PRACTICE AREA
People + Culture, Due Diligence & Integration
Get the necessary insights into the people-aspects of your deal and at the same time, facilitate alignment for those involved, with all parties included, present, and engaged.
During mergers and acquisitions, we’ve found that people integration, and specifically the human dynamics, are often deprioritized in pursuit of the deal. Ironically, and yet consistently, this approach often ends up costing much more, both financially and in terms of sentiment, in the mid and long term. It’s possible to attend to both aspects effectively.
Seamlessly align leadership teams to provide shared understanding of strategic objectives and purpose, enabling effective decision-making.
Our approach leverages entity strengths for workforce blending through phased planning and the establishment of aligned leadership.
Seamlessly align leadership teams to provide shared understanding of strategic objectives and purpose, enabling effective decision-making.
Our approach leverages entity strengths for workforce blending through phased planning and the establishment of aligned leadership.
Identify and review key talent, including their skills, experience, and cultural fit, to position the organization for success in the post-merger and acquisition landscape.
Utilizing leading practices, we design dynamic structures and integrated workflows, establish clear roles, and ensure transparent communication.
Identify and review key talent, including their skills, experience, and cultural fit, to position the organization for success in the post-merger and acquisition landscape.
Utilizing leading practices, we design dynamic structures and integrated workflows, establish clear roles, and ensure transparent communication.
Recognizing an organization’s true value in its people profile, we seek synergies in the M&A process, fostering connectivity and mutual benefit, even in challenging situations.
We architect a dynamic business context that requires collaboration and results, is characterized by an ethos of making it happen, while nurturing a sense of belonging.
Recognizing an organization’s true value in its people profile, we seek synergies in the M&A process, fostering connectivity and mutual benefit, even in challenging situations.
We architect a dynamic business context that requires collaboration and results, is characterized by an ethos of making it happen, while nurturing a sense of belonging.
Our sample report provides a high-level overview of the common approach, process, and phases we follow in any people due diligence project. We then contextualize it to meet your asks, needs, and questions, whether it’s for a people, product, or channel acquisition strategy.
Apply an ‘eyes wide open’ approach, and thus a risk mitigator, to your business growth blueprint.
In our phased approach, we focus on several areas: HR Tech Stack, Compensation and Benefits, Talent, Decision Making, Operating Model/Organizational Design, and Labour Relations.
Ensuring organization and talent processes are managed correctly is key to understanding inherent post-merger challenges. With our deep understanding of human dynamics and a strong track record in merger integrations, partnering with us equips you for fulsome decision-making.
Due Diligence People & Culture/HR
Get the necessary insights into the people-aspects of your deal, helping understand inherent risk areas, identify opportunities, and evaluate cultural integration potential for informed decisions.
We offer expertise in the following areas: Policy and Compliance Assessments, Workforce Analysis, Teammate Compensation and Benefits, Organizational Structural Design, Strategic Fit & Cultural Assessments, and P&C/HR Technology & Systems. This expertise ensures your team is set up to make informed decisions.
Key deliverables include a P&C/HR Due Diligence Report and Presentation Deck, providing comprehensive insights on key findings, recommendations, and considerations for action plans suitable for internal discussions.
There’s also the possibility to extend beyond Due Diligence, offering support and guidance during the post-merger/acquisition people integration phase. This enables you to implement the recommended strategies, policies, and practices successfully, with the teammate experience in mind.
Coaching to the Transaction
Using our ‘coaching the organization’ strategy, we approach workforce integration complexities with a holistic perspective. After all, it’s people coming together in a new context, with all parts of the organization being important.
We design integration strategies informed by workforce assessments and analyses, taking into account each unique context, culture, and strategic vision, with the health of the organization and its teammates at the forefront of our considerations.
Valuing the importance of transparency and trust, we offer our expertise in change management and strategic communications to address areas of ambiguity, aiming to create shared understanding and alignment during times of rapid change.
We equip leadership and managers with the skills, resources, and support necessary to guide their teams through the integration process successfully, with a focus on emotional awareness, communication, and navigating challenges or unfamiliar experiences.
Considerations for teammate retention and orientation, cultural integration, feedback forums, and frameworks are all part of our service. With Nikoleta & Associates as a strategic partner in your corner, our objective is to ensure a successful and sustainable integration.
Strategic Project Management Office
Integrate everything and everyone with detailed guidance. We handle planning and alignment activities, fostering a smooth transition while keeping key stakeholders informed.
Achieve strategic alignment through enhanced communication and collaboration, building a shared vision and understanding with P&C/HR M&A strategies that align with organizational goals.
Establish a roadmap for the M&A process, highlighting key milestones, deliverables, and success criteria. This roadmap is managed through centralized data rooms and streamlined processes.
Facilitate progress tracking and project optimization. Monitoring is shared through signature frames and dashboards based on expertise, industry knowledge, and best practices.
Founder Coaching (Scaling, etc.)
Nuances that are important from the founding leaders’ perspective are often lost in the pursuit of the deal. We allocate time early in our discovery process to better understand what needs special attention.
Building coaching capability for leaders to ensure value creation is actualized through clearly communicated narratives. This enables them to effectively lead their teams throughout the M&A process.
Ensuring the teammate experience is considered by encouraging two-way communication, information sharing, and updates, along with opportunities for feedback.
Bridging silos and connecting dots cross-functionally to reach all teams involved, whether they are from different settings, have different backgrounds, or different styles of operating. Our goal is to create a collaborative, trusting environment during a time of transformation.
Leadership of Transaction Teams
Facilitate alignment for all those involved, designed for mutual benefit, a shared vision, and successful project completion with all parties included, present, and accountable.
Ensure that projects are successfully completed with all involved parties included, present, and accountable. This is achieved by enabling skill-building, facilitating knowledge sharing, and providing capacity throughout all stages of an M&A deal.
Synthesize information with elegance and simplicity for presentation back to those involved. This is done through the use of storytelling, design thinking, and communication of bigger picture goals and ambitions.
Design strategic pause points for opportunities to collectively reflect, ideate, and contemplate rationales and next steps. This is facilitated by our comprehensive and contextually relevant guiding frameworks.