Positive Employee Experience is Key to Successful M&A

During this webinar, you will learn about employee support, how to leverage the acquired company leaders in communication, what mechanisms/processes to use to avoid potential disconnects, and more.

Positive Employee Experience is Key to Successful M&A

15 Jun
with 
Amy Gannaway
Cole Breidenbach
Josh Olson
Jill Harrison
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Positive Employee Experience is Key to Successful M&A

Positive Employee Experience is Key to Successful M&A

This is an interview that we had during our M&A virtual summit. Hosted by Jill Harrison, VP of Silverline venture, this interview is all about positive employee experience and how it impacts the success of M&A deals. Joining this discussion are our 3 speakers:

  •  Cole Breidenbach- Head of M&A Integration at Okta
  • Josh Olson- Head of solution sales at the Americas at VMware
  • Amy Gannaway- Vice President, Global Compensation, Benefits and HRIS at VMware
  • Jill Harrison - VP of Silverline Ventures
“The powerful combination of technology and then leading with trust and inclusion. That together is where all the magic happens and where true value is created.” - Amy Gannaway


special guests

Amy Gannaway
Vice President, Global Compensation, Benefits and HRIS at VMware
Cole Breidenbach
Head of M&A Integration, Corporate Development and Director, Business Value Consulting at Okta
Josh Olson
Head of Experience Solutions Sales - Americas at VMware
Jill Harrison
VP of Silverline Ventures, Director of Innovation Programs, Silverline Foundry

Hosted by

Kison Patel

Episode Transcript

Setting the Tone for Trust

To lead with trust, transparency is key. Be very transparent in the early stages about why you’re doing the deal, how you plan on onboarding people and what they should be expecting. 

Be transparent about what will happen with the people’s pay and their benefits, because if you can’t assure them what’s going to happen, they will become disengaged. Show them how you treat employees, how you care for them and that clams everyone’s nerves.

Don’t Rock the Boat

Show a little empathy. Understand that the people in the target company are undergoing a lot of changes. You don’t want to force your collaboration tools on them on day one. Let them be more effective using their own tools and consolidate your own collaboration tools later on. 

Human interaction

Don’t forget the importance of human interaction. Have 1on1 meetings as much as you can. Get to know the person and understand what their challenges are and their perceptions.


Making a connection with an internal leader, you could extend that trust to their entire team because the leader will vouch for you. The leader can share the message that they’re being heard.

A Thoughtful Onboarding Process

To get people connected to the mission of your organization, you need a thoughtful onboarding process. 

Be inclusive in your approach and talk about what are the programs and the timelines that are important to your company; whether its HR things, product team or sales team, talk about the purpose of everything. 

Don't just force one way of doing it. Give the acquired leadership and team a platform to tell their stories. Let them tell their values and what matters to them. 

“You can use the tech for good or for evil.” - Josh Olson 


Use technology to help, assist, and better the lives of your employees. Don’t use it to spy on them.

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