nTrac now covers 80 % of the U . S . population . That came about when OnTrac connected its East and West Coast operating footprints and united the separate LaserShip and OnTrac companies under a single brand . OnTrac plans to add major metro areas this year through additional expansions . But for OnTrac Chief Commercial Officer Josh Dinneen , it ’ s not all about geography . It ’ s all about the people .
“ A successful consolidation is all about melding cultures . You need to do your best to understand each organization ’ s culture and find alignment between the two ,” he says . “ We were fortunate that our two companies had similar cultures . Both had a family-oriented type background . So , blending them felt like a family expansion versus an integration of two different cultures .”
Noting that any consolidation means change for those in the companies , Dinneen pointed to the need for communication . “ You need to make the transition digestible up and down the company ,” he says . “ That means communication with all the folks working in the organization , from warehouse workers to executives . It ’ s breaking it down for them . Answering questions like ‘ What are we doing ?’ ‘ Why are we doing it ?’ ‘ Where do you fit in ?’ And making it digestible ; something they can run with . Then , if you repeat that through the middle-level management , you can get good synergy throughout your organization .”
Getting the Leaders
Not surprisingly , the process needs to start with the leadership team . “ I think the executive leadership team needs to be on board early because you want the members of your team to know who ’ s going to be running things ,” he says . “ It ’ s best if that happens before the acquisition takes place . Although obviously there are constraints on this . You don ’ t want the information getting out into the marketplace before you ’ re ready to go public . It is a balancing act .”
In the OnTrac / LaserShip situation , upper management initially decided to integrate executives from both sides . “ We brought executives from both sides together , many ultimately filling different roles from where they ’ d originally been ,” he recalls . “ We did that on purpose to blend them . We wanted to say , ‘ We don ’ t want one or the other . We need to have the input and the skill set from both sides .’”
He acknowledged that that could be harder for smaller deals or companies , especially if the new company would be substantially more significant than the original ones . “ If a company were , for example , going from a $ 10 to $ 20 million company , it would be a huge challenge and might require a bigger jump than their leaders were capable of handling , “ he says but advises considering putting people into new roles based on their skills and backgrounds . “ I don ’ t think you have to keep everyone in the same roles they had before the consolidation ,” he says . “ You may have somebody who worked at a Fortune 1000 company before who could step into a whole new role instead of keeping somebody where they ’ ve been just because they ’ ve been doing it for you for ten years . I know it ’ s hard when you ’ re thinking about loyalty and how they helped you grow your business , but you must ask , ‘ Can they scale to where the business is going quickly ?’ ‘ Would they be better in a different role ?’ And sometimes that means making tough decisions to let long-time people go . The sooner you make those tough decisions , the better off you will be . If not , you ’ ll waste an entire year trying to fit round pegs in square holes .” summer 2023 I customized logistics & delivery Magazine 17