Mike Koziara can empathize with the turmoil his employees felt during their company’s sale and acquisition. Even though, as Care Choices’ chief financial officer, he helped lead the process, he wasn’t sure what the changes would mean for him.
“I probably wasn’t any different than any other employee,” he says. “Although I was involved in the due diligence, I myself wasn’t certain, ultimately, as to where my career would end up.”
Fortunately, he landed with Priority Health, the health insurance company that acquired his, as the vice president of provider network strategy and East Region. He has more than 130 employees under him in the region, which accounts for about $200 million of the billion-dollar company’s revenue.
Throughout the transition, Koziara had to keep his employees informed of the changes and provide a support system as they made the decision to stay or go — all the while, keeping them focused on the business goals at hand.
Smart Business spoke with Koziara about how to guide your employees through a life-changing transition.
Be intimate. Before the acquisition, the leadership team made a decision to communicate what was occurring. The one key message was, ‘The company’s moving down a new path. That path might entail the sale of the company, it might entail the merger of the company, or potentially, it might mean the company will continue as it currently is.’
With a message that says, ‘Hey, we’re going down a path and it may take different forms,’ of course, the first question is, ‘Well, what form is it going to take? I heard we’re going to be sold and we’re all going to lose our jobs.’ All forms of the communication said, ‘When we know something definitive, you’ll be the first one to know.’ So there was a decision that says we will pursue a merger or sale. And when that decision was made, we let the staff know.
The communication was probably the most important thing through the whole process. It was at the company level, it was at the departmental level and then it was at the one-on-one level. The leaders spent quite a bit more time engaging throughout the company. We’d simply sit down and talk to any staff level throughout the company to gauge how they were feeling, were we connecting with them when we had the group communications, were we touching on the right points?
That built a sense of trust and openness, as opposed to proclaiming, ‘This is where we’re at. Send us an e-mail if you have a question.’ We had an open e-mail Q&A process that augmented it but most effective was the one-on-one.
