There is more to successful merger than understanding a balance sheet.  It’s about egos, fears, expectations, synergies and cultures.  It’s about people and their emotions.  To have a successful merger, one just might need a refresher course in Psychology 101, or perhaps consult with a corporate therapist.   

Don’t laugh.  Anna Maravelas, founder of TheraRising (www.therarising.com) in Arden Hills, is a therapist who coaches executives on change, conflict resolution and team-building.  Companies in the midst of a merger or acquisition hire her to help staff cope with the change.  “Leaders and employees are going through the same emotional transitions of grief, anger, blame, fear and involvement,” says Maravelas.  “Often they call me late in the game, after they’ve already entered the blame stage.”

Although management speaks often about satisfying shareholder value, they also frequently express a humane concern for all people involved in a merger.  After all, “the whole people side in acquisition is incredibly important,” says Plato Learning Chief Financial Officer Greg Melson, who has seen the Bloomington company through the buying side of about five acquisitions since assuming his post almost three years ago.  “People are what make it work or don’t work.” 

More and more Minnesota mid-market companies are finding themselves faced with these “people” issues considering that the state has seen a 71 percent period-over-period spike to 106 in the number of under $250 million mid-market deals that closed between January and July this year, according to figures from FactSet Mergerstat.

In case your company may soon find itself traveling that road, here is a not-so-common look at the tactical, emotional choices executives make at various stages through the M&A process… 

The Democratic Way ~ Nearly the entire staff of MIDIRingTones sat munching popcorn in the company conference room as the owners broke the news that the almost 3-year-old maker of ring tones for cellular phones was in the early stag of entertaining buyout offers. 

“It was very important to us that we let the employees know what was going on from the very start,” says Sarah Fluegel, one of the three co-founders of this St. Paul mobile entertainment company.  “We worked for a company in the past that went through acquisition and the employees didn’t know anything about the acquisition until it was complete.  The culture changed overnight.  So we knew we would be upfront and honest from the day we started talking to prospective buyers.” 

Informing all employees from day one, and even delivering M&A status reports at the weekly staff meetings, is something Fluegel says she believes goes “against typical corporate guidelines,” but it is what worked for the then 17-employee company that was acquired earlier this year by AG Interactive, a division of American Greetings Corp.