For CHROs and leaders navigating M&A, one question consistently rises to the top: Who is the critical talent, and how do you protect deal value while retaining them?
Our second webinar this week featured HR M&A practitioners who shared practical approaches members can apply to their own transactions.
|
|
Look past the C-suite. Briana Graydon cautioned against equating “critical talent” with executives alone. In many deals, the real value drivers are those that hold knowledge—often in middle management. She engages business development and technical diligence teams early, before due diligence starts, to identify who is driving the business.
Segmenting talent pools. Perry Papantonis described the three-tiered approach he uses to segment talent across the workforce:
-
Enterprise-critical employees who receive full financial and non-financial retention benefits
-
Knowledge and functional talent, addressed through who gets a differentiated retention approach
-
A “nice to have” group, needed only through a short transition period
Assess talent quickly under pressure. With compressed deal timelines, Jayne Binzer said she combines structured tools with direct observation to gauge flight risk:
-
Functional and cultural assessments to read decision-making, governance, and sentiment
-
Deal-team scorecards to evaluate counterparts at the target company
-
On-site observations to surface details that shape the deal thesis
Culture as a value driver. A culture assessment helps shape the integration plan so leaders understand what to prioritize. Engagement surveys, employee handbooks, and benefits packaging all offer helpful insights.
Briana offered an example of how culture ties back into the deal strategy: a weak back office may be a strong candidate for fast integration, while stronger functions stay untouched longer.
Stay tuned for our next installment in this M&A webinar series, which will cover integration strategy and total rewards design.
