My “two edged sword” cuts both ways!
By definition, “transition” into a new career/job/position/business, etc., has two sides … the candidate and the owner/principle/executive of the new entity, unless you’re an entrepreneur and starting your own company, and even there you’ll be involved with others.
A “case study” may be the best way to introduce all the “issues” involved in “transition.” Mr. Jones, the owner of an established engineering firm and its Founder have been working with a highly regarded “business broker” to sell his firm and retire after 33 years of high quality “engineering.” Suddenly, in what seemed like and abrupt “change of heart” Mr. Jones announced that he was going to “merge” with another engineering firm – instead of retire. He contacted one of my friends who is also certified to administer and de-brief the Innermetrix Business Diagnostic Profiles (with powerful Personal Development Insights) namely the Attribute, DISC and Values Indexes.
Mr. Jones felt something was missing in the analysis being provided by the business broker, but couldn’t put his finger on it? The combined entity would have over 23 people … 11 from his company and 12 from the new firm. Both companies compete within the same field of practice and hold each other in high esteem. Mr. Jones employees are significantly older with the average age being 47; the new firm’s average age is in their late 30’s.
Here’s what my friend shared with Mr. Jones. In our circles we’ve been told by those on the “inside” of the M&A industry [Mergers & Acquisitions] that statistically 80% of M&A’s fail to generate new revenue. Of this 80% – 50% actually experience a reduction in revenue. [Consider this: what if you visited with a renowned surgeon and he told you most of the time this procedure won’t work and in a big percentage of cases you’ll actually be worse off – do you pay the big bucks and “go for it”?] Business brokers are “masters” at evaluating the tangibles – spread sheets, profit & loss statements, balance sheets, assets, cash flows, etc – they do exhaustive “due-diligence.” The intangibles are another story. Typically, the principles of the two concerns sit down and interview the key candidates for strategic positions, review educational pedigrees, past performance, discuss future plans and dreams, talk with them for an hour or two, perhaps hold a series of such interviews with other executives and come away with, “I’ve got a good feel about so and so, I like him or her, I think they’ll do fine.” [Not to be too sarcastic, licking our index finger and extending it into the air to determine which way the wind blows – might be as effective] We know for a certainty, that past performance is not a reliable statistical indicator of future performance. The largest “elephant in the room,” is the intangible “Human factors” involved with these M&A’s. As good as the “due-diligence” is in getting a “quantitative” look at the “tangibles” the “intangibles” are not so good [I’m trying to be positive here- but in reality the “intangible vetting process is typically poor]
Mr. Jones I can provide you and your executive team with a “quantifiable” battery of diagnostic profiles that will give you “insight” into the people – your people and their people. Would this be of interest to you? Information that is provided by them and in many cases information they aren’t aware of themselves about themselves!
Mr. Jones these Diagnostic profiles have been taken by 100’s of thousands of people across all disciplines for many … many years and we’re told by the candidates themselves that the info is “spot on.”
Here’s the proposal in a nut shell: Mr. Jones I can help you understand who these people are, how they think, what their values are, how they make decisions … and I can give you an understanding of what that will be like by stating, that otherwise you’d need to typically have 6-12 months of direct interaction with them to see how they really are in those areas of concern and I can give you 90% of that information [real insight into who they are] in a couple of hours! It’s like a having a 6 month glimpse into the future in a few hours.
If you don’t find “value” in this information you don’t have to pay me, I’ll charge only my costs for the diagnostic instruments.
Here’s a quick recap of what you’ll get:
- Mr. Jones gets AI/DI/VI insights to quantify his companies “culture”
- Mr. Jones gets this same insight on the other companies people
- All parties now have insights to improve working together as a Team
The process in now in play, data is being gathered; Mr. Jones agreed to hire my friend. Mr. Jones will be able to state, “this is what I know,” as opposed to, “this is what I think,” regarding the people they’re about to “merge with” as well have a clearer view of himself and his people.
I’ll follow up with the progress of this case study in future posts, in the mean time, should you have any questions on this topic or others we’ve posted please contact me by email or perusing my web site www.rezultsgroup.com
