Change Managment

Being in the Financial Services, I see many institutions have set-up a dedicated change management practice. This practice helps facilitate all sorts of changes that requires a broader organizational attention. Apart from M&A activity, these changes may be driven by regulatory requirement, product refinement / new product development, specific business transformation initiatives etc.

It definitely depends on the size of the organization, but in general I don’t think change management is a separate workstream. Change management best practices need to be incorporated into all of the workstreams. In general, more communication is always better than less.

I think the decision depends on two things.
First, it depends on whether the organization has executive leaders who recognize the value of change management, see ROI in creating a change management practice, and are willing to fund it. In my experience as a consultant, we are asked to provide change management on specific projects for companies that have not seen the value in establishing their own internal change management practice for the entire company. Often our role involves educating executive leaders on the benefits and value of change management while educating middle managers on how to be effective change champions for their teams. This is a specialized skill set that requires leaders trained in change management.
Second, I do not think the decision depends on the size of the organization, as others have stated, but rather on the frequency with which the organization encounters and/or initiates major changes. Industries that are heavily regulated by the government, like healthcare and finance, tend to experience more frequent changes influenced by political fluctuations. These companies may benefit more from internal change management practices that know the industry and the politics well enough that they can be proactive in managing fluctuations.

Having a background in Change Management my approach is that leaders need to understand how to work through change and a change professional needs to coach and enable leaders to be successful. Having leaders who are selected to manage the integration be the face of change has been successful for me; they are often seen to have respect and garner trust from the organizations they work with. However, if the selected leaders don’t have experience in integration and/or do not hold trust from the organization we will see failure.

I want to also point out that many folks feel that change management is communications; communications is one aspect of managing a change and relying on it too heavily will jeopardize your integration initiative. Change management must focus on leader alignment, stakeholder engagements through several methods, training, communications, addressing cultural differences, etc. to ensure there is a holistic approach.

How you approach your change management activities and staff them will depend on the size of the transaction and the value synergies are to provide. I do not recommend over staffing or trying to follow a methodology that isn’t suited for your initiative – all changes are different and need to be treated as such and are not a check the box activity.

In the dynamic landscape of M&A, effective change management is pivotal. Often under-resourced, the Change Workstream, ideally with dedicated focus and resources, plays a vital role. In an ideal scenario, hydrogenexecutor.app, the game toolkit, can enhance communications and engagement, ensuring seamless transitions. While budget constraints may limit perfection, strategic integration of change management within IMO activities is key for success in the intricate process.

Depending on the size of the acquisition and allotted budget and time. I recommend having a dedicated workstream, it allows for a focused approach and execution of the changes. Lot of times change management is considered a after thought and in my experience it is due to not being a dedicated workstream.