FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Executives Urged to Deal Immediately with Staff Anxieties from Corporate Takeovers to Improve Competitive Edge, Increase Profits
 
Dealing right away with staff worries is more important than ever in current “merger mania” climate, says Eitan Sharir


Vancouver, BC (July,  2007): Mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructuring are becoming increasingly commonplace among some of Canada’s largest companies, and they demand a lot of time and energy from the executives involved.  So it’s not surprising that the resulting effect of mergers and buy-outs on the lifeblood of the company – the employees – is often ignored.

Promises of increased productivity, synergies and improved profits can quickly fade away if staff is not on board with the game plan.  Major ownership changes tend to put things on hold for months at a time, can result in dramatic changes in policies and procedures, and often mean staff reductions.  Understandably, these ownership and management changes lead to staff anxieties that can get in the way of the very improvements that the acquisitions and mergers are trying to achieve. 

“Having the right corporate culture may seem like someone’s idea of an academic exercise, until the culture that everyone takes for granted is suddenly upended, and then everyone’s nervous,” says Eitan Sharir, President of Dynamic Achievement Group, which counsels major clients such as TELUS, London Drugs, Interior Savings Credit Union, Vancity, and Terasen on maximizing corporate and employee effectiveness. “The only true way to better bottom line performance in any merger is to step in right away and have merging teams come together as soon as possible, aim for the same goal, and pull in the same direction.”

“We brought four separate credit unions together through mergers in recent years,” says Barry Meckler, President and CEO of Interior Savings Credit Union, who has embraced Sharir’s advice.
“By bringing together our new players and new teams to help create a new culture at Interior Savings Credit Union, our employees became more engaged, customer service is better, and in terms of measurable results, our Member Satisfaction rating has risen from 91 per cent in 2004, to 94 per cent in 2005 and 96 per cent in 2006.”

Sharir notes that a 2005 survey of executives from Canada’s Top 100 companies (conducted by Waterstone Human Capital Ltd. and Canadian Business) found that the most successful Canadian organizations already understand their own culture well, and only hire and retain leaders that fit in and support that culture.  “These organizations recognize the importance of aligning all staff to a culture that proactively encourages conducive (would say either a “constructive environment”, or “environments conducive to yielding phenomenal results”, not both together) constructive environments that yield phenomenal results. The culture ingredient may seem ‘fuzzy’ to many managers, but often means the difference between a massive collision between two opposite forces in a merger and their seamless integration into a stronger, more productive unit.”

“Getting everyone from the executives right down to the shop floor involved, interested and happy to be working at what they do and all moving in one direction – as opposed to ‘just having a job’ - can mean outperforming your competitors in the good times, and survival over the others in a downturn,” Sharir adds.


About Dynamic Achievement

Dynamic Achievement is a leading superior performance and corporate development firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia. For the past 13 years they have been helping the world’s top corporations improve the results and quality of performance in every area of their business. Dynamic Achievement incorporates a unique methodology, philosophy and approach towards achieving results. They focus on the core levels of both the individual and the organization and, as a result, produce immediate, significant and long lasting success.

 

Media contact:
Eitan Sharir, President
Dynamic Achievement Group
Phone: (604) 926-6465
E-mail: eitan@dynamicachievement.com
www.dynamicachievement.com