Case Study – Facilitation and Collaboration

Facilitate Employee Focus Groups

Issues
Employees of an acquired company were nervous about the upcoming acquisition and conversion.  They had many questions about the new company’s direction, policies, and procedures. Employees of the acquiring company were also concerned about changes in the company.

Focus on employee concerns
During these employee focus sessions, we listened closely to all employees’ concerns.  While many were concerned with whether they would have a job after the acquisition, many others were concerned with how they would perform their jobs after the conversion. They were concerned with how they would get information, what procedures would be used and how the conversion would affect their customers.

In many cases, they knew of customers that were handled outside of normal channels and wondered how these customers would be impacted. In these cases, we asked them to document specific customer cases and their recommendations so they could be analyzed.

Communicate Known Information
During these sessions we quickly communicated what information we did know, so that employees were kept informed and inaccurate information and rumors were kept to a minimum.

Acknowledge Unknown Information
We acknowledged, however, that some decisions hadn’t been made and some information wasn’t known, especially around employee retention. This let employees know that we weren’t holding back valued information.

Analyze and Organize Questions
The questions and suggestions were taken out of these focus groups and organized into common subjects. The information was analyzed for customer and employee impact and sent to subject matter experts for further analysis.

Rely on Subject Matter Experts, but Gather Employee Input on Impact
The subject matter experts in each department were asked to analyze the questions and suggestions and come up with recommended courses of action or specific procedures. In most cases, the existing procedure was fine or needed just minor changes to reflect new systems.

Where specific customers were impacted, we asked the original employees to review the recommendations to determine if the customer impact was acceptable.

Where suggestions were made, we asked the subject matter experts to evaluate them and determine if a better process was being suggested. In this way, a series of best practices was developed using processes and procedures from both companies.

Communicate Thoroughly and Frequently
While employees appreciated that we empathized with them and valued their input, it was essential that we communicate the final processes and procedures to them quickly and efficiently. We needed to answer their original questions to alleviate their fears. Updated procedures and processes were communicated through a series of conversion newsletters and a conversion website.

Provide Feedback to Management
It was important to provide regular status reports to management on major subjects and issues. This was particularly important on issues that were undecided (such as personnel issues). These issues caused employees the greatest fear and the sooner they were identified to management and resolved, the sooner employees would feel more comfortable. Even if final decisions could not be made, communicating regular status reports to employees was important (if some decisions have been made, announce them; where analysis was still being performed, let employees know that). 

End Results
Employees were more comfortable with the acquisition and conversion process.  They were able to make better decisions about conversion issues knowing what the future would hold. Employees of the acquired company had more confidence that their new company cared about them and valued their input.

For more information on how Technology Leverage can help you with analysis and strategic planning, contact Rick Sutton at 610-914-3631 or Rick.Sutton@TechnologyLeverage.com