Quadrant IV: Quantum Leap
Track 3: Work Process Integration
The work process integration track acknowledges that there are both internal and external stakeholders who need to have their requirements met, regardless of the difficulties encountered during the transition and integration process. There is a difference between efficiency and effec- tiveness here. An emphasis on efficiencyduring integration tends to focus on internal integration actions. In contrast, with an emphasis on the strategic effectiveness of the acquisition and on seeking to generate a seamless experience for your customers, the reason for the acquisition and the need for a customer strategy and focus can remain prominent for everyoneinvolved in the integration work process.
Conclusion: From Integration Planning to Integration Implementation
Your integration plan should provide for a speedy, comprehensive inte- gration implementation, with the lowest level of costs and the greatest opportunities for both expense and growth synergies.
As mentioned, this plan should take your customers into account so that they experience a seamless transition. In addition, other stakeholders need to know that you are taking their issues into account; these stake- holders include your suppliers, regulators, and the communities in which your company operates. Moreover, the capabilities and readiness that enable your company to have a successful acquisition will be built up each time your company goes through an acquisition, which in turn makes growing through acquisition as well as organically a sound option for your company. Furthermore, your company develops a deserved rep- utation for being a good “acquirer.” As a result, your company is likely to be sought out for future deals as new opportunities present themselves.
The integration plan, along with your business plan, provides a work- ing framework for the company to move forward into implementing the integration and creating the new company. The day the deal closes, the integration plan begins to be tested. This is where the benefits of build-
ing a strong, yet flexible integration plan pay dividends. Every day and every action will provide immediate feedback as to how well the integra- tion plan provides footing, vision, and the necessary steps for moving through the broad-ranging implementation process. The ability of the integration plan and the integration team to take in that feedback contin- uously and adjust the plan appropriately will give the integration plan its life and keep the integration on track to meet its strategic goals.
Success Factors
• Design a framework that is a good fit for enabling the integration implementation.
• Develop a structure of accountability that ensures that those who are carrying out the transition maintain clear accountabilities as they move forward.
• Create a set of integration metrics that allows you to understand how effectively the integration process is operating.
• Maintain continuity of processes and business functions so that your customers experience the integration phase changes as seamless, with no loss in quality of service or significant disruptions.
• Identify key implementation drivers.
Derailing Factors
• Adopting an integration framework without modifying it for the specific requirements of the upcoming integration
• Developing lines of accountability that are either too rigid or too loose to deal with the changing tensions involved in implementing the integration
• Dictating the terms of the integration without involving members of the acquired company as partners
• Concentrating only on financial metrics without giving adequate attention to integration metrics
• Providing insufficient support to be able to carry out the core businesses of the company seamlessly
Questions
• What are the key factors involved in the way you are designing the framework for the integration?
• How are you determining what the lines of accountability are, and how do you plan on adjusting them to take into account the changing conditions and goals as you go through the integration?
• What set of metrics will supply you with the information you need to evaluate the success of the integration? Who will be responsible for those metrics, and how are you planning for the outcomes of those metrics to be shared and used to modify the practices of the integration appropriately?
• How will you plan to ensure that the continuity of core businesses is maintained during the integration phase?
• What are the key implementation drivers to acknowledge in your implementation plan?
Note
The additional material in this chapter comes from the authors’ inter- views and experiences.
The Integration Team Takes Over:
Six Springboards for a Quantum Leap Integration
The first day of your newly combined company is the first day of your integration stage: you’ve consummated the “deal,” and the two independ- ent companies are now under one ownership, so you are facing the chal- lenge of making the promise of the deal become reality. This is when your integration team should take over your integration plan, to imple- ment the integration of the two companies. Your integration planners will have designed a framework and process for integration to jump-start your new company. A major element of the integration plan is determining the key drivers that can open the space of your new company to tackle the array of challenges you face and to seize the opportunities to lead you to quantum leap achievements.
The seeds for breakthrough performance are planted and cultivated as your company goes through each stage of acquisition, and they are framed during integration planning. Your newly emerging company should start with the capabilities it has been developing and then apply
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all six of these key springboards during integration implementation to transform it into a high-performance, quantum leap company:
1.Customer strategy and branding 2.Company strategy
3.Integrating culture and leadership principles
4.Integrating knowledge insights and business principles 5.People strategy
6.Information technology and systems
Using these springboards effectively provides the thrust to move the integration forward much more rapidly and effectively. Springboards enable you to work through and attack potentially paralyzing issues and areas, while at the same time energizing the people and the emerging structure of your new company.
Planning and then taking action to become a high-performance company strongly contrasts with what most often happens after acquisi- tions. Instead of moving to a higher level of value creation, too many newly integrated companies end up performing at the lowest common denominator of the two previous companies. In most of these cases, the primary gain is in sheer bulk, in terms of more customers, more distribu- tion channels, more products, and more overall revenue. However, bulk- ing up does not necessarily go hand in hand with achieving high performance. Enhanced bulk may help a company gain a higher market share, but it is another thing to transform a company from one that is simplybiggerto one that performs better. Instead, a frequent outcome is that the increased bulk results in a clumsy, plodding company with a slower response time than it had before it acquired the new company.
Let’s look at how each springboard can help your company reach a higher level of performance.
Capabilities + Springboards = Quantum Leap Performance Outcomes