Communicate changes
People going through changes in an organization don’t like to be left in the dark.
From the beginning, Schwartz set the stage for open, honest communication by promising employees he’d share everything he legally, morally and ethically could. He made sure to note that his commitment would hold true even when the news wasn’t good.
“People tend to manufacture the drama if they’re not given facts,” Schwartz says. “It’s not always going to be great, but acknowledge that and take the mystery out of it. That lets people have a more fact-based understanding of what’s going to happen. It is usually better than the drama they create by not knowing.”
Throughout the acquisition, Schwartz relied on communication to smooth the way. While this is a crucial part of due diligence before the deal closes, it’s also the bridge to a seamless integration going forward.
“We worked very closely with SafeGuard’s leadership pre-close to get out in front of, listen to and talk to every single employee in that company,” Schwartz says. “It wasn’t necessarily one-on-one, but we did an extremely significant amount of interaction. You don’t just get to the close date and start doing that.”
He didn’t reach all 400 employees individually. But he dug down to engage employees at all levels in multiple ways — from typical town halls, written communication and Q&As to small focus groups and skip-level meetings, where managers interact with employees two levels down.
To reach a goal of integration, you need to communicate as a single, unified company. That means leaders from both sides should address employees together. At monthl
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town halls at each site, for example, Schwartz made that unity visible by presenting alongside a SafeGuard senior leader.
“People in these types of situations tend to look to the leadership at each company to decide how they feel about something,” he says. “They saw people speaking together. And that cascades down into the organization as people started being included.”
Of course, it’s not just the presentation but the message itself that matters. In any acquisition, employees will be anxious about the future. Alleviate those worries with transparency.
Even before Schwartz made final staffing decisions, he made sure to explain both employee benefit programs and severance packages to everyone. Get those “me issues” out of the way right away so people can move past worry and focus on their work.
Be very clear about your timelines for making those decisions, too. Schwartz found that employees usually imagined tighter deadlines than he set, so even if they were let go, there was some relief in how much time remained before the ball dropped.
Just as communication should come from a unified source, the message itself should be created through a joint effort. So Schwartz also gathered input from everyone possible.
You already have avenues set up if you’re using multiple methods to reach employees. All you have to do is request feedback through those avenues.
“You just have to ask,” Schwartz says. “It is amazing what people want to tell you if you just ask them their opinion and you actually care.”
Just make sure your employees understand why you’re asking. Sometimes their input will help shape the direction you take. And other times, the outcome is less flexible and the decision must come from the top — maybe it’s already made. You may have to administer certain policies or regulations, for example, such as benefit programs. If employees don’t have a say, don’t ask what they want.
“Only ask questions when you’re willing to listen,” Schwartz says. “You lose credibility if you ask people their opinion and you’re not willing to listen.”
Whether it’s a decision-in-the-making or already made, you should communicate and give people the opportunity to respond. But asking for input often comes with the expectation that it will be used, so acknowledge the difference between course-altering input and response-gauging feedback.
“There’s a difference between communicating and asking,” he says. “I want to hear everyone’s feedback, but we were very, very clear whether we were asking for feedback because we could influence a decision or we were communicating a decision and listening to their feedback.”
Not only will you tap a wealth of diverse ideas you couldn’t come up with alone, but you start to build consensus toward future decisions when you ask for input.
“What that does is it makes the message ours versus theirs,” Schwartz says. “When you engage folks that way, they feel like they’re part of something. They’re aware of the direction we’re moving in. They feel ownership of that.”
How to reach: SafeGuard Health Enterprises Inc., (949) 425-4300 or www.safeguard.net