Role of Learning Professionals in Mergers and Acquisitions

What would happen if a local company proud of its origin and uniqueness gets acquired by a global organization?

The first thing is the values of the company start changing and people will be required to align with these changes.

If the people of a German company, which has been proudly catering to the needs of its local customers gets acquired by a foreign company, they suddenly find their uniqueness gone. Now they are serving every part of the world. How will this impact people, who have been in the company for say, 15 years? There is a huge question about their identity and purpose.

Second, there is a huge gap in what they know and what they need to learn so that they can adopt the new culture, products, processes, systems, technologies, and so on.

Do you, as an L&D professional, have a huge role to play when companies merge and get acquired? Here are some initiatives you may consider for facilitating a smooth transition.

1. Align employees on the vision, mission, and values of the new organization
2. Explain the reasons for the merger with a video of the CEO
3. Upskill and reskill employees to take on different and higher responsibilities
4. Create new Process training courses to help people adopt the changes
5. Share the benefits through videos of top leaders in both organizations