Communicating through Business Transitions

Business transitions, such as mergers and acquisitions, aren’t just multi-billion dollar transactions for the top Fortune 100 companies. Many mid- and smaller-sized businesses are pursuing strategic opportunities to join forces with similar or complementary organizations. It might be something your organization is considering, especially as you plan for the next generation of leadership. 

If so, you have no doubt retained financial advisors, attorneys, accountants, and business consultants. You may also be working through the lengthy due-diligence process, and let’s say the transition is nearly ready to close. Have you figured out how to tell anyone about it? Have you thought about what you’re going to say, exactly who you’re going to tell, or when you’re going to tell them?

According to a report from culture-change specialists The Storytellers, a “lack of emotional buy-in” and poor integration between different cultures are to blame for unsuccessful merger-and-acquisition deals. The same applies to any new leader — and new ways of leading — for an organization.

The key to ensuring a successful transition is well-planned, proactive communication. It must start with the thoughtful development of simple key messages, which are aligned with the legal strategy and have the support of key leadership and counsel. That must be followed by conversations with employees before any other external audience. It is important to always communicate inside first.

While you work hard to run a business that provides a great product or service, and plan to continue delivering those products or services well into the future, you may receive criticism or confusion about how you operate — especially as you begin to have conversations with external audiences, like customers and community members. Often, it’s because your audiences don’t fully understand the complexity of how your organization’s operations work. And that could be a significant detriment during a business transition.

It’s surprising to see how many business leaders overlook the simplest solution to this problem: communicate these logistical details with your audiences. We’ve often found that the reason people don’t understand is simply because no one ever explained it to them.

Once they understand, fewer people will complain, which will reduce the negative impact on your reputation. In fact, some may become ambassadors for your organization, helping to explain to others. In addition to maintaining a more positive tone for your organization, this proactive work will help to secure the future success of your organization.

There is also a delicate balance you must keep between sharing too much information too soon, and making sure your key audiences are brought “in the loop” at the right time to allow for questions to be answered, confidence to be maintained, and support to be garnered. 

We’ve seen business transitions occur with a proactive communications plan, and without one. Guess which transitions have been the most successful?

If you’re planning to go through a major business transition and are developing the communications strategy, be sure that your messages align with your business objective and that you’re sharing them at the right time.

Are you being heard?        

Crystal DeStefano is president and director of public relations at Strategic Communications, LLC, which says it provides trusted counsel for public relations, including media relations, employee relations, and community relations. Contact DeStefano at Crystal@stratcomllc.com