Selecting Your M and "A" Team

Selecting your integration “A” team for an M&A transaction is critical to the success of your M&A integration. The functional team members responsible for executing the integration are the key ingredient to the success or failure of any given M&A integration. Driving shareholder value and attaining your synergy objectives will be driven by the functional team members you select — so select wisely. Consider the following factors when selecting the various functional team members of your integration M & “A” team:


1) Prior to deal close: Select people with previous experience if possible. Drawing from experience, even if the integration tasks are different, is always a plus as opposed to having people with no experience or reference point for an M&A integration. Plan to augment your team of internal employees with people from the target and clearly define their roles. Clearly identify an integration leader early-on that is full-time to the integration and that leader should begin working on integration planning at least 90 days before the deal closes. Ideally, identifying functional leaders as well (depending on deal size) may be necessary. In addition to identifying roles, create clear channels of communication and a clear path for escalation to the executive sponsor(s) when necessary. If possible, institute a collaborative portal that fosters reporting and collaboration and keeps everyone on the same page at all times. Consider using external advisors (third parties) at the precise points in the process, and consider using “local” members if the deal is global in nature. Based on your business, and the integration effort, you may need to increase staffing for certain functional teams; for example, a manufacturing company that sells through a complex distribution channel with varying supply chain technologies will require additional staffing for the supply chain function. If your early-alert systems begin to show slow progress, and possible downstream delays for any given function, then be prepared to increase staffing for the function in question. Plan for the worst and strive for excellence.


2) First 100 days of integration: Time is always your enemy. All the upfront preparation and the selected team members will be put to the test as the integration progresses. The first 100 days are the execution stage. If you’ve planned appropriately and properly staffed the team then you should be able to weather most of the surprises once they occur — and they will occur. Don’t expect that you have anticipated every possible issue so factor-in enough wiggle-room in order to address the issues and overlooked tasks. Expect issues to occur and have a clear path for escalating and resolving issues in real-time as they occur. Imagine if a key functional lead responsible for a critical-path task contracts the flu virus at a crucial time. How will the team react to this issue quickly and stay on schedule? Plan thoroughly and then plan some more and anticipate any possible surprises.

3) Beyond 100 days: Institute a steering committee to monitor progress at least weekly and plan to maintain the weekly review process in place well beyond the first 100 days. Even once the integration team has begun to shift its focus back to their day-jobs, ensure integration progress continues to be measured as ownership of the new acquisition transitions to the operating unit responsible for the new entity. Clearly move responsibility to the ultimate business owner that owns the newly acquired business yet don’t leave them holding the bag as everyone runs out the door screaming “see ya.” Finish what you started and give the business owner a full report on what has been accomplished and what needs further attention. Phase out the integration team to the line-of-business once the plan calls for it and once all major milestones have been completed.
4) Ongoing measurement and lessons learned: Through the use of a database or portal technology you can retain corporate memory and measure progress, review each milestone in terms of duration, did it take as long as you had planned, also review start dates that were missed and what caused those dates to be missed etc. Review your log of lessons learned to make adjustments to your playbooks. A post-mortem analysis is critical to future success and centralizing all the information and work done on the integration is important for future transactions. Additionally, add comments to your resource profiles (team member database) so that you can reuse team members in future deals and you know where the expertise resides.

In conclusion, selecting your M and “A” team is critical to the success of any integration. An inexperienced and unprepared team will erode deal value and ultimately shareholder value. Plan appropriately and give the deal team the right tools to drive a successful integration.