The success of an M&A is in the leadership not the process, guest Rachel Treece, CEO fts global

In M&A people usually look at the data when looking to merge a couple of companies. What is often overlooked are the people. Specially about the cultural fit of two groups of people. It comes down to creating a performance focused environment that fits. During an M&A the focus is mostly on all the technical or the structural aspects of the M&A and the people are the last bit that one looks at. Yet people are the most critical part. There's one fundamental fact that we need to keep in mind. As human beings, we are resistant to change. The key here is that we tend to get into a routine and when that's disrupted we try to pull back to what it was like.To get around this what helps is having the leaders get into a coaching mode. Using positive psychology with teams and groups. This helps guide people to make those shifts that are needed as the companies merge or are acquired.It all comes down to making the people feel involved in the process as then when that feeling of involvement comes in then they tend to join it and the individual activities moves along smoothly.Getting into a company and finding out what the real culture is, is a key challenge in the M&A space. This ambiguity actually creates an advantage.In M&A everything is stated out in black and white. However when it comes to the people, it's ambiguous. It's how we, as people are, by nature. Understanding this helps create an advantage of knowing how best to create cultural fit.A successful M&A works due to the people and how they have been involved and managed.Rachel can be contacted either at:www.fts-global.comwww.henkainstitute.comwww.racheltreece.com