The literature shows us that merger and acquisition (M&A) integrations are not easy. This is why a significant number of them fail or fail to meet expectations.

In this blog, we will not attempt to solve all the complexities of an M&A integration, but to raise awareness of the challenges involved and stimulate thinking on how to approach these challenges with our insights. If we break it down to its most important and singular principle, it’s about ‘leadership, leadership, leadership’, to quote Paul Tebo, former VP of the Safety, Health and Environment Excellence Centre of E.I. DuPont.

Tebo was emphasising the importance of leadership in driving a supporting culture for exemplary process and human safety, where complex and dangerous operations can have potentially catastrophic consequences. There is a clear analogy between this approach and what is needed for a successful M&A integration.

It is so easy to forget about leadership in an M&A integration with all the transactional elements. Cultural integration is a transformational process and requires the attributes of strong leadership. These attributes are:

• Focus
• Transparency
• Authenticity
• Consistency
• Drive
• Deliberation
• Creating a culture of psychological safety

There are others, however. Ultimately, M&A integration leaders must act as change agents and have the attributes of change agents . At times, they will feel isolated and alone, but it is important they stick to the script.

If companies want to follow a model successfully, they also need a set of principles to go with it. To reference Tebo again, one of the reasons this was historically successful at process safety and became the reference point. This was because they had 10 unbreakable / unchallengeable safety principles that could be applied across different cultures and countries and worked irrespective of local norms.

There are plenty of companies that have strong principles. As a company or individual responsible for successful M&A integration activity, you must decide what principles and model you want to apply consistently and transparently. It is also important to understand that there will be trade-offs, and this needs to be factored into the decision-making process.

If you’d like to know how to deliver M&A integrations successfully, please contact us at enq@teamcoachingboutique.com