On Humanizing Mergers & Acquisitions WITH O’BRIEN MCMAHON
Jennifer and O’Brien McMahon discuss how forward-thinking business leaders, owners, and executives can prepare for the human capital challenges of M&A transactions.
A Few highlights of my conversation with O’Brien:
19:05 “How should leaders be thinking about the people side of business transitions or mergers or acquisitions” 20:25 How to be prepared for your organization to go through stages of grief? What are the stages? 25:35 Why is preparation for the “stages of grief” so often overlooked by executives/leaders?” 28:40 Why the fact that grief isn’t typically discussed in business can be harmful. 30:40 Why getting to Acceptance is important to your career and your health (mental AND physical) 31:30 Is there a way to speed up the grieving process?
Adam Torres and Jennifer J. Fondrevay, Founder and Chief Humanity Officer at Day1 Ready and Author of NOW WHAT?: A Survivor’s Guide for Thriving Through Mergers & Acquisitions, explore Jennifer’s book and how it’s helping individuals navigate the mergers & acquisitions (M&A) process.
WHAT COVID-19’S UNCERTAINTY CAN TEACH US ABOUT M&A INTEGRATIONS WITH TRICIA FORBES
A fair amount of attention has been devoted to what will happen with M&A deal-making once we are on the other side of this pandemic. Fairly consistently, the theories on what’s next end with something to the effect of, “This is unprecedented, and no one truly knows how it will all play out.” Despite the unknowns, there is a lot that we can learn from this crisis to better prepare us for M&A deals moving forward, as Jennifer discusses with Tricia Forbes.
Jennifer connects with Expert Mitchell Levy, a TEDx speaker and international bestselling author of over 60 books.
Here are a few highlights from this episode:
Having been through three multi-billion dollar acquisition experiences, I saw how the integration of cultures affects the org on how they perceive their mission and vision.
Orgs and companies that are doing #MergersAndAcquisitions have to deal with people challenges and the integration of cultures. How do you overcome those challenges?
Mid-market or Fortune 500 companies should think smart when it comes to #MergersAndAcquisitions in order to survive or prevent possible problems.
The people aspect when doing #MergersAndAcquisitions must be considered, as well as how to communicate the vision, mission and values in a way that galvanizes your workforce to really get behind them.
Whether you’re a small business or a big company, each element of the process of M&A can present numerous obstacles that can undermine the success of the deal. Jennifer Fondrevay joins Mike Michalowicz on the Entrepreneurship Elevated Podcast to explain what you need to do for the best possible transition.
WORKFORCE 2030 WITH SILKROAD TECHNOLOGY MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS AND ITS EFFECT ON THE WORKFORCE
Jennifer Fondrevay joins Alexandra Levit to explore Mergers & Acquisitions and its effect on the Workforce. Jennifer works with forward-thinking business leaders, owners and executives to pre-plan their people strategy through the phases of M&A so their employees can contribute from Day1.
MANAGE YOUR MESSAGE WITH JIM KARRH SURVIVING & THRIVING THROUGH M&A
The wrong internal message–especially “marketing jargon”–can derail the success of an acquisition. Messaging has a particularly important role in the effectiveness (or lack thereof) in a merger. Leaders need to know how to communicate the deal internally as well as externally, so that the integration is set up for success.
Jennifer speaks with Jim Karrh about the three forms of “us-versus-them” thinking:
Our company vs. their company
Senior leadership vs. front-line managers
Those who stay vs. those who go (“Everyone thinks the other side got the better deal”)
While the typical pattern is to focus on the financials of a deal and work on the people aspects later, Jennifer says it’s far more effective to consider the human capital involved from the very beginning. She says, “Day 1 of any deal is the moment you first start thinking about M&A as a growth strategy.” Business owners, from that point, approach their decisions differently.
Messaging has a particularly important role in the effectiveness (or lack thereof) in a merger. Leaders need to know how to communicate the deal internally as well as externally, so that the integration is set up for success.
Three of the most important pieces of advice are:
Recognize that your internal audiences will likely have a negative view from the outset
Avoid clichés (e.g. “nothing is changing,” “this is a merger of equals,” “we expect minimum reductions in staff”) which only serve to elevate skepticism even more
Jennifer joined Dave Bookbinder on his podcast, Behind The Numbers, where they discussed why more than 75% of M&A transactions don’t actually produce their planned synergies and how to make M&A more successful.
Christina Martini and Jennifer Fondrevay discuss how Jennifer transitioned from advertising to marketing and her experience with being part of leadership teams through a series of mergers and acquisitions and the human capital issues that arise during significant inflection points in an organization.
In this episode, Christina Martini and Jennifer Fondrevay discuss:
The importance of human capital challenges and considerations in today’s business world.
The characters you may see during a post-deal landscape.
Talking about the people from the due diligence phase, not late in the deal.
Seeing the opportunity in change.
Key Takeaways:
Be open minded, have contingency plans, and be nimble in your interactions during inflection points.
M&A transactions are an emotional process for everyone.
Bring on a human capital advisor – someone who can advise as to the people challenges you are going to face during an M&A transaction.
Know what you’re good at, how it contributes to the new vision, and make sure people know that.
“When you are operating from a position of fear, people act differently.” — Jennifer Fondrevay
