Navigating Uncertainty in the Face of Mergers and Acquisitions
“The ways of the Lord are not easy, but we were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness” (Pope Benedict XVI).
Company acquisitions are a funny thing—not “funny” in the comical sense but in the way that they have the tendency to toss your world upside down in the blink of an eye.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you. From my experience, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are not easy. Not for the selling party nor the buying party. Not for the leadership teams. And certainly not for the employees. While members of both parties might feel shaken upon first hearing about an upcoming M&A, the news is typically more troublesome and worrisome for the team being acquired and merged into the new company.
What might you expect when your company announces its acquisition by another company? Let’s explore.
Acquisition Is Traumatic
There’s no way around it: Being acquired is scary. It’s scary for the team member who felt at home and successful at work, in the groove of delivering a job well done alongside colleagues they enjoyed working with. It’s scary for the managers with direct reports, nervous about what might happen to their department and about what is to come as they merge into teams from a different entity. Finally, it’s scary for the chief executive, who put their heart into building a business and growing a team around a common purpose and who feels responsible for the livelihood of each of their employees.
The Feelings
Some of the common feelings swirling around, regardless of the role and the title held, might be:
Worry
Fear
Anxiety
Disappointment
Bewilderment
Suspicion
Distrust
Lack of confidence
You might wonder if there will be a place for you or if you’ll be let go. You might question why the executives made this decision in the first place and how you never saw it coming. You might worry about the other team and if your role and responsibilities will change for the better or worse. All these questions are normal.
The Logistics
Another element of an acquisition is workplace logistics. Will your pay remain the same? Will it increase or decrease? Will your office stay open? Will your role change to hybrid, on site, or remote? Will hours or benefits change, and how? What about your vacation days? Retirement? HSA? Wellness program? Tuition reimbursement? The list goes on and on.
The Team
You might experience concern around what the org chart will look like and whom you’ll report to, if you’ll gain or lose any direct reports, and if you’ll like your new boss. The responsibilities you have and the work you do has a 50/50 chance of changing. How? It’s impossible to predict, because each scenario is unique.
An Acquisition Is an Opportunity
Even in the face of all the mental and emotional unrest, acquisition presents an opportunity. Acquisition should offer an advantage. The larger, acquiring company might have more opportunities for advancement, bigger market opportunities, and new technologies.
Everything will be larger—the teams, the departments, the customer base … even the parties and events. Bigger companies mean bigger budgets, and you might experience a completely different and better kind of corporate work environment. There’s an opportunity for better benefits, increased pay, and higher roles. Even being part of the new company could be beneficial to you in your career from a brand recognition standpoint.
M&As Are Challenging to Both Parties
The truth is, acquisitions take two separate teams of people who grew a business and put them under the same entity to blend together, get along, and deliver success. It’s scary, but it’s also exciting. As faith-filled women, we can be compassionate and patient with the process and the people.
From the administration team to the CEO, no one is perfectly prepared for something as large as an acquisition. Expecting the transition to be flawless is not realistic. So, we’re presented with a choice in how we handle the situation: We can be despairing and negative, or we can be patient and positive.
Navigate With Faith and Grace
In the end, an acquisition offers us the opportunity to navigate a change in our life with faith and grace. If we truly believe that God is in control, that He wants the best for us, and that we are His beloved daughters, then we have to believe that it is an opportunity for us to grow. God is there, even if the company we love is being acquired and changing into something different, and the founder we admire will no longer be our president and CEO, and the team we’ve worked with through thick and thin will no longer be our immediate colleagues.
Acquisition offers a chance to trust and adapt. You could stay on for a little while or a long while at the new company. You could be let go and have to look elsewhere for a job. You could even decide that working for someone else is no longer what you feel called to and start your own company (I know more than a few people who took this path, including myself!).
Whatever presents itself to you, uncertainty is an opportunity to believe that God is good and life is wild. It’s up to us to do our work well (and maybe polish our resume) and be an example of integrity, humility, and servant leadership in our daily interactions. This behavior speaks more highly of us than our employer or our title.
Strap on your seatbelts; this lesson in resilience is going to be a bumpy ride!
Laura Pugliano is co-founder of Ciccio's Olives, an award-winning extra virgin olive oil produced by her in-laws in Calabria, Italy. She also launched Sprezza Creative Co, where she crafts elegant content for B2B businesses. Laura is a wife, mother, and an alumna of Franciscan University of Steubenville. Join her on X (Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn.