[Matei Alexandru]

I would appreciate some thoughts on how to best approach an integration where the business case and role overlaps do not support keeping intact both teams and where some level of staff reduction appears to be needed. What are some of the key planning and communication points to ensure that departure of key talent from both sides is prevented and the resulting team remains motivated?

[David Desmet]

Always difficult when headcount reduction is involved. Some thoughts:
– try to identify key persons upfront
– think of actions how to keep them onboard
– these actions could be financial (incentive, depending on integration success, only paid when still onboard after X months,…) or non financial (certain position, etc.)
– I think 1 on 1 sessions might be helpful for this, also to understand how they are in the process
– Maybe they think/know already that they will leave, always better to know this asap so you can detail out a plan B

I would implement the above mentioned actions in parallel with the start of the “official process and procedure”, where you draft Target Operating Models, define Org Charts, etc, but already having a view on the listed bullets above should give more comfort

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