MARKETING AFRICA MAL 18/17 mal 18:17 online | Page 70

COACHING
MERGERS AND
EXECUTIVE
COACHING
By Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia
T
he world of business is
constantly changing. More
and more, one hears of
businesses fighting for survival.
Some are bought off, some are shut
down and some find themselves
being joined together under the
process of a merger. The very
word, merger sends shivers down
the spines of employees, customers
and even shareholders. So many
questions come up, so much
uncertainty and inevitable change.
Whereas businesses may opt to
merge purely to have a strategic
advantage in the market, there
could also be a scenario of
mergers occurring within various
departments in one organization.
Marketing practitioners will tell
you that one of the things that
impacts delivery of successful
marketing campaigns is the
organizational structure.
Internally, teams compete with
each other; this could be sales
teams handling different brands
attempting to outdo each other
or even clashes between sales and
marketing teams that result in poor
execution of plans. It could even
mean confusion for the customer,
where the positioning isn’t clear,
impacting brand equity of not only
‘‘ In a leadership coaching discussion,
the “coach helps leaders to develop
skills, emotional capacities, motivation
knowledge and expertise” that would then
allow the leader to build on self awareness
and appreciate their personal strengths,
weaknesses and learn more about what
they really want to achieve and most likely
understand their fears as well.’’
68 MAL 18/17 ISSUE
the brand but the corporate brand
as well.
This is sometimes resolved by
initiating an integration process,
a merger of sorts. The aim is to
have all teams pull together and
ensure that the customer views
the products and solutions as all
encompassing.
Roberta Hill et al in an article in
the Ivy Business Journal indicates
that there are several key things
that must be considered for a
successful merger to take place.
The authors point out that usually
mergers tend to focus on the
operational part of the business,
integrating the business and
financial systems. The process of
mergers often overlooks the human
aspect.
The authors point out that
communication is on a “need
to know basis” resulting in lack
of information, and confusion
about the next steps. This has the
potential to impact staff morale
and also slow down the current
operations of the organization.