The Truth About Change Management

Preserving the value of the acquired company should be the number one priority in any deal. Of course, any buyer would want to get what they paid for in the first place. But more often than not, value leaks post-close. Even though there are many reasons why this is happening, one could argue that it is mostly about people.

When employees' productivity drops, it impacts the top line of the business. Worse, they leave, and your intangible asset walks out the door. Most of the time, acquired employees leave the first year because of a poor transition.

Being acquired is one of the most stressful times of anyone's career. Aside from the fact that they don't know if they will still have a job, they are now a part of a company they didn't choose to begin with. There will be concerns about the quality of life after the change management, especially regarding their compensation.

This is why change management is crucial in any transaction.

Most people don't realize that change management is a vital part of value realization in any deal. There are six myths to change management that most people believe in:

• It's nice to have but has no direct link to value
• It's all about training and communication 
• The change management team does it
• It's a separate workstream, and deliverables 
• It only focuses on the acquired company's employees
• It can be done efficiently without an integration strategy or objectives

If you are one of the people who believe in any of these, then your M&A deals are in jeopardy. Change management is one of the key elements to successful integration.  

Listen to Christian von Bogdandy, Senior Director of M&A at Slalom, as he busts the six myths of change management and how you can effectively integrate the acquired company post-close.

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