How can leaders assist with human capital planning?
Leaders are responsible for authoring and executing the post-acquisition talent management plan. They must find ways to create efficiencies, eliminate redundancies and estimate the number of employees and the necessary skills to execute the revised business plan. A sound human capital plan outlines the best strategies for closing talent gaps, retaining top performers and optimizing staff synergies while designing a structure that creates new career paths for employees and merges two disparate teams into one.
How can leaders foster cultural alignment?
Assess the cultures of both organizations during the due diligence process, then design a single culture that retains the best elements and supports the new business strategy. Allow managers to attend change management workshops where they learn how to model the appropriate behaviors and paint a picture of the desired culture for employees as well as intervention techniques that will keep the cultural transformation on track.
What’s the best way to handle change management and communications?
Managing change is both a rational and emotional process and employees turn to leaders for guidance, motivation and focus. After the quiet period ends, people will be starved for information and it is management’s job to build trust and goodwill by providing just the right amount of information at the right time. Since change management and communications are intertwined, provide managers with training and a toolkit so they can monitor major milestones and disseminate reliable, consistent information as events unfold. The kit should contain talking points, data and side-by-side comparisons of current and proposed benefit and compensation plans and policies so managers can confidently explain the changes to employees. Understand each company’s ‘sacred cows’ — for one it may be paid time off and for the other profit sharing. Plan carefully to make the transition of benefits go smoothly.
How can HR support successful integration?
HR can play an active role by involving employees in discussions around the alignment of compensation and benefit plans and by maintaining consistent delivery of critical services like payroll and benefits during the transition period. Assess each company’s HR technology as part of the due diligence process, select the right system for the job and assure a seamless transition by authoring a realistic timeline for the conversion. Allowing workers to provide input into the design of these plans gives them a sense of control over their financial destiny; their feedback is invaluable because the new plans will directly impact attraction and retention of talent. An inclusive process also serves as an outward sign of management’s commitment to cultural change, and it keeps employees engaged by offering them a say in and preview of the emerging organization.
Christine Infante is a consultant with the Rewards, Talent & Communications Practice at Towers Watson. Reach her at (858) 523-5514 or [email protected].
