancies and disagreements as the hygiene factors get shaken out and aligned.
Raising the leadership bar
Raise the leadership bar for all leaders in the organisation. Too often managers and supervisors are promoted on their technical / transactional ability and when it comes to the tough Challenge of leading through a significant organisational transformation, are found wanting. Leadership in an M&A is not the sole preserve of the board, the responsibility to actively lead, to create direction and confidence, energise and engage people is the responsibility of leaders throughout the organisation.
It's the responsibility of the board to engage the new leadership cadre and task them with leading their people through the challenging times ahead. The kind of support that enables the leaders to grow and develop to be able to succeed in this demanding role is an investment that should be built into any merger and acquisition plan.