A People First Approach to M&A
When multiple organisations come together, so do their people and their cultures. Yet, the cultural side to integration is often overlooked. This can lead to unhealthy conflict, stress, and poor decision making.
We're passionate about integrations that aim to retain and enhance value; protecting the best of both organisations, accelerating synergies, creating a shared identity, and - most importantly - enhancing the people experience at every stage.
Our People-First approach to is grounded in academic research and shaped by real-world experience. It brings structure and discipline to culture, enabling leaders to understand, shape and harness its value.
Decided by the few, experienced by the many. Why enhancing the 'people experience' is crucial during M&A.
Our approach
Putting People First
Traditional change management starts with the change and then tries to manage the impact. We flip that model. Our approach starts by asking: What is the optimum people experience that will support the strategy? From there, we map the integration journey to deliver that experience.
Clarity Through Culture
We help you understand multiple cultures; identifying synergies, risks of cultural clash, and the appetite for cultural change. This offers practical insight that will inform integration activity and begin to shape the future culture. The result: faster alignment, fewer setbacks, and a culture that supports your long-term strategy.
Aligning Leaders to the Ambition
We bring senior leadership teams from both organisations together to make the implicit, explicit - define the ambition, the future culture, and the role they will play. As a result, there is consistency, clarity and commitment that your people will feel.
Creating Ownership and Influence
M&A's are often decided by the few and experienced by the many. By involving people in the process, we can enhance autonomy, tap in to the potential of teams to innovate and problem solve, and generate commitment to the future organisation. We do this through structured feedback tools, innovation sessions and visible leadership engagement.
Supporting Transitions
Change is what happens around people. - transition is what happens psychologically as a result. This often requires people to let go of established ways of working and embrace new identities and behaviours. We support people through this psychological transition - helping them to navigate the emotional journey and re-anchor their sense of belonging and purpose.
Strengthening Social Connection
Relationships are the foundation of collaboration and performance. We focus on building trust and strengthening connection across merging teams. This is not only the foundation for collaboration and synergies, but it's encouraging the future culture to be shaped and reinforced.
Our People First Blueprint
Our People-First Blueprint is an evidence-based framework for cultural integration - grounded in academic research and developed with clients through M&A. It offers clarity on the factors that shape cultural integration and enhance the people experience. We know every M&A is different, which is why we've designed this as a 'blueprint' that can be applied to your context.