“This runs the gamut from sharing very factual expectations to
connecting with people in a more motivational, persuasive way,”
said Fullerton. A big part of engagement and productivity at work
is based on feeling emotionally connected or affiliated with a goal,
a team or the organization.
“In an M&A situation, that affiliation is up for grabs,” said
Fullerton. “When you’re creating something new, the ground has
shifted for everyone. This means an HR professional needs to un-derstand
where the organization is going, how to describe it to
people and what it’s going to mean to them.”
Communication can also helps address shaky workplaces – a
natural result when employees face anxiety about the unknown.
Colombo recommends engaging employees in the change, by way
of surveys, focus groups or employee forums.
CULTURE CRAFTING
“As soon as possible, get a read on the two cultures coming togeth-er,”
said Colombo. “Understand from the leadership team what
the culture needs to look like in the future.”
Using leadership coaching, communication, rewards programs,
performance management – everything at your disposal – begin
to establish the new normal.
The upside of the instability during a M&A is that culture can
be unusually pliable. Nearly everything is knocked loose, so it can
be easier to bring the pieces back down where you’d like them to be.
“An acquisition is an excellent opportunity to set a new course,
both operationally and across the various support functions of the
newly combined business,” said Colombo.
KEEPING TALENT CLOSE
“Typically, between when you first make the announcement that
a merger or acquisition is going to happen and when you actual-ly
close it, people don’t know whether they have a seat on the bus
in the future,” said Fullerton. “If you have a high need for certain-ty
in your life or you have certain aspirations and you don’t see a
path for you with the other organization coming in, you’ll likely
start looking around.”
Good people are going to have an easier time finding work else-where,
so there’s a heightened need for HR to focus on engaging
and retaining pivotal talent during change.
“HR really needs to understand who represents their best tal-ent,
then connect with individuals or groups and establish any
certainty you can,” said Fullerton.
ALL TOGETHER, NOW
Even if teamwork is already baked into organizational cul-ture,
that’s kicked up a notch for HR during M&A transactions.
Fullerton has recent first-hand knowledge, with Corus completing
a purchase of Shaw Media just over a year ago.
“We decided it was going to be a transformational merger,” said
Fullerton. “It would be a blending of the two and we would create
a new company. We rethought everything, including the operating
model, leadership team, processes, policies – everything.”
That required integrating two HR teams, from the get-go.
“I find HR teams are very collaborative in these situations,”
said Fullerton. “You have to have a high degree of personal resil-ience
because you have to get ahead of your own emotions quickly.
You’re as human as everyone else, your world is shaken up, too.
But because you’re in charge of shaping the human agenda, you
have to be ahead of that.”
AN ITERATIVE, EVOLVING PROCESS
That ability to stretch and flex is important when working with
another team – and also throughout the entire merger.
“It’s important for the HR team to be nimble and to understand
that each deal is different; what worked for one deal may not work
for another,” said Colombo. “Adjust your approach based on the in-tegration
strategy.”
Fullerton agreed: “People always assume it’s a linear process, and
it’s never linear; it’s always iterative. You’ve got to challenge your
assumptions, keep your ears open and be humble enough to re-alize
that even if you thought you were communicating enough,
if people aren’t understanding what’s going on, then you weren’t.”
HR’S CHANGING ROLE IN M&A
If transformational M&A deals are shifting the role of HR during
change, so is technology.
“HR is increasingly using data to gain insights and inform
decision-making,” said Colombo. “HR teams will look at how
changes to organizational design will affect cost savings, how to
right-size the organization and associated headcount synergies or
hiring needs and whether compensation is appropriately aligned
with performance.”
It’s one tool to help with a complex process. As entirely new or-ganizations
are formed out of pre-existing ones, HR will need to
continue to design, often from scratch, the best path forward.
“Integration teams are looking for customized solutions to
work through the deal and minimize disruptions to business op-erations,”
said Colombo. “HR can – and should – be an important
partner throughout the deal continuum.”
As transformed businesses become more the norm after a merg-er
or acquisition, the role of HR becomes even more pivotal.
“After all, it’s the people in those organizations who will take all
those plans and make them into reality, who will be imagining and
creating and realizing that brand new business,” said Fullerton. n
cover feature
“SWIFT SELECTION OF KEY MANAGEMENT POSITIONS EARLY IN THE
TRANSITION IS CRITICAL TO CLARIFYING AUTHORITY, ASSIGNING
ACCOUNTABILITY AND MITIGATING THE CRIPPLING EFFECTS OF UNCERTAINTY.”
– LAWRENA COLOMBO, DEALS PARTNER, PWC
22 ❚ JUNE 2017 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL