The authors also point out that change by itself is an emotional process for everyone involved and the poor communication can make the situation more stressful for staff .
There is also a strong impact of culture – which is simply defined as ‘ how we do things around here .’ Change involves re-evaluating the culture and possibly coming up with a new culture that may borrow from the previous one or may be completely new .
Mergers usually begin with the structure changing at the top . Once this is done , there is a vision for the company that needs to be shared with all employees .
This is the starting point for communication and for setting the tone on the organizational culture .
One tool that leaders may find themselves using in these situations is leadership coaching . Coaching can help with several broad areas : coaching in order to drive vision and culture change ; coaching to assist with communication ; coaching to encourage employee participation ; coaching to operationalize business and financial operations ; and coaching to drive organizational performance
Jeremy Robinson defines executive coaching as ‘ coaching that is aimed at inspiring executive leaders to make behavioral changes which transform themselves and the people around them thereby increasing business results and performance .” This ties-in with the earlier idea that everything starts with the leader of the organization .
Manfred Kets De Vries in a paper written for Insead on Leadership Coaching and Organizational Transformation said , ‘ Leadership coaches do not necessarily provide answers to problems as they are not
‘‘ Jeremy Robinson defines executive coaching as ‘ coaching that is aimed at inspiring executive leaders to make behavioral changes which transform themselves and the people around them thereby increasing business results and performance .”
consultants , mentors or trainers ’ – although very often executive coaches may also have these skills and offer these services .
In a leadership coaching discussion , the “ coach helps leaders to develop skills , emotional capacities , motivation knowledge and expertise ” that would then allow the leader to build on self awareness and appreciate their personal strengths , weaknesses and learn more about what they really want to achieve and most likely understand their fears as well .
Many organizations have internal coaches ; people who are trained in coaching and assist leaders and employees with such transitions .
From a practical point of view , for coaching to be most effective , there must be trust and confidentiality must be maintained . Staff must be completely confident that the coach they work with , is a neutral and independent person , not involved with the politics of the organization . This then requires assistance from external coaches , as part of the change process .
The Way Forward
What then may be the best way forward , in the midst of a merger ? Here-under are some of my considered suggestions .
• Leadership coaching to assist the leader of the organization . The executive coach here can help the leader map out the vision and understand how to roll it out to the teams . Leaders may also have fears or doubts which can be addressed in coaching , allowing the leader to change his behavior or leadership style . Leaders can also work on identifying how they can enhance people skills and make the merger / change as painless as possible for all those involved .
• The leader cannot work alone and therefore once he has his vision or strategy , he needs his first line troops aka senior leadership team to be aligned and all on the same page . Using themes or strategic focus points , it is possible to have coaching for the leadership team to address their fears , concerns and even incorporate new ideas into the organization . For the success of the merger , this is critical as communication messages need to be clear and consistent .
• Senior leaders may also have individual coaching to assist them cope with the transition and the challenges of managing teams going through the merger . They and still drive excellence and performance .
• Next level teams would also benefit from group coaching sessions , driving culture change and getting buy in and acceptance from all team members .
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