Program Name : Lead to impact

Covance acquisition of Sciformix was a great opportunities for people working at sciformix but at same time brought lot of uncertainty in the mind of people for the stability of their roles and responsibilities.

The problems an organization faces due to merger and acquisition can be relatively minor, involving structural and cultural adjustments that don’t feel seismic. But sometimes, the results are devastating. Sciformix wanted its leaders to be proactive to handle the change and deal with uncertainties with the mind of their respective team members.

Communication challenges came out as one of the top factors that might caused company synergies to fail. Communicating with employees, empowering them and creating a culture for them to thrive are all fundamental parts to integration. When mergers and acquisitions occur, employees and management are generally left in the dark. Fear and lack of answers deter top management from providing the information that employees need to redirect their actions in the merged company. Rumors fill mystery and vacuums, and employees are left asking questions like: “Why is the organisation merging?”; “How will the merger affect my work?”; and “What support will I receive during the merging process?” This lack of communication creates distrust and uncertainty in the workplace, leading to lower employee engagement levels. Communicating is a skill that should come naturally, however it can be the hardest skill to learn. When managing any key project, such as mergers and acquisitions, it’s important to keep the employees from both parties informed at all times. Being aware of the questions, concerns and fears that employees might have, and, proactively communicating answers, will build transparency and trust, and lead to a successful merger.

With this though L&D team at Sciformix approached their learning and development partner Challenging Horizons to design and deliver a work shop to address above challenge for their leadership team.