Managing Acquisition Aftershock
The Challenge
A mid-sized manufacturing company acquired a company in another state. They immediately rolled out a detailed integration plan, which included representatives from both the new and original company. However, even after an entire year passed, morale continued to be very low in the new company.
Our role
I worked with the senior leadership team to develop and implement a revitalization plan to identify key issues and concerns among employees in the new company and address them. The plan included:
- A series of focus groups.
- A feedback report, which the senior leadership team used to identify actions to remedy existing morale and communication issues within the new company.
Results
- One of the key issues identified was that the senior leadership team in the original company were talking the talk, but not following through with actions that clearly modeled their commitment.
- The actions the team put in place reinforced the new organization's importance to the whole. Based on formal feedback, overall morale improved as a result.