Mentoring Programs and Mergers

The new year has started - with new plans and new budgets. Beyond the usual questions about mentoring programs, several emails and blogs have passed my on the impact of Mergers on corporate cultures. The latest as from Kevin Knowles, a Principal at Deloitte Consulting, who is taking a poll: Should leaders avoid Mergers, knowing that most deals do not add value and many are disruptive to the organization’s main business (imagine a fish with wings), or Is it the role of leaders to seek out growth, even with attendant risk?

Part of today’s email from Deloitte:

Only a small number of executives ever succeed in reshaping a company through a merger or acquisition…. successful integration requires rigorous analysis, disciplined planning and precisely executed integration plans. Relentless attention must also be paid to retaining customers and key talent, addressing supplier and vendor concerns and setting shareholder and analyst expectations. (Click here for the full article.)

Kevin’s email caused me to again to reflect on how successfully Kraft used mentor programs as part of the integration of Cadbury. In particular, Kraft skillfully used mentor programs within its Employee Resource Groups to integrate the new people into and maintain its corporate culture. The Mentor Gurus and DiversityInc have both written about this.

Mentor programs are a great way to improve the workforce from within, in a cost effective, mutually reinforcing way. In normal times, Mentoring programs are a great way to help employees improve their problem-solving and job-related skills. That is, mentor programs improve the workforce from within, in a cost effective, mutually reinforcing way. Developing people and improving leadership is at the heart of all well-run mentor programs.

But during times of stress, change, corporate reorganization and mergers, mentoring programs can amplify the messages that the senior team wants to send. And crossing mentors from the original company and the employees from the acquired company can reduce the “Us vs. Them” mindset while reducing unwanted turnover and unhelpful misunderstandings.

We are currently offering a free hour consultation to any organization with 5,000 employees. If you are in Talent Management, Workforce Development or Diversity and would like to discuss how to start, improve or expand a mentoring program, contact us and set an appointment with the Mentoring Gurus!