Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential, joins us to discuss the best practices in merging companies together. Chris reviews how he navigated the initial integration phase, post-integration, and developing a successful company culture.
Today Chris Downie, CEO of Flexential, joins us to discuss the best practices in merging companies together. He provides insight into the checks and balances of company mergers and shares his experience forming Flexential from two legacy companies.
Click here for the podcast version of this interview.
Segment 1: The Collision of Companies into a Singular Entity
- The impact of an integration office on a seamless execution. minute 4:13
- Having clarity of leadership to support your integration. minute 7:32
- When to transition out of the integration office. minute 8:34
Skip to minute 6:47 to hear how Chris leverages his leaders to drive execution:
“We really took a best athlete approach to identifying the leaders that were going to be successful in the new world order… one of the things I’ve recognized in all the integrations I’ve worked on is that while certain people are good, or very good, at what they do, they might not necessarily be able to scale. So, they might be a great individual contributor or small team leader, but when you’re talking about national scale you need to think differently about how you engage with your employees, your vendors, your opportunities.”
Segment 2: Leading Post-Integration Initiatives
- Positioning your new brand. minute 10:35
- Retiring the old brands in order to highlight your new venture. minute 14:06
- Activating a new brand through social platforms. minute 15:57
Skip to minute 12:13 to hear Chris talk about the process his team took to define Flexential’s identity:
“We really had the opportunity to set upon a path where our name would reflect really our core values, as well as what’s important not only to our employees but to our customers and prospects… we spent probably four months doing that research and coming to different iterations of the analysis and figuring out what those attributes and traits were.”
Segment 3: Activating a New Culture
- Building a new company culture out of a merger. minute 20:19
- How Flexential created a campaign to promote living their company values. minute 23:19
Skip to minute 21:44 to hear how Chris applies his company values.
“Leadership is a great way to infuse communications on the culture front as well. I think we don’t necessarily have specific people in charge of being the culture advocates… we let the employees engage with things that are important to them as it relates to culture.”
