Are Mergers on Your Mind?

Leadership, Nonprofits, Board of Directors

Conversations concerning mergers are now occurring across the country more frequently than ever before. We are seeing collaborations and merger discussions across every sector, including healthcare, human services, and even higher education. We believe there is real value in considering mergers as a strategy, but many organizations may not be prepared for the journey. This leaves many to wonder: What needs to be done while considering a merger?

There is no quick answer to this question due to the numerous factors and variables involved. However, we’d like to offer you the following tips from our own merger facilitation experience to help get you started:

Engage your Board. The Board of Directors is the single most important stakeholder when considering this type of strategy, so setting a plan for Board engagement and communication is critical. Even more important is making sure that the Board is part of this process from its inception and that the engagement remains consistent. 

Your why. What needs are you trying to fulfill in your organization? What value and benefit would a collaboration add? Understanding what your organization needs and how it can be improved, provides the foundation to support assessment and decision making.

Build it or Buy it. For those organizations that have reached a size where organic growth is no longer a viable approach, considering mergers as a means of addressing growth strategy, cost savings, quality, or competitiveness is a viable solution.

Understand risks and capacity demands. It takes a significant amount of time to build strategy, find candidates, manage the deal, and then integrate once the merger deal is finalized. This could translate to an organization being unable to undertake any other initiatives during this time. Factoring this in to planning avoids the pitfalls of being overburdened or strained.

Answer difficult questions first! Once the process is underway, there are several critical questions concerning the surviving entity that need to be answered in order to avoid wasting time: Who will serve as the Executive Team and Board Officers? What will the surviving brand be? Who will serve on the Board of Directors? Answering these questions early on will make decision making much easier as the process moves ahead.

Make the tough decisions. Once the merger contract is signed, the implementation process begins. It is during this phase that decisions need to be made around restructuring. These decisions are often very difficult and stressful but, with the right approach, frustrations can be minimized. For our insights on restructuring during an Organization Design project, click here.

Mergers are about people. An organization’s culture is formed over time through shared values and mergers begin with the people who make up that culture. In part, a merger is the unification of two cultures, so you’ll need to allow ample time for due diligence. During this phase difficult questions will arise as an in-depth review of financials, governance, human resources, organization charts, and planning documents will occur. This is also a time to become more familiar with people and their abilities through engagement, communication, and feedback.

Considering a merger is a significant decision for any organization but preparedness is key. A successful merger will help an organization eliminate competition, acquire talent, save money, expand geographic impact, and improve quality of service, among other countless benefits. Most importantly, a merger can ensure survival in a highly competitive marketplace and allow organizations to continue the positive impact they have on society.

If you have an interest in learning about merger strategy and discussing whether it is a viable approach for you, please connect with us here.