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ELE is a peer-powered community where people leaders don't just reframe challenges — they leave with decisions, next moves, and 30/60/90-day commitments to move real work forward.&nbsp;For 22 years, leaders from Fortune 1000 companies have brought their hardest problems here — and left sharper than they arrived.

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Executive Learning Exchange (ELE)

Froedtert ThedaCare Health

Session Focus:  M&amp;A Change Management strategies to overcome challenges

During mergers and acquisitions, change is inevitable and often difficult for employees. This interactive session explored proven strategies for HR to effectively navigate the people challenges of M&amp;A integration.

Key Takeaways:
1. Develop personalized change management plans for different employee groups based on how they will experience the change. As one participant stated: "Every group had an individualized plan because they were going to experience things differently than maybe some of their peer groups."
2. Create opportunities for two-way communication where employees can ask questions and leaders can share what they know, even if they don't have all the answers yet. Formats like "cookies with leaders" listening sessions help provide clarity.
3. Involve leaders and managers early in the change process. Provide them training on how to communicate with and support their teams, and treat them as essential partners in the change effort.
The session covered research highlighting the importance of employee involvement in decision-making to drive engagement during M&amp;A transitions. Participants shared real-world examples like:
- Conducting pre-merger culture assessments to identify key aspects to preserve
- Using cohort-based onboarding programs and branded swag to build connections
- Empowering front-line managers to address employee questions and concerns
Leveraging M&amp;A situations to get budget for initiatives like improved onboarding that may have been difficult pre-merger was also discussed. Overall, the session provided a playbook of tactics to support employees and successfully integrate cultures.

HR Navigating M&A Change Management | Best Practices and Success Strategies

Cohort-WI

Engagement &amp; Culture

Cohort-Virtual

dirk.tussing

Change Management

laura.jones

mike.kester

christine.moczynski

jesse.james

brenda.fairfull

in-person event

Culture Change

tom.griffin

hybrid learning

darcy.pierson

april.hershman

belonging

DEIB

megan.bickle

organizational culture

merger and acquistion

Online <a href="https://www.learningexecutive.com/events/change-management-m-and-a/agenda">Agenda</a> with Session Leaders
Session Focus:  M&amp;A Change Management strategies to overcome challenges

As several member companies are designing Mid-managers Development Programs, I am reaching out to tap into your collective wisdom. We are particularly interested in gathering insights and best practices.

&nbsp;

We see many mergers and acquisitions that require anti-trust approval by the U.S. Department of Justice and other countries if you are global. During this time, companies were not allowed to communicate on the status. From an HR perspective, challenges are common, including how to best retain and engage employees, and onboard new employees while keeping the lines of communication as transparent as possible.

Working Agenda

<ul>
 	<li style="list-style-type: none;">
<ul>
 	<li>Lessons Learned Group Discussion

<ul>
 	<li>What to do</li>
 	<li>What not to do</li>
</ul>
</li>
 	<li>Research
<ul>
 	<li>Kincentric - <a href="https://www.kincentric.com/-/media/kincentric/2019/november/managing-engagement-in-times-of-change.pdf">Managing Engagement During Times of Change</a> (Aon - <a href="http://affinityhealthhub.co.uk/d/attachments/22-aon-2013-1526940310.pdf">original whitepaper</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
 	<li>Use Cases 
<ul>
 	<li>Engagement/Retention - <a href="https://www.learningexecutive.com/insights/keeping-employees-engaged-during-times-of-change">Insight: Keeping Employees Engaged during Times of Change</a> (Expedia/Orbitz)</li>
 	<li>Onboarding - <a href="https://www.learningexecutive.com/insights/onboarding-designing-cohort-learning-to-scale">Insight: Onboarding | Designing Cohort Learning to Scale</a> (Goodyear)</li>
 	<li>Culture - <a href="https://apex.aero/articles/charu-jain-alaska-airlines-virgin-america-merger/">Behind the Scenes of the Alaska Airlines and Virgin America Merger</a> (APEX Case Study)</li>
</ul>
</li>
 	<li>Debrief</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
To help guide the discussion, please <a href="https://community.learningexecutive.com/t/navigating-m-a-change-management-best-practices-and-success-strategies/5223">contribute your "Change Management" expertise on the Idea Exchange:</a>
<ol>
 	<li>What strategies can we employ to proactively address potential resistance to change among employees during the M&amp;A process?</li>
 	<li>What role does talent retention and development play in M&amp;A Change Management, and how can HR leaders ensure a smooth transition for key personnel?</li>
 	<li>How do we measure the success of M&amp;A Change Management initiatives, and what metrics do you use to assess their impact on the organization?</li>
 	<li>How can we foster a culture of agility and adaptability to support the organization's successful integration post-M&amp;A?</li>
 	<li>Can you share a case study or personal experience where effective M&amp;A Change Management positively impacted the overall success of the merger or acquisition?</li>
</ol>
In addition to successful practices in M&amp;A Change Management, please share any pitfalls or challenges you have encountered in this process and mitigation strategies to overcome them.

Space will be limited. We are looking for an ELE member with a conference room to experiment with creating Hybrid roundtables. After registering, please confirm with Dirk Tussing if you will attend in person so we can plan logistics accordingly.

Please submit your questions to any of the session leaders.