[Cover Story] Managing through Mergers

As the CEO of iPass, I’ve managed my team through three acquisitions in less than three years. Merging one entity into another is a balancing act on virtually every level. It requires addressing the short-term needs of the organization while working toward a longer-term plan. To this end, you must craft and communicate a vision of a better future and keep your team motivated to make this vision a reality. Realizing this can take months…or years.

How do you keep the company moving forward in such a turbulent environment? If there is a silver bullet, I have yet to find it. In the meantime, here are five critical lessons that I have learned along the way.

Lesson 1.
Open up communications

Giving employees opportunities to voice concerns without fear is essential. To this end, we instituted a way for employees to ask questions and provide input anonymously via our company intranet. We address these anonymous questions and ideas in our quarterly town hall meetings so employees know that their voices are heard. These tactics were implemented based on feedback from our employees on how we could improve, so these ideas came right from the front lines. Also, don’t forget that if you ask for feedback, you better be ready to act on that which makes sense.

Lesson 2.
Find the true influencers

As much as I’d like to, it’s impossible for me to personally speak to everyone at iPass. In addition to my executive and management teams, I depend on a group of “influencers” within the company to help share the vision with others, generate enthusiasm and support for our plan and gather feedback. How do I find them? Some are employees who ask the tough questions and tend to be outspoken. Others aren’t as outspoken but when they speak, people listen; these are natural leaders who are passionate about the business.

I meet formally and informally with the influencers to take a “temperature check” of my organization. I ask them what they’re hearing, give them my viewpoint and make time to address any concerns and issues before they can spread. I’ve always done this informally and maybe not as broadly as I would like. However, when you are dealing with tough transitional issues, a more rigorous and methodical approach is called for and we are working hard to be more consistent in this area.

Lesson 3.
Make the integration swift

Within a climate of change, leaders must brace themselves for difficult decisions regarding workforce redundancies and how to best integrate differing corporate cultures. Determining who gets what information, when and how is a big challenge. Empower managers to help new employees deal with cultural and business differences. At iPass, we immediately task managers with setting up one-on-one meetings with new staff members to clarify roles and processes and we encourage them to schedule team meetings, lunches, offsites or other events that will enable their team members to bond. Fostering an environment in which the current employees can learn from the new ones and vice versa, is key.

It may seem obvious, but the sooner you can integrate at a systems level, the better off you’ll be. Ensure that everyone can access shared public folders, a single corporate intranet, the same health and 401(k) benefits and e-mail and phone lists. Provide employees with the tools they need to do their jobs, from cell phones and laptops to key company information. You’d be surprised how impressed new employees are when all this happens on their first day on the job or soon after the integration becomes official, because it isn’t their typical experience. Your HR, IT and other support teams must focus early on to make this happen.

Lesson 4.
Deliver a clear, succinct vision and celebrate success

Delivering my vision throughout the organization requires discipline. The overarching road map of “where are we now, where we are going and how we are going to get there” must be distilled into succinct sound bites that are shared at every opportunity and at every level.

I’ve learned that it’s not enough to simply talk about the vision — you must create a culture of enthusiasm and responsibility. Hold teams accountable for their parts in making the vision a reality. Equally important is celebrating the victories of individuals and teams and my influencer group brings those successes to my attention.

Lesson 5.
Expect discomfort

Leading a company through a merger or acquisition is always challenging. If you aren’t making really tough calls around resources and resource allocation, you’re probably on the wrong track. With this in mind, my final observation is to expect some discomfort. Leading is a lonely process. I’m part of a group of Silicon Valley technology CEOs who meet regularly. We discuss issues and try to help one another. When all else fails (and I don’t usually admit this), I spend a lot of time talking to myself. 

The author is CEO of iPass, a firm that provides solutions that help corporations unify the management of remote and mobile connectivity and devices. iPass is based in Redwood Shores, Calif., with offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information visit www.ipass.com.

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Management Update. From “Managing Through Mergers” by Ken Denman, Volume 11, Number 12. Copyright 2006 by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation; all rights reserved.