Our reader poll today asks: Have you ever been through a merger/acquisition process during your career?

• Yes, I’ve had my company be acquired by another: 45%
• Yes, I’ve been at a company that acquired another one: 35%
• No, I’ve never been involved in one of those situations: 19%

Merger challenges. 80% of you have been involved in mergers either as the buyer or the bought. They’re extremely challenging and stressful situations. One of the most challenging aspects of any merger is managing the culture combination. Processes, technology, products, operations, financials… those are all relatively straightforward to sort out. The big leadership challenge is creating one new culture from the two that came together. Failure to do so creates great risk for the organization and can definitely adversely affect the merger’s outcome. As a leader, stay focused on cultural issues. Pay attention to brewing culture conflicts and get in front of them. Define the culture you want to build and find every opportunity you can to reinforce it. Pointing out actions that are or are not consistent with the desired culture helps people understand what you’re building toward. Your team can handle the operating details – they need you focused on combining two cultures into one successful one.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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Our reader poll today asks: How effective are the leaders in your organization at coaching their team members?

• Extremely — They’re great coaches. 1.6%
• Very — They do a solid job of coaching. 11.9%
• Somewhat — Their coaching skills could use some improvement. 36%
• Not very — They rarely coach and when they do, they’re not effective. 30%
• Not at all — They have no idea what coaching is. 20.4%

Development requires coaching. It’s pretty scary to see 86% of you responding that your leaders need better coaching skills and that 50% are pretty bad at it. A leaders’ job is to build the next generation of leaders. If you can’t coach your people, it’s pretty hard to help them develop their skills. Take a hard look at your own coaching skills and those of the leaders working for you. Do you need to improve those skills? What are you doing about it? When are you going to do it? Hold yourself accountable to improving in this arena. Read a book. Take a course. Find a mentor who is a great coach and ask them to help you build your coaching skills. The sooner you start building your coaching skills, the sooner your people will get the leadership and development they need from you. You owe it to them to improve your abilities in this arena.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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Our reader poll today asks: What is your greatest fear when giving team members a task they’ve not done before?

• They’ll mess it up and I’ll have to fix it.  20.4%
• They’ll need too much of my time and guidance. 21.3%
• They’ll get frustrated and morale will drop. 12.2%
• They’ll be wildly successful and outshine me. 3.8%
• I am fearless. This is how they learn. 42.2%

Fear versus no fear. You folks are pretty evenly split as to whether you’re afraid of your team members making mistakes and either having to fix them or invest too much time in helping them versus having no fear at all. For the former group, this is how your people learn. Start with giving less risky projects and tasks. Build extra time into timelines to allow for slower work. Focus on the fact that you’re building their skills instead of focusing too much on task perfection. For those of you with no fear, ask if you’re pushing your team members enough. Maybe the reason you’re not afraid is you’re not stretching them enough and actually taking a risk on their development. To find out if that’s the case, ask them what they’re prepared to take on. If their request makes you a little uneasy, then you know you’re operating in growth territory.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

Did you enjoy this post?  If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog.  It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!).  SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

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