Communication Planning Begins Even Before the Process

The M process consists largely of communication, whether it’s access to the data room, interviewing selected employees, or exchanging information with the entrepreneur himself. This exchange and the inquiries usually relate to hard facts and serve to analyze whether the desired acquisition target fits the own company or investment portfolio.

Poor communication at the wrong time can cause great damage, which may even jeopardize the entire project success. Therefore, it is very important to define a communication strategy even before the actual M process begins, which determines who is informed about what, how, and when.

Depending on the project phase, it is important to involve different groups of people and communicate with them in different ways. During the initial discussions and considerations even before the official project start, the main focus is on absolutely confidential communication. Therefore, at this time, only the absolutely necessary persons are involved according to the need-to-know principle through confidential individual conversations, such as the shareholders, upper management, and M advisors.

Communication in the Project Phases of the M Process

Cultural Due Diligence

At the beginning of due diligence, communication is still somewhat different than in the further course of the project, because only a few people are involved here and it is avoided to spread rumors among the workforce of the company to be purchased. The project team involved in this phase usually consists of the managing directors, the project manager, and senior employees from project-relevant departments.

In this phase lies the first major source of error, because the existing corporate culture of the company to be purchased is often overlooked. However, this is the first step towards successful and targeted management of this significant parameter of merger processes.

Data Collection Possibilities

To collect such soft facts, there are a variety of possibilities. For a particularly comprehensive and wide-ranging data collection, a combination of different, proven methods is recommended, such as:

• Individual and Group Discussions
• Questionnaire Interviews
• Sample Groups
• Analysis of Company Documents (e.g., Process Landscapes)

This data collection is also recommended for the own, buying company during the phase of self due diligence. After all, one should never assume that one’s own corporate culture is automatically the better one.

If both parties agree and find both the right ‘hard’ and ‘soft facts’, the next step should be to consider a communication strategy. This should primarily aim at avoiding possible unrest in the workforce.

Integration and Communication

Integration and communication go hand in hand. Various studies, such as that of the Hans Böckler Foundation, show that communication represents a success-critical factor for merger processes. The communication process in an integration process should therefore be controlled through a communication strategy. This should be defined in a communication plan.

The main goal is to provide the appropriate employees with the right information at the right time. To achieve this goal, there are various communication channels:

• Direct Conversations
• Company Newspapers
• Internet and Intranet
• Email
• Bulletin Boards
• Staff Meetings

The principle of providing information as early, completely, and clearly as possible should be at the forefront, as otherwise, the acquisition will be unnecessarily burdened. Of course, this is not always easy and is made more difficult or even prevented by confidentiality obligations during the pre-merger phase. In a situation where all signs point to a merger or acquisition, works councils and HR departments experience the company’s rumor mill firsthand. Nevertheless, targeted information must be withheld until the contract is signed. This contradiction can hardly be resolved. However, management, HR managers, and works councils can coordinate their communication and inform the workforce comprehensively as soon as possible.

Of course, a communication strategy does not only relate to the question of who needs to be informed about what. Among other things, it needs to be clarified how the different departments of the merging companies can be brought into a communication process. This facilitates exchange, and objectives for shaping a common and unified organization can be implemented more efficiently. Regardless of the depth of integration and acquisition strategy, various goals must be pursued in the integration phase. The most important points here are the merging of corporate strategic intentions, the transfer of strategic resources and know-how, as well as maintaining the highest possible employee motivation. Additionally, one must not forget that besides the HR areas, organizational structures and corporate cultures must also be merged.

It should be obvious here that a focus is placed on targeted communication to achieve smooth integration. In practice, however, this is not always the case. This is often due to the sheer volume of tasks and the associated hectic start-up phase. However, one must not forget that a proper communication strategy ensures the relationship with employees, suppliers, customers, and partners.

To always guarantee a neutral perspective, we recommend involving an experienced external partner to support the development of the communication strategy. This not only provides operational relief but also brings new ideas and impulses to the communication strategy through a broad range of experience.