Orchestrating Success: Integrating Leadership Teams

Read any book or paper on successful M&A integration and a number of well-established success factors emerge – Defining a clear vision for the new business; announcing the top team early; communicating openly and frequently; and others.

Surprisingly, one area that is rarely mentioned despite underpinning all of these is the need to build a strong, integrated leadership team as early as possible. This ‘missing link’ is notably absent in traditional integration best practice, which typically focuses on ‘harder’ aspects of integration. Integration is one of the most comprehensive types of change that any business undertakes, and success is driven by communication, collaboration, compromise, and mutual support; all leading to the famous (and famously-elusive) ‘1+1=3’. It requires not just a high level of capability and commitment from business leaders as individuals, it also demands strong, highly-performing management teams from the top down.

Anyone who has witnessed M&A from the top will know instinctively that a strong executive team is vital when navigating the stormy weather that integration brings. Without it, no amount of programme planning, risk management or communications...