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How can we make sure the personnel from the new company are motivated and aligned with our vision and goals?
I believe that one of the main drivers behind motivation and goal alignment is communication. If the acquiring company leadership can implement strong channels of communication, the personnel from the new company will feel more involved in the changes. Tasking (but not over-tasking) the acquired company’s employees with small portions of synergy creation can create a sense of ownership over these tasks, which can generate both alignment and motivation with the acquiring company’s vision and goals.
Vision and goal alignment begins at the due diligence phase. A cultural mismatch can difficult to address solely at integration phase. It can be useful to assess short-term remuneration incentives to promote alignment in the target company.
I think yo have to communicate the purpose of the acquisition is for a better or to make the merge company become competitive and that will give a prosperous to al of the employees. By doing this they will be motivated to work together to give the best for the plan.
Great exchange here, colleagues. I have a few offers for consideration:
– build an engaging story for the team. Start with why. As the companies merge, what is our collective purpose? What are we here? (see Simon Sinek’s TED talk Start with Why)
– employees are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose (see Daniel Pink’s book Drive/ TED talk). What resources do they have to help them learn skills so they can be successful in the new org? What level of autonomy does an employee have to make decisions, however small, with regard to their work?
– I think HOW we approach motivation is important. Instead of something we do “to” employees (we motivate them), how could motivation be a “with” activity?
– robust 2-way communication daily does wondersYes, I agree that open communication is necessary, and would push to go one step further. Being on the receiving end of two acquisitions, I found in both instances that the acquiring company was willing and transparent with their plans. Unfortunately, they had yet to earn the trust of our broader organization and their words fell on deaf ears. I recommend walking the acquired company through your past acquisitions as well as the results achieved which would help to build that trust.
Aside from a great communication plan that includes message cascading..
Google’s objective enables are good to keep in mind as to what is necessary for people achieve team objectives.
Structure and clarity
Peer to Peer trust
That their work has impact
Psychological Safety
Their work has meaningAgree with all that has been said and would add the importance of acknowledging the impact that change has on employees. Dealing with the implications of the change itself can be incredibly distracting for folks- making it difficult for them to move forward and get behind any new mission, vision, plan, etc.
Equipping leaders with a common language and understanding of how change impacts people is helpful so that they can work to help employees get what they need to separate fact from fear- and move from resistance to acceptance to a growth mindset. The Change Cycle is one of many models that can be helpful.Agree that due diligence phase is important in determining subsequent integration and motivation. For short term remuneration, it could be structured such that both existing employees and new employees would need to collaborate together to achieve structured milestones to unlock these remuneration and in the path towards achieving the milestones, senior management could also contribute and guide the employees to steer them towards the company’s vision and goals.
Communication is key, and the right message has to be shared way before the merger is complete.
Oftentimes employees hear in the press that their company is a target for an acquisition, and yet within the company, the management is not saying anything (or not saying much) about it. This gap in communication creates space for fear, conspiracy theories, etc. It is in fact an ideal opportunity for the management to begin to sell the story of why the merger would be good for the company and for the employees, rather than waiting until the deal is completed. At this early stage, discussions about possible synergies, culture alignment, etc can already start happening. Also, it should be clear from the due diligence where culture misalignments exist. The management should be addressing these by this stage.
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