The Merger & Acquisition Leader's Playbook

CHAPTER 25Announcement Cascade: Emotional, Direct, Indirect

The fourth component of the change management playbook is the announcement. The announcement of a merger or acquisition will impact different people differently. Some will be emotionally impacted. Some will be directly impacted. Some will be indirectly impacted. Some will be less impacted. Manage how they hear the news differently while making sure to answer the only question anyone will have: “How does this affect me?”

Internal and External Stakeholders

Start by identifying all the stakeholders impacted by your announcement and how they are going to feel about the announcement. Classify them as emotionally, directly, indirectly, or less impacted based on how much the announcement affects them or people with whom they are close.

Emotionally impacted: People being moved out of a job or are at risk of that, who have allies or friends being moved out of a job or are at risk, see someone else getting or potentially getting a role they might have wanted, or see this transition as particularly important to their own success are all likely to be emotionally impacted by the announcement. It's useful to tell these people one-on-one, giving them a chance to vent their emotions without being embarrassed in front of others.

Directly impacted: People working directly with new leaders or going to be working directly with new ...