Board or deal committee team: The top decision-making Negotiation team: These companies use negotiations as an group that approves the progress of the transaction or makes opportunity to go beyond “getting the deal done” and delve the decision to pull out of the deal (in the earlier phases), this deeper into the integration issues with the target’s leadership. group will focus on top priority goals and the people who will Information here will help both the buyer and seller teams be responsible for these goals. Examples are: prepare better for integration. ƒ Leadership goals: The process of determining and There is often an added twist here that relates to transactions selecting the right leaders and talent not just to run and and that is that concessions are often made just to get the deal grow the business, but also to lead the formal integration done. Deal negotiations here take a feel more akin to political team and efforts. give and take. Some of the seller’s leadership and talent may ƒ Synergy goals: Validating the synergies and identifying the be selected for future roles even if the initial thinking was that group of talent responsible for achieving these targets. they were not the best people for those roles. ƒ Value goals: Understanding the value of the business as a standalone entity and in the combination. And once recognized, identifying the group of talent responsible for achieving these goals in the combination. This is a real issue that we’ve had to deal with on more than one occasion. But in these cases, we have a strategy We have to focus on the business in place, in conjunction with our impact and address culture using the corporate HR colleagues. We have a terminology that we use across the heightened focus on the post-close business in deals for this group. This working relationship issues and on means showing how results from any coaching those leaders that are analysis directly supports a deal goal, deemed a concern.” issue or risk. It’s that simple. Our deal Integration leader, Human Resources committee (group that oversees all transactions) won’t entertain any work that does not meet these standards. ‘Nice to do’s’ can come later.” Corporate development leader, explaining how they work with their deal committee 8 willistowerswatson.com