A Happy Merger

Last post dealt with a merger process between the company I work for and a small company in Canada.
Specifically, we talked about expanding the scope to include not only infirmation but also a section dealing with change.
This was the session structure:
Opening  unit (~ 50 min.):

• 30 seconds elevator speech on my company, the acquiring company.  It actually took 15 minutes, or so.
• My company's history, presented via the main strategic decisions taken over the years, with a focus and a elaboration on previous acquisitions.

Workshop part 1 (~30-40 min.):

• The audience is divided into 3 groups, each led by a facilitator.  A bunch of pictures is spread on the table around which the group is sitting.  The pictures show faces, landscapes, abstracts, and reflect a variety of moods.  Each person chooses a picture that best represents the concept of CHNAGE, as  the person understands it or experienced it.
  Now we ask the participants to tell the reason for choosing the picture.
• The summary presented a model showing 4 approache to deal with undesired change, a change not initiated by the impacted person.

Informational  unit part 2 (~1:15 hours):

• This part provided more information on the acquiring company: its business, competitors, products and services and the organizational structure (about 1 hour)

Workshop part 2 (~30 min.):

• In this closing part of the entire session, we asked the participants to write on a card what is their biggest CONCERN, and OPPORTUNITY they see in the acquisition.
  We collected and shuffled the cards, and handed them out again, randomly.  We asked the people to write down a recommendation, per CONCERN, on how to go about dealing with the concern.

The total session's duration is about 4 hours, including a break.

Next post will deal with the immediate and medium range feedback.

Yours,
Amir Karmin