Mergers and Alliances

Alliances and partnerships are the key to the future. Hardly any organisation has all the expertise and skills it needs. We know that openness and effective communication are essential to success. However, how often do we hear people complain about the lack of detailed and straight talking and explicit sharing of knowledge.
Attitudes and behaviours die hard. It's one thing to integrate systems and procedures, but how do the people feel about it? .
Unless people get the chance to express their fears and resentments, the merger will not work effectively. How many times, years after a merger, have we heard people saying: "Oh we did it this way when we were ABC company"?
A failing merger is often put down to conflict between different systems and ways of doing things. These are almost always excuses because people don't want to admit they are not willing to communicate properly. People need to know that their resistance is harming them.

Here's how the Better Mergers and Alliances Workshops work.

A Profit Improver's facilitator meets or telephones the relevant head of the new merged organisation to arrange a date for the workshop and gets permission to write to 10 - 12 selected participants with a pre-workshop exercise.
The facilitator writes to participants explaining objectives and asks them to send at least seven obstacles that might hinder the effectiveness of the merged organisation. Confidentiality is assured.
All suggestions are analysed and grouped into similar categories.
During the workshop the facilitator assists the participants to: a) identify the main obstacles to smoother working and even better performance. b) find ways to overcome these obstacles. c) prepare an action plan with agreed personal tasks, deadlines and measures of success.
A "wash-up" session is arranged for six to eight weeks after the workshop. This motivates and is an opportunity to review progress and refine actions.

RESULT?

Greater insight of how resistance to change harms people, the organisation and ultimately jobs. People can't escape seeing others' problems and they become more willing to co-operate.

Bill

Having used your services as a facilitator on three major projects (Pierce for Enterprise Oil, OKIOC for Shell and Claire for BP) I would be pleased to recommend your services to others. These projects all involved engaging people from disparate disciplines on complex issues. Your input and guidance helped us get the best from the teams, enabling us to concentrate on the deliverables and technical issues. Yours sincerely,

Ian Pollard, Regional Manager, Dresser Kellogg Integrated Solutions.

Bill

Armada Tieback and Completions Project. Your facilitation of the two-day event with the Santa Fe Magellan was most helpful. There were some tough issues to deal with but you managed to focus people's attention on what has to be done rather than on the past. It was good to be reminded of how the basics of good communication and planning can make life easier when tough technical conditions confront us. It came through clearly that although an Operator and a Drilling Contractor have specific commercial objectives, on any installation we are and should act as, ONE team. Also, the balance and between hard work and socialising, was just right.

Dave Wilkinson, Senior Drilling Engineer, British Gas E & P.

Bill

Thank you for facilitating the Vessel Healthcare Contract workshop with ourselves and Coflexip Stena Offshore. The contract had been operating quite successfully, but we considered there was scope for improvement. We are very pleased with the result of the day. We have an agreed action plan with actions shared between the two organisations and we all realised the need to maintain contact and measure progress. This exercise was time well spent, giving us the opportunity to discuss various ideas and to think as one team.

Mike Crawford, General Manager, ABB Marine and Turbochargers Division.