RETIRED: Certificate in Post Merger Integration: Foundation + Project Management
Learn what you need to know to give your merger the best chance of success. The numbers don't lie; over 50% of all mergers fail to realize the projected synergies and gains. In fact, they actually result in a decline in productivity following an acquisition.
If you are involved in – or will be involved in – the merging of two or more organizations, this program is ideal for highlighting potential issues and assisting you in putting together a strategy for successful integration.
The Best Part:
This certificate offers the flexibility to meet your needs. Take the core 3-day Foundation component and combine it with the 2-day specialization elective in Leadership, OR the 2-day specialization elective in Project Management. Take both for an Advanced Certificate in Post Merger Integration. Registration options are listed on the left side of this program description page under "Upcoming Sessions".
ABOUT THIS COURSE
Designed for leaders, this flexible program features a 3-day Foundation core component which takes a comprehensive view of post-merger integration from the people and culture point of view.
The 2-day supplemental modules allow you to select from a leadership stream or project management stream specialization. You may also elect to enroll in and study both streams, or the Foundation component alone.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND
This program is vital for:
- Executives and managers of teams joining together or impacted by a merger or acquisition
- Human resources professionals in merged organizations
- Project managers
- Members of the post merger integration team
- Anyone planning or undertaking a merger or acquisition
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
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Foundation Component (3-days)
- Understand the impact of colliding cultures on successful mergers and acquisitions
- How to use the Human Synergistics Organizational Culture Inventory® to understand the dynamics of integrating two or more cultures
- Understand the role of strong leadership in change and how to develop an integration communications strategy
- How to effectively implement a change management strategy focusing on the people and cultural side of change
- Effectively plan for the impact of M&A on human capital
- How to identify critical roles, establish retention and redundancy strategies
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Specialization Elective 2 – Project Management (2-days)
- How to create a step-by-step project plan for the first 100 days
- Apply the 24 key activities that are part of building a post merger implementation project
- Managing the triple constraints of time, cost and scope in a post merger environment
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PROGRAM CONTENT - Foundation + Project Management
Foundation Program - 3 Days
Pre-Work Package
Your learning process will begin as soon as you register. You will be sent three (3) important and powerful instruments that will help you understand the "current" culture of your organization as well as your own style when it comes to accepting and leading change and your personal leadership style. These instruments will be used in the program to assist you in planning for culture integration and leading change and the team toward successful integration. You will also receive your planning journal that will prepare you with the information required for the session.
Culture Integration: Keys to A Successful Merger
- What is culture?
- Where culture fits into strategy alignment and organizational execution
- The impact of culture on mergers and acquisitions
- Geographical culture – M&A in a global environment
- Culture assessments – what can they tell us and their usage during a merger
- Planning for cultural integration based on types of merger
Strategy, Vision and Values – Yours, Theirs and Ours
- Validating the values of each organization against overall vision and strategy
- Renew, reinvent, re-engineer
- Synergies and differentiators
- Getting buy-in through leadership
- Values group exercise – company mission, vision and values
- Reviewing the ideal and current circumplexes of the new organization
Applied Learning Session
- Based on culture surveys completed by the merging organizations, this will be a working session examining three areas:
- Will the proposed 'ideal culture' allow the new organization to gain all the synergies expected and achieve the values expected?
- How different are the two current cultures? What challenges will we have to address in order to both move toward the new Ideal?
- Action planning – what are the action plans that can be put in place to get the new organization in sync and moving toward the desired future state?
Change Management Principles for Sustainable Results
- Using the Impact of Change Model on people
- Understanding the adapting behaviours
- The role of the individual
- The role of the leader
- Planning for change in a merger
- Change Style Indicator® assessment and exploration exercise
- Understanding the "what is" (Current cultures) vs. the "ideal future state" (Ideal culture)
- Where are we?
- Where do we need to be?
- How will we get there?
Stakeholder Analysis Exercise
- Teams will complete a stakeholder analysis of all groups impacted by the merger and their current level of knowledge and expected support
Communications Strategy Exercise
- Using the key stakeholder analysis and understanding of change styles, complete the communications strategy that will assist the various stakeholders in understanding what is required from them in order to make the merger a success
- Creating a question and answer strategy – for both Internal and external stakeholders
Impact on Human Capital: Managing the 'Human' Side of the Integration
- How to manage the human capital side of a merger/acquisition, aligning people, processes, culture, and strategy
- Talent management
- The Talent model critical roles
- Understanding current resources
- Finding the best match
- Establishing the right criteria – competency modeling
- Selecting the right candidate
- Redundancy
- Selection and rationale
- Developing the package
- Delivering the message: who, how and when
- Retention Strategies
- Communication
- Development plans including transition team assignments, training, high potential programs, coaching and mentoring, succession planning and replacement strategies
- Managing expectations through performance management
- Establishing clear accountabilities
- Defining measures – "what does good look like?"
- Managing expectations through strong feedback
Project Management Specialization - 2 Days
Project Management Essentials
- Initiating and scoping a project through inception and the business case
- Establishing project and product scope
- Managing requirements change
- Building the project team: key roles, key stakeholders and keys to successful delegation
- Stakeholders who are internal to the business area
- Stakeholders who are external to the business area
- Stakeholders who are external to the organization
- Meeting management meets conflict management: pre-empting conflict through clarity, precision and communication
- Managing the triple constraints of time, cost and scope
- Defining project relationships by deliverables
- Successful time, cost and resource estimating and scheduling through work breakdown analysis
- Choosing the correct project management methodology: waterfall, iterative, agile
- Project phases, milestones and gate processes
- Dealing with the realities of time and resource commitments: how to configure personnel availability for maximum value working with distance teams
- Rightsizing your project documentation set: timely and stress-reduced review and sign off approaches
- Managing the solution acceptance process and closing the project
- Application release management
- What happens after the project?
Integrating Change and Culture into the Project Plan
- Integrating new work streams
- Managing change and the project – who's in charge?
Bringing it All Together – Measuring for Success
- The balanced score card
- Creating checklists & priorities
- Creating the timelines
- Working with the key stakeholders
Directors
![]() Mona Mitchell
As program director, Mona Mitchell brings over 25 years of experience in sales, corporate development and leadership roles. As a founding partner of ACHIEVEBLUE™, Mona's passion continues to help executives create high performing organizational cultures that allow employees to excel. With a focus on design and implementation of organizational alignment initiatives to support the strategic plan, and by measuring and then examining the role that leadership and culture plays in organizational success, Mona ensures that all programs help organizations to deliver on their goals, including financial, brand, customer loyalty and attraction and retention of key talent.
Prior to founding ACHIEVEBLUE Corporation, Mona was Executive Vice President with CDI Education for more than 13 years. She used her passion for excellence and sustainable growth to build the business to one of North America's leading organizations with clients globally. As part of this growth, Mona was responsible for corporate development including CDI's acquisition strategy.
Mona also is a board member with Big Brother Big Sisters Canada and leads the Leadership Committee for Big Brother Big Sisters Canada.
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Instructors
![]() Lynda Keating
Lynda brings more than 25 years of leadership and education experience to her role as designer and facilitator, having held strategic leadership, education and executive roles in several of Canada's Fortune 500 companies. As a consultant, she is an energizing facilitator with extensive depth of experience within the telecommunications, finance and retail industries. Her expertise spans talent management, organizational development, leadership and learning functions.
Lynda has a recognized ability to build high performing teams and cultivate customer service excellence in the face of strategic change and transition. She is also experienced in influencing change in complex environments delivering tangible, "bottom-line" results quickly for organizations, management, stakeholders and staff.
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![]() Jason Questor
Jason Questor has close to 30 years professional experience in business and information technology management – including program, project and product management, marketing communications
and learning systems. Much of Jason’s work has focused on turn-key leadership and technical skills training programs that emphasize leadership attitudes and behaviours as the key catalyst for professional effectiveness, team cohesion and alignment to strategy.
Jason provides business transformation consulting with client management and staff personnel to align organizational culture with strategy, codify business rules, identify opportunities and improve business practices. As a management coach and mentor, Jason works to leverage the interpersonal effectiveness, professional and technical skills of organizational leaders to create inspired teams and market leading client products and services.
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