The post-merger integration period typically lasts for 100 days. Building out an initial 100-day plan is critical to deliver a smooth transition and pave the way for M&A success. In a standard integration project, this should provide ample time post-close to establish business continuity, mitigate any integration risks and to begin defining and implementing your NewCo operating model. However, as we look further into the long-term, there is only so much that can be achieved within the first 100 days after your transaction is completed. This period is often fairly hectic and consumed by urgent tasks requiring fast execution (especially during the comms phase), so it’s easy to become short-sighted and focus on quick-wins. After the news has broken, momentum dwindles and longer-term projects can be neglected as the initial flurry starts to die down. In this article, we share some advice around upholding momentum for wider ‘overhang’ transformational projects that fall beyond the scope of the first 100-day remit.
Long-term transformation projects require significant preparation to go from idea to execution. This planning should start during integration and, once Day 100 has passed, the responsibility moves to sit within your day-to-day teams’ business-as-usual function. One sure-fire way to uphold momentum to ensure transformation projects are completed is by creating structure and process. It’s important to break down your 100-day PMI period into a detailed integration Gantt, organized into various workstreams — e.g. Finance, HR, IT — with their own corresponding sub-projects and tasks. When mapping out your integration Gantt, be sure to include projects that extend beyond PMI into the following 6-12 months (such as a long-term branding transition strategy). That way, you will keep the bigger picture in mind, instead of operating in an integration vacuum and only focussing milestones to achieve within the first 100 days. The first 3 months of your integration are fairly regimented already: with weekly workstream check-ins, regular steering committee meetings and monthly reporting. Each of these devices serves to regularly review progress and hold your teams accountable to deadlines. This structured framework should continue as your integration tasks move beyond PMI into wider transformation projects. Keep weekly or fortnightly check-ins in place to make sure progress doesn’t begin to slip, which is easily done when you’re working on projects with longer timelines.
Let’s take an HR transformation project as an example: HR platform migration. Say your Target company uses a different third-party HRIS system to you, but their contract doesn’t terminate until 6 months post-close. As an HR workstream, you plan to migrate all new staff members across onto your existing HRIS platform once their contract is up. Implementation of a new system is a typical transformation project: it takes a long time, requires careful planning and budget sign-off, and involves plenty of cross-workstream independencies. You will likely need to collaborate with the IT workstream to perform data migration and technical onboarding, with the Finance team to ensure new compensation and benefits settings are established, as well as the Legal workstream to perform contract reviews and kick off the TUPE transfer process, followed by various other standard process roll-out steps, such as staff training. By continuing with a regular cadence of project check-ins and communicating realistic timelines, you can ensure there is a smooth transformation and that your Target is seamlessly integrated into your NewCo HRIS.
Combining two businesses is a complex, lengthy process: it is impossible to wrap a neat ribbon around every integration task in just over 3 months. These highly complex change-management programmes involve so many interdependencies that it’s practically impossible to consider everything done and dusted after 100 days, particularly when further complicated by operating internationally or negotiating carve-outs. Transformation projects are inherently fraught with challenges and obstacles, you may even require third-party assistance to keep on top of all moving parts. Structure and clear communication are both key components to stay on top of your projects and push the needles in the right direction, even after your initial 100 days are up.
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