With a merger or acquisition, success depends not only on the deal, but also on the transition.

The transition can make or break employee engagement, customer retention, brand equity and the viability of acquisitions to come.

It isn’t enough to plan a transition for the merging employee base. The integration team needs support, too.

Milo Paich offers useful experience gained in different roles as consultant and executive.

In a consultant role:

• Cultural alignment. Designing and facilitating cultural alignment sessions for the integration team of two merging food-service companies.
• Strategic direction. Stimulating dialogue about strategic direction among top-team members of a textile business and of the venture capital firm that had just acquired a majority stake.
• Strategic opportunities. Preparing managers of two biomedical companies to understand the strategic opportunities of their newly merged business.

In an executive role:

• Former competitors. During a merger of two former long-term competitors, serving on integration teams for products, customer communications and rebranding.
• Across subsidiaries. At a newly acquired business unit, pilot-testing product integration across subsidiaries as a prelude to an eventually successful three-company merger.