POWER READ
Change isn’t comfortable but it’s necessary for a company’s evolution. Changes in a company can look like a merger, acquisition, or even a round of layoffs. In my experience, there are a few useful steps that senior managers can take to ease the process and actually make it effective — even beneficial — for the company. Communication is instrumental during times of change. Anxiety and discomfort in the workplace is a natural byproduct of change, so remaining transparent in your communication to your team in these times is key.
Begin by explaining the rationale behind the changes. Rather than glossing over the changes or pretending that it is easy, show your employees that you truly care about tiding them through the period. Acknowledging their concerns and addressing them honestly and head-on can help diminish any of their fears and establish the change as something that’s necessary and crucial for the company.
Your communication should also be constant — keep your team in the loop right from the start. Ensuring a regular line of communication throughout the entire process will help your employees feel more comfortable in the midst of change, quell any fears or negative feelings, and make the whole process easier to navigate.
Striking that delicate balance between logic and emotion at work is a tricky, but important, skill. In business, we’re taught that logic is king. However, relying on pure business logic solely doesn’t work well, especially when navigating through a challenging period. No matter how hard they try, people rarely leave their emotions out of situations, even when it comes to business decisions. Don’t dismiss emotions, because you run the risk of sidelining issues that might blow up to become larger problems.
Instead, listen to your employees to check in on how they're feeling and if it might affect their work. Empathy is one of the most important qualities in leadership, in my opinion. It’s far more effective to lean in to both your logic and emotion, but in the right balance, of course. When you’re solely motivated by emotions, you won’t be an effective communicator or leader, and conversely so.
Personally, I am more of a logical person, so I have to make a concerted effort to be more cognizant of emotions. Additionally, I usually take that extra step to ensure there is someone else on my leadership team who’s more of a “feeler”. Having that balance to complement your strengths and shortcomings is helpful. My advice to more logic-leaning leaders? Constantly remind yourself to be more mindful about the emotions of your staff, and also ask your team to hold you accountable should you slip up.
For larger teams, a method that I’ve found to be personally effective is to appoint “change ambassadors”, whether informally or formally. The role of the ambassador is to lead the change and communicate with staff, while also providing feedback to you or the senior management on any concerns that were raised. I’d also encourage actively involving your employees in the change. Consult their opinions, ask for feedback and let them participate in some of the decision-making. Help them be the drivers of change, rather than merely being on the receiving end of it. This bottom-up approach makes them feel both essential and involved in all the transitions the company is undergoing.
This begets the question: what — and how — exactly should you be communicating to your team? Depending on the size of your organisation, you could opt for town hall meetings, one-on-ones, small-group discussions, informal catch-ups or an email update. Whatever your choice, make sure you’re regular, consistent and authentic in what you’re sharing. And, because change is not a productive space to be in the long-term, the sooner you’re able to embrace new structures, processes and additions as a company, the better it is. If that isn’t possible, I’d suggest setting milestones.
From my experience, mergers and acquisitions add an extra layer of complexity and challenge to when it comes to adapting to change, since it involves different groups of companies with no prior experience working together. If you look at the common failures of mergers, you’ll find that it often stems from a lack of honesty or transparency in the communication; low levels of engagement, thus resulting in employees not feeling integrated in the new structure; and a lack of respect from the acquiring company to the cultures or processes of the acquired company.
Another question to consider when it comes to mergers and acquisitions is choosing whom to lead. Do you go with the existing leaders or someone new? In my opinion, it's important to strike a balance between the required synergies of integration and the firm’s core competencies. Choosing the right person to navigate this is key. There is also the technical side to integration: that is, deciding which functions to integrate, whether it’s the sales and marketing and HR processes to IT or even the actual products.
Lastly, you’ll also need to discern how to best integrate these. Determine your end goal — only then can you decide on the right next steps to get there. There is no cookie-cutter method for a successful merger, as it differs from organisation to organisation, as well as its people and culture. Ultimately, honesty, engagement and respect are the key ingredients in a successful merger and acquisition. True, successful integration happens when both sides view the newly-established process and structures as a joint effort.
It’s important for companies to embrace diversity and create an environment where people feel comfortable to share their points of view. To create this culture of inclusivity, start with how you hire. A key criteria in screening candidates is to pick out who can think in diverse ways and embrace a diverse way of working. The next step is to create a culture of diversity. Rather than focusing too heavily on the tactics or fussing over the various diversity metrics, think about how you can intrinsically build the foundation of a culture that welcomes new ideas, opinions and experiences. To do this, it’s important to start from the ground-up, whether that’s through the organisation buy-ins and senior executive sponsorships, in order to create a truly diverse environment.
In addition to hiring right, you need to ensure that diversity is woven in across all company processes — only then can you have an environment that’s truly conducive for a diverse group of people to function. Building such an environment has to start from the top, with the senior leaders setting the example. This means acknowledging and rewarding diverse views, accepting different ideas and respecting different cultures in order to set the tone for the entire organisation. It’s only then that you can create a company-wide process that aligns with this priority.
As a leader, how do you then mediate between two groups with different opinions? Again, I stress, this goes back to the foundation of showing respect. It’s important to have strong listening skills, where you try to understand the viewpoints and rationale from all sides. It’s worth mentioning that when you are managing a diverse group of people, you don’t have to force everyone to agree. Consensus building effort has to be tweaked as such, as differing opinions are only natural. Once you have created an ecosystem where everyone can comfortably bring their ideas and opinions to the table, that is when you know you’ve successfully made progress in this respect.
I’ve found that there are a few ways where cultural differences can affect how businesses are run in a company. One example is how hierarchical a workplace’s structure is. In most modern economies like the US, a flat structure at work is typically the norm, and staff are given free rein to take initiative in executing their roles. But when you translate that into a country with hierarchical office structures like in China or India, such a system will not flourish. This flexibility entrusted by their superiors may be perceived as incompetence, and there may lead to employee dissatisfaction.
The way people view time also varies between cultures. Folks in Japan might be offended if you arrive at a meeting late, while those in China or India might be surprised if you turned up early. This perception of time will affect not just the punctuality of meetings, but also the timeliness of updates and project completion. Having an understanding and appreciation of these differences is paramount when you’re working with or managing a diverse set of teams, as it allows the different parties to arrive at a compromise — one that’s reached as an outcome of genuine respect, rather than just for the sake of it.
Ultimately, in dealing with differences, the foundations of honesty, engagement and respect hold true. It's better to risk overcommunication than under communication. In essence, it’s how — rather than what — you’re communicating. Always take a personal approach to it. Avoid sounding too business-like and always employ a softer tone and delivery. Above all, I’d recommend always instilling the message that diversity is part of the company’s DNA; that will effectively set the tone in the company and help navigate any potential clashes or differences that might arise.
A good example that comes to mind where I managed to successfully align different teams in spite of cultural or regional differences, was when I first joined Wood Mackenzie to lead its APAC office. Then, they were operating independent across the region, and we needed to bring them together. This was a diverse group of nationalities — there were Singaporeans, Brits, Australians, Japanese, Americans and Indians across a mix of function groups like sales, consulting, and client services.
Initially, it was a challenge to integrate them, so when it came to hiring, we made an intentional effort to look for candidates with international experience or a general appreciation for diversity. Eventually, we built a culture that removed silo thinking and developed a process in meetings whereby anyone can contribute their two-cents on anything, even if it was beyond their roles.
We also made collaboration a metric across all teams, and the ability to manage diversity as a key performance indicator within our top leadership then. Creating joint work between departments also proved useful as it meant they had to put their heads together to propose and present the new strategies as a team. This spirit of collaboration came in handy when we were faced with a serious challenge from a fellow competitor; it gave an extra push to the newly integrated to come together to work towards a common goal.
When it comes to aligning different teams, it’s important to respect each other’s cultures or, in the case of a merger and acquisition, the other’s company history.
When navigating a transitional period as a company, it’s crucial to communicate effectively with your team in order to foster a strong engagement with the company, whether that’s through seeking their feedback or keeping them in the loop with updates.
Lastly, it’s worth thinking about how you can make everyone feel like they're part of the same team. Creating a sense of belonging can help bridge any gaps and bring together individuals within a diverse group.
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