«Since the merger with another company, we have been losing more and more decisive employees. We definitely have to keep the best and make sure that we bring the best from both ‘worlds’ together.»
An international corporation bought a company of a similar size in order to regain innovation leadership. The project threatened to fail during the merger of the existing companies at a country level. Because many areas were now staffed redundantly, uncertainty increased quickly among the managers and employees. The alarm bells sounded as the first experienced managers gave notice.
After azimut was hired to accompany the project, we had to fight the temptation to calm the employees. One «it won’t be so bad», would have had the opposite effect, and that became clear quickly.
Out first goal was to re-establish confidence in the company and management. We organized big events with managers from both companies. They were able to articulate their fears and expectations there in order to enter into a dialogue with the management team afterwards. In the process, it was also allowed to address unpleasant topics openly.
We provided accompanying coaching to members of the management team. The quality of the communication by the management team is decisive, especially in times of great uncertainty. With our knowledge of the sensitivities in the company, we made sure that no mistakes were made in the communication, which would have ruined everything.
Afterwards, the goal was to make the newly created team able to work once again. We led numerous workshops with the new teams. If different cultures suddenly had to coexist, then it was necessary to quickly identify stable ties and start working there. This didn’t mean adapting one to the other, rather the beginning of a new culture.
Lastly, we accompanied the management team in the development of a “new country vision”, which was then presented to the employees and worked through in town hall meetings.