Like marriage, mergers need good communication to beat the odds
With two months left to go, 2015 is on track to set a new global record for merger activity, with $4.58 trillion in value projected this year. Despite this unprecedented level of activity, successfully merging two companies remains incredibly challenging. Numerous studies will tell you anywhere between 60-90 percent of integrations fail to achieve their anticipated value – which is even higher than the roughly 50 percent failure rate of marriages between individuals. In other words, mergers fail more often than marriages!
That said, as with marriage, mergers require strong communication to succeed, starting with the moment two companies begin to plan a conjoined future to Day 1 and beyond. Employees are a particularly critical audience to engage throughout the process, as they will have countless questions – from “will I still have a job?” to “what we will call the company?” to “will we still get to wear jeans to work?” Many of these questions will take days – even months – to answer, so it’s important to mitigate the anxiety and distraction that comes with uncertainty.
Read our October issue of Connections for five strategies to engage employees and help your organization navigate the many stages of integration.
Jeff Zilka is executive vice president and general manager of Financial Communications in Edelman’s Chicago office.
Tamara Snyder is a senior vice president with Employee Engagement.