Employee engagement expert available to explain why most corporate mergers fail

Employee engagement expert available to explain why most corporate mergers fail

On average, only 32.4% of M&A activity can be described as a success. In fact, in something like 60% of cases the acquiring company fails to cover the cost of capital.

“The lack of effective post-merger integration is behind the failure of most corporate mergers, says Alan Crozier, one of Europe’s leading organisational communication consultants.

“There is an obvious focus on getting the deal done, identifying efficiencies, and of course capturing the revenue stream. But companies don’t change – people change them. And the human side of the change agenda is often the Cinderella at the party.

“The CEO needs to start the communication and involvement process before the ink is dry, and have at least a 100-day plan for getting everyone in the business on the same page as far as the business direction is concerned.

“The key question employees have is of course, ‘what does this mean for me?’ Here honesty and timeliness are crucial. When people don’t know what is happening, they will on average spend two hours a day in fruitless and typically negative discussion with colleagues. This is where value-destruction starts.”

Crozier, a founder of Glasgow-based consultancy, The Ghost Partnership and author of a new book: The Engagement Manifesto bases his assertions that many employee engagement initiatives are fundamentally flawed on research and years of consulting in this area, particularly in times of change.

Crozier has over 30 years experience in advising blue-chip companies in the UK, Europe and the US on employee engagement through business transformation, mergers and acquisitions. He has addressed conferences on these topics in Europe and North America.