Why it is so important:
- Ensure employees of acquired company are
welcomed, engaged and updated on the
integration strategy and planning. - Give visibility within the acquiring company on the
integration progress. - Engage the integration team through regular updates
- As integration team consists of people joining from
Sell-side as part of integration team.
Successful integration has a critical aspect of Internal communication stream hence below are few best practices that works well.
- Ensure that the internal communication leader is engaged from the moment the integration team is defined, and involved in all key integration meetings.
- Right size the team depending on the scope – with dedicated full-time support.
- Align on a common messaging platform with Marcom and Public Relations (PR).This decision must be taken early.
- Work hand in hand with change management and ensure that the communication plan is part of the overall change management strategy.
- Develop a clear plan and schedule of communications aligned with the integration
milestones, especially for Day 1, and involve Executive members or sponsors to deliver
key messages through recorded video or live. - Involve and leverage the communications managers in the countries and impacted
functions and businesses. - Set up feedback loops with the impacted employees – surveys, focus groups, analytics.
- Ensure a regular cadence of communication using consistent channels and tools.
- Segment the audiences to understand the level of content that each need.
- Develop a plan with Integration Leaders for functional audience.(through live sessions or newsletter).
- Internal Communication should under Integration Management office level to keep a
transversal view of the project.
MergerWare Recommendation:
If the integration budget does not allow to have dedicated resources, the PMO, Internal Communication and Change Management roles could be combined into one role.
Reusable good practices:
- Digital welcome kit
- Welcome events
- Integration newsletter
- Integration live session
- Communications plan and schedule
Major risks:
- Too many communications from different sources
(in addition to the internal communication one) - Tardiness of communications
- Unneeded actions resulting from a lack of communication
Key dependencies:
- HR, IT, PR and Marketing communication stream.
- Internal communication function
- Integration functions leaders
