Failure in Day 1 planning & PMI
- This topic has 9 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 9 months, 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
As a consultant, I have seen many failures in day 1 planning and post merger integration.
There was this organization who was slow in building post-deal business strategy and target operating model. This led to the delay in appointing leadership positions and workforce planning. As a result, employees were not certain about their future job scope, mission and treatment. Most of the key talent and high performers left to join competitors before the close.
Please share your experience with failures and missed opportunities.
I don’t have direct experience except for the fact that I have consulted at many large organizations where the remnants of unfulfilled mergers exist. The environment will exhibit the classic separation of cultures and the types of tension and inefficiencies that that always brings.
Day one is a whirlwind of communication and activity and actions speak louder than words.
Here’s some great day one activities I have witnessed which led to success and drove the key talking points home.
The CEOs of both organizations gave a town hall to the target company. Key leaders of the acquiring company came to the HQ of the target to participate in the in person and to meet some employees.
Consistent message about what is and isn’t changing and wht why behind the acqusition.
The following week was full of departmental office hours available to all employees so that they could hear how their fellow colleagues are feeling and what they’re expected to change. Some leaders were even leading those sessions from new HQ to show unity.
Lots of updated FAQs and realtime FAQs with leaders willing to be vulnerable and say what they don’t know.One of the most critical issues I have seen for Day 1 readiness in End Users access to the new Parent company’s systems and tools. This delay can have a downstream ripple affect on end users access to benefits to setup, compliance training, etc. This issue can be alleviate by ensuring both HR and IT are in sync on the planning for end users’s Day 1 access.
I agree, the day one activities is all about supporting staff and given very clear direction of where the new organisation is heading. Down halls with both the previous CEO and the incumbent is critical. THe messsage from the top needs to be crystal clear to ensure that the high performing talent is kept. Those capabilties from both organisations will be critical to the success of the new business. We have found that including these high performers on the journey and making them feel that their voices are heard will go a long way in stabislising the organisation for all the changes to come.
Day 1 readiness is critical. The communication plan and reasons for change are critical. The communication needs to be consistent from the CEO to line managers to avoid confusion. Talking about why the sum of A & B is greater than the individuals is essential, and tying this back to the strategic objectives of the organization
A missed opportunity I’ve seen is having a plan to continue the same energy and commitment that is present before and at Day 1 past Day 1. I’ve seen examples where the focus and drive to work towards expected goals decreases significantly after Day 1 and continues to deteriorate as time goes on.
I’ve found that Day 1 readiness is a direct function of the number of deals an acquirer has made in the past. The more times an organization has made acquisitions the better prepared they are for Day 1. It’s the usual learning curve. Given what I’ve seen in the past, a good idea would be to research the number of deals the acquiring organization has made as that should give you insight into Day 1 readiness.
I can relate to what you are talking about here.
.
As an organization, we knew with our first acquisition that it was going to be a learning lesson. We did not have a formal PMO or PMI in our organization. So we strategically chose an acquisition purely for technology and people at a low cost. Basically, the cost of tuition ( about $5 million CAD ).
.
During this acquisition we focused on augmenting the boiler plate processes we had built out from combined experienced of senior staff.
.
We were fortunate enough to have a very strong communications team, and they planned out excellent communications for Day 1 and beyond.
.
Where we missed was delivering on the communication in a timely fashion. The communication might have said that A,B, and C will be happening in Q1 & Q2, but due to our lack of experience, it might not have been until Q3 or Q4.
.
Over a period of 2.5 years, we lost all of the employees from that acquisition, but we learned a lot. The biggest lesson was culture matters. The small company of 15 people had a drastically different culture expectation ( especially the acquired CEO ), and in the end that was never going to work.Lack of IT involvement in preparation for Day 1 was one of the biggest regrets I have experienced. Internal and marketing communication was great, strategy was clear, future vision perfectly explained. But due to systems incompatibility, lack of internal resources and inability to switch to internal systems (different territory plus local market peculiarities), meant that 2 years down the line the data is still hard to access. These issues should have been determined from the outset with contingencies put in place
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
