PRACTICE AREA

Mergers & Aquisitions

People + Culture Due Diligence

Get the necessary insights into the people-aspects of your deal and at the same time, facilitate alignment for all those involved, with all parties included, present, and accountable.

People are at the core of business; we don't do anything alone. 

During mergers and acquisitions, we’ve found that people integration and healthy human dynamics are often deprioritized in pursuit of the deal. This approach often ends up costing much more, both financially and otherwise, in the long run. It’s possible to attend to both aspects effectively.

Our sample report provides a high-level overview of the approach, process, and phases we typically follow in any people due diligence project. We also often customize it to meet your specific needs and requirements, whether it’s for a people, product, or channel acquisition strategy.

Areas of Focus

Elevate your growth blueprint with our comprehensive merger expertise.

In our phased approach, we focus on key areas: Compensation and Benefits, People & Culture, Operating Model/Organizational Design, and Labour Relations. Ensuring these HR processes are managed correctly is key to mitigating post-merger challenges. With our deep understanding of human dynamics and a strong track record in merger integrations, partnering with us equips you for ongoing success.

Pre

post

Strategic Alignment

Seamlessly align leadership teams to provide shared understanding of strategic objectives and vision, enabling effective decision-making.

Day One Readiness

Our approach leverages entity strengths for workforce blending, fostering collaboration, and establishing strong leadership.

P&C/HR & Talent
Insights

Identify and assess key talent, including skills, experience, and cultural fit, to position them for success in the post-M&A landscape.

Change Management
& Integration

Organization Design & Operating Models

Using best practices, we design agile structures and models promoting integrated workflows, clear roles, and effective communication for strategic objectives

Value Realization &
Vision Integration

Recognizing an organization's true value lies in its people, we identify synergies and create value in the M&A process, mindful of fostering connectivity and involving teammates beyond the deal

Cultural &
Attitudinal Synergy

We shape a dynamic, inclusive culture fostering collaboration and success by shaping cultural connections, cultivating shared values, and nurturing a sense of belonging.

Pre

Strategic Alignment

Seamlessly align leadership teams to provide shared understanding of strategic objectives and vision, enabling effective decision-making.

P&C/HR & Talent
Insights

Identify and assess key talent, including skills, experience, and cultural fit, to position them for success in the post-M&A landscape.

Value Realization &
Vision Integration

Recognizing an organization's true value lies in its people, we identify synergies and create value in the M&A process, mindful of fostering connectivity and involving teammates beyond the deal

Change Management
& Integration

post

Day One Readiness

Our approach leverages entity strengths for workforce blending, fostering collaboration, and establishing strong leadership.

Organization Design & Operating Models

Using best practices, we design agile structures and models promoting integrated workflows, clear roles, and effective communication for strategic objectives

Cultural &
Attitudinal Synergy

We shape a dynamic, inclusive culture fostering collaboration and success by shaping cultural connections, cultivating shared values, and nurturing a sense of belonging.

Our M&A Integration Services

Due Diligence People & Culture/HR

Get the necessary insights into the people-aspects of your deal, helping understand potential risk areas, identify opportunities, and evaluate cultural integration potential for informed decisions.

Service offering

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 human integration phase. This enables you to implement the recommended strategies, policies, and practices successfully, with the teammate experience in mind.

Human Integration

Using our 'coaching to the organization' strategy, we approach workforce integration complexities with a holistic perspective. After all, it's humans coming together in a new context, with all parts of the organization being important.

Service offering

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.

Service offering

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.

Service offering

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.

Service offering

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.