Bringing Merging Companies Together as One Team

Two previous competitors from different markets within the medical industry merged into one company. Employees were to act as one team, in line with the requirements and targets of the new organization.

To foster alignment with the new organizational structure and integrated portfolio, it was essential to reinforce key messages, deepen product understanding, and alleviate any fears and concerns employees may have had about the merger.

In partnership, we created a 2-day training, which brought this new organization together region by region and addressed key topics from different perspectives:

• Heart: providing stories and examples that illustrate why the merger happened, what stage we are in, and what the long-term vision and goals are.
• Mind: creating a solid understanding of the concepts and key messages the organization is all about.
• Hands: explaining how the participants will be working within the new organization, including tools and techniques.

The winning formula of this program was to let the participants start off with a celebration of what they’d achieved so far through storytelling. This helped them see their similarities and more easily understand the benefits of the merge, commit to the company vision, and find shared ways of working.

With people on board from the start, the new organization was much quicker up to speed and acted as one team.