Challenges Every Leader Faces in M&A
by Moira Donoghue, who is a former Partner and Global Strategic Adviser in the M&A practice at Mercer, and Key Presenter at "The Art of People Leadership in M&A: Managing Talent, Culture & Change for Deal Success"

Despite years of evidence from research and the lessons of low-performing acquisitions, many still fail to capitalize on the richest resource available to an acquirer – its people.  Why does this still happen?

A "Fly-In" Deep Dive Training Conference About Managing and Leveraging IT While Linking Business Activities and Priorities 

IT represents the largest investment, most potential risk and complexities, and also bottom-line business benefits in the execution of a successful integration. Because IT touches all other functional areas, an M&A integration cannot be completed until all the elements of the IT integration have been addressed.

A "Fly-In" Deep Dive Training Conference Focusing on IT Stabilization within the Context of the Overall Business Integration

Apply an M&A CommunicationsTool Created for Distribution by Company Leaders

In my previous blog, I identified three common mindsets employees bring with them as they join a new work team after being merged or acquired: “The Ready.” Employees who get the job they wanted or expected in the combined company are usually ready to enlist in the new team. With worries about their personal fate substantially behind them, they are charged up by the challenges and opportunities of adding real value. For example, after being acquired

The work team is a focal point for realizing synergies in a merger or acquisition. Even though success elsewhere in a company influences employees’ sentiments about the combination, evidence from their own work teams matters most. People see their coworkers either embracing new work methods or resisting them. And, they regard their team leaders as either enabling or inhibiting their personal paths in the combined organization.

Mergers and acquisitions are peculiar events. Unfortunately, unlike other major organizational transitions, for many companies most planning for M&A occurs after the initial announcement. For example, when announcing an internal reorganization or new product launch, leadership is equipped with all the details and has a lot to communicate to employees—who will be affected, when changes will occur, and how they will be implemented. In some instances of M&A, by contrast, the due diligence, transition planning,