Mergers & Acquisitions

If so, I'd really appreciate knowing:

• What is the intended outcome?
• What content is covered?
• Who is the intended audience?

I've typically scheduled two separate sessions for new acquisitions on change management.   The first is given to all acquired employees.  The intended outcome is to:

• Validate the feelings they may have about the acquisition; show empathy
• Explain that their colleagues may have very different feelings and to be sensitive to this
• How to address the feelings they may be having

The second is given to managers from the acquisition to give them:

• Some change management theory to understand what they and their employees are going through
• Tools they can use on themselves and provide to their employees who may be resistant to changes introduced by being acquired

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Jennifer Lipschultz
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An excellent outline of your two sessions.

I schedule sessions with the "to be acquired" employees as soon as the acquisition is announced.  In addition to the topics that you listed, I point out what services will be available to them.  That might include relocation assistance. It might also include placement assistance and as much of a schedule of events as might be available.  A lot of what can be done will be determined by the size of the acquired entity.  I also emphasize that the details are always fluid because a lot of management decisions are taking place.

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Frank Gorman, Former ACMP Board Member, Transformation Consultant
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Hi Frank -

Thanks for letting me know that you also provide information about the change process to newly acquired employees in addition to information about the specific changes / services that are available to them as  result of the acquisition.

Best regards,

Jennifer

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Jennifer Lipschultz
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Original Message:
Sent: 2026-05-27 09:23
From: Frank Gorman
Subject: Do you provide change management education to newly acquired employees?

An excellent outline of your two sessions.

I schedule sessions with the "to be acquired" employees as soon as the acquisition is announced.  In addition to the topics that you listed, I point out what services will be available to them.  That might include relocation assistance. It might also include placement assistance and as much of a schedule of events as might be available.  A lot of what can be done will be determined by the size of the acquired entity.  I also emphasize that the details are always fluid because a lot of management decisions are taking place.

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Frank Gorman, Former ACMP Board Member, Transformation Consultant
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Hi @Jennifer Lipschultz these questions are important to ask before planning an M&A program that is both sensitive and responsive to resistance.

The organizations I've consulted with provide a few different sessions through different channels. One is a general one hour change workshop to introduce the topic, and it's available to all employees. HR Communications handled much of the workload, with custom email messaging for employees, managers, and executive leadership.  Executive sessions provide leadership team updates while managers get full conversation guides. A 'Road Show' session is intended for two-way communication however, I found this to be limited in practice if the organization doesn't really want a lot of feedback. HRBPs and Centers of Excellence received more in-depth and regular updates on the change that's happening. These sessions offer a forum for 'employee listening' to gather and aggregate feedback and plan strategies for responding to employee concerns.

Most of my clients tell me well in advance they don't want a lot of theory in these M&A specific sessions and messaging. I always lead with use case scenarios (stories), then briefly introduce a principle that underlies it.

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Matt Cinelli
Principal Consultant
Le Savoir Faire Consulting
matthewca@email.com
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Thanks, Matt!  I'd love to hear more about "...lead<<ing>> with use case scenarios (stories), then briefly introduce a principle that underlies it".  Could you please provide some examples?

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Jennifer Lipschultz
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Original Message:
Sent: 2026-05-27 10:13
From: Matt Cinelli
Subject: Do you provide change management education to newly acquired employees?

Hi @Jennifer Lipschultz these questions are important to ask before planning an M&A program that is both sensitive and responsive to resistance.

The organizations I've consulted with provide a few different sessions through different channels. One is a general one hour change workshop to introduce the topic, and it's available to all employees. HR Communications handled much of the workload, with custom email messaging for employees, managers, and executive leadership.  Executive sessions provide leadership team updates while managers get full conversation guides. A 'Road Show' session is intended for two-way communication however, I found this to be limited in practice if the organization doesn't really want a lot of feedback. HRBPs and Centers of Excellence received more in-depth and regular updates on the change that's happening. These sessions offer a forum for 'employee listening' to gather and aggregate feedback and plan strategies for responding to employee concerns.

Most of my clients tell me well in advance they don't want a lot of theory in these M&A specific sessions and messaging. I always lead with use case scenarios (stories), then briefly introduce a principle that underlies it.

------------------------------
Matt Cinelli
Principal Consultant
Le Savoir Faire Consulting
matthewca@email.com
------------------------------