Case Study: Working Through A Merger Mairi Martin Executive Director (Resources) Riverside Group / Irvine Housing Association
Working Through A Merger
Working Through A Merger The Differences.. Riverside Group - 55,000 housing stock - 2,200 employees - Operate in England - English Housing Regulator - English Care Regulator Irvine Housing Association - 2,100 housing stock - 62 employees - Operate in Scotland - Scottish Housing Regulator - Scottish Care Regulator
Working Through A Merger The Similarities.. Both organisations want to grow A stronger foothold in Scotland Build more homes Invest in stock Gain efficiencies Make a difference Values match
Comparison IHA Values Customer Focus Equality and Diversity Efficiency Sustainability Innovation Valuing People Openness and Integrity Improving Quality Riverside Values Focusing on Customers Respecting Every Individual Maximising Value, Minimising Waste Challenging the Conventional Communicating Positively and Listening to Understand Working Together Going For It & Sticking With It
Communication Tips What worked well for this merger? - Project Board - Made up of key decision makers from both organisations - Two Project Leaders - One from each organisation - Communications Working Group - Huge success - Communication Plan - Very detailed and updated throughout project - Consultation Events over 50!
Communication Tips What worked well for this merger? - Business Plan agreed early - Defined culture first - Agreed Values quickly - Getting the right people to talk to each other - Dealing with the difficult issues quickly - Recording all issues and risks which let people know they were being listened to
Communication Tips What we would do differently next time? - Get the right people to meet as early in the process as possible - We only set the Communication Working Group up in Irvine not in Riverside - Lack of understanding between English and Scottish issues
It s good to talk. Communication Tips
Supporting and Engaging Employees
Supporting and Engaging Employees We recognised: - that the people who are going to bring the partnership together are our people - that how good the partnership will work from day one will be down to how we support and engage our people - we needed to increase the level and forums of communication and consultation
Supporting and Engaging Employees What did we do? - absolutely loads - Increased Staff Newsletters/Briefing Notes - Held quarterly briefing sessions - Regularly met with staff representative group - Identified for them: - What it meant (good and bad) - What the future would look like - How they would feel
Supporting and Engaging Employees
Supporting and Engaging Employees Give them control and trust: Staff raised the problems Staff looked at the options Staff found the solution
Supporting and Engaging Employees What could we have improved on: - Allowed more time for IT integration - Huge frustrations - Invested in coaching for Line Managers - Have a toolkit for mergers - Currently being developed
Supporting and Engaging Employees Here s a video from some of the Irvine staff about what it meant to merge with the Riverside organisation.
Supporting and Engaging Employees How did we get them to be so positive? - Be honest - Recognise its difficult - Appreciate what staff are going through - Defined structures early - Have some fun along the way
Supporting and Engaging Employees - Make promises and deliver them - Good communications - Have forums for them to ask questions - Log and address all issues raised - Keep the laughter going
Maintaining Performance
Maintaining Performance How do both organisations keep performing during this transitional process that can last years? How do both organisations come together to find mutual ground on maintaining key performance indicators?
Maintaining Performance We identified 21 business streams that laid out their performance both during and after the merger Each business stream had a leader We agreed what the key performance indicators were after the merger date We reviewed and updated our performance management framework
Maintaining Performance We broke integration down into two phases Phase 1 completion due by end of Dec 11 Phase 2 completion due by 1 April 12 We focused our staff conference on employee engagement to improve performance We were delighted with the results
Maintaining Performance The Best Companies results in the not for profit sector were: Riverside Group 88 th Irvine Housing Association 23 rd Phenomenal achievement given all the challenges facing both organisations pre merger
How did we succeed? We had: - Leadership from the top - Staff commitment - Staff determination - Decision makers - Excellent project team - Great communication