Life After (or During) a Merger

The NY Times isn't the only publication that I read - though it is starting to look that way. Here's another story that has implications for I.T. Leadership and the companies that we work for.

Kelly Holland's article from last June 23rd's New York Times - "Life After a Merger: Learning on Both Sides". Has one major theme - keeping good people and two actions that are required to do so - planning and communicating.

Holland: "Managers trying to integrate newly acquired companies and divisions have their work cut out for them. Many current deals are about growth opportunities, which makes keeping key employees especially important."

Further: "So what, exactly, is the best way to persuade members of the new corporate family to stay? The sensible approach is the simplest: plan ahead, communicate often and treat everyone involved in the deal with respect. Say clearly and early when any cuts will occur, and help people feel that they are a part of the combined company’s culture."

This is good advise for every organization in almost any situation but particularly important when merging or significantly changing organizations. Plan for what you want to accomplish and communicate. Plan to keep the key individuals that you need to meet your goals and actively communicate.

The article quotes - Timothy J. Galpin, a senior fellow at Katzenbach Partners and author of “The Complete Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions," - "A year after a deal closes, Mr. Galpin says, managers would be doing well to have retained 80 percent of the employees they wanted to keep."

If 80% is the best we can do - then the worst could be devastating.

Vacations - Stress Reduction

I recently found the Dilbert Blog!

Given my discussion (random rants) on stress and Scott Adams tech background (he knows of what he speaks and speaks well) I found today's post particularly appropriate. Scott Adams takes a vacation..

Although Scott's thoughts were about the "bad of vacation planning" and the "good of actually being on one" his underlying theme seemed to be "vacation is important". It is especially important in I.T. where people ofter put in long or unusual hours. It's important to have the good memories. The stress reduction inherent in taking time off is critical to individual and organizational well being.

As leaders we need to focus the resources (people and time) on the issues and projects that are important to the business. Making sure that those people are at maximum efficiency is equally important as is managing time within our organizations.

Random rant!

Leadership and the Workplace Bully

There is a very good article in today's (3/26/2008) New York Times on work place bully's. That article along with other linked articles and blogs and comments tell a story that we as leaders (manager or not) is important to the success and efficient functioning of our organizations.

A work place bully cuts efficiency, limits effectiveness, increases turnover, reduces communication, hurts our companies, hurts our people - the negatives go on and on. The damage to the individuals being bullied and our ability as leaders to contribute to the success of our company makes quick action a necessity.

Most of us who have been around for a few years have encountered workplace bullies and had to deal with them. My first encounter was at General Electric. At GE (many years ago) the company decided that management by "yelling" was not appropriate and that it was going to stop. We had one manager, in payroll, who had a history of yelling at employees in staff meetings, one-on-one's and occasionally in the hall way. The directive came down - no more yelling. I heard several times from people in that area of the building that he now feared loosing his job - and spent much more time in his office with the door closed. The people in payroll were noticeably calmer and the race to get out of that manager's area slowed.

Since that time I've dealt with situations where one employee didn't like another or where a manager had a problem with a member of his group. My approach has always been to try to take the emotion out of the situation - after all we are professionals. In some cases counselling has worked - either with me or with HR. In one case I moved the person at the receiving end of the bullying to another group where he was much happier and his performance improved dramatically. But I have had people leave - in one case there was a performance issue where despite counseling and changing the individuals position he never recovered. I don't know if I simply intervened to late or whether there were other issues.

Rereading the article I know that I will be more vigilant in the future to insure that this does not happen in my organization.

New York Time article - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/health/25well.html?em&ex=1206676800&en=31b986ad49824972&ei=5087%0A

New York Times blog post - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/meet-the-work-bully/