The Point: Transparency is the buzzword of leadership gurus du jour… But rather than being just another of the leadership programs of the month, I challenged a client to think of the benefits that leadership transparency brings to the leader/their organization. After all, the success of the company is greatly dependent on the commitment and motivation levels therein. This is especially true in organizations going through Mergers and Acquisitions. So in this post, we’ll attempt to answer “Is Leadership Transparency the Key to Success?” along with 6 Tips… Enjoy!
Leadership Transparency
The leadership transparency could be defined succinctly as communicating, mobilizing, sharing and delegating.
Consider that leaders have clients within the company: their collaborators on one-side and their co-leaders on the other.
- To their hierarchical superiors/peers, they deliver performance.
- To their collaborators, they provide strategic vision and support to achieve their goals.
- To maximize the motivation of the clients, it is necessary to optimize the leadership transparency.
From the Mergers and Acquisition Leader’s perspective, these transparency moments almost entirely involve the leading/managing of people. Having great ideas and a strategic vision will not take you very far if your employees are not willing to follow you. I’ve often said that if no one is following you, are you really a leader?
Here then are 6 Tips presented as basic factors for leadership transparency success:
Tip #6 – Strategic Vision
Passion and a great business idea are not enough to succeed in business, especially during mergers and acquisitions. Your business needs a leadership strategy. Plan where you want to get it in five years and how you will do it.
Tip #5 – Identify and Retain Top Talent
The success of your business reflects the people who work there. The great leaders who have created successful businesses have in common the fact that they have surrounded themselves with talented, courageous and loyal employees. After recruiting them, invest in their development by providing them with training and coaching. Leadership transparency is seen as a service that builds a successful business.
Tip #4 – Delegation
Leaders in Mergers and Acquisitions, by nature, have a thought pattern when it comes to their business that they are convinced that no one can do better than them. Those who succeed are those who recognize leadership transparency moments, in that they are unable to fulfill the duties of President and/or C-Suite Leader by themselves. They share, delegate and reinforce the autonomy of their teams.
Tip #3 – Leading by Example
Be honest and ethical in everything. Have strong values. Set the tone. By all means lead the way by example!
Tip #2 – Ask for advice
Even if you know your industry well, mergers and acquisitions challenges change transformations in business so fast that even the most skilled leaders get bogged down in the details. Develop the leadership transparency to know the best transparent result, which sometimes comes from others through asking for their input/perspective. Unfortunately, most leaders during M&A are afraid to ask!?!
Tip #1 – Develop Tomorrows Leaders Today!
Leadership transparency should start at the top of the business, but leaders do not necessarily come from positions of power/title. Leadership mentality come from all levels of an organization. M&A activity almost forces leaders to Identify those future leaders and help them develop their leadership skills through training/coaching/mentoring/etc.
SUMMARY
In this post, we’ve explored the Mergers and Acquisition topic of “Is Leadership Transparency the Key to Success?” along with providing 6 Tips! If leadership transparency could be identified as the root cause of M&A success and/or failure, then a transparent leadership strategy could make for a successful path forward.
Sam Palazzolo
PS – If you or your organization are challenged as a result of M&A activity, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line and request future post titles! Here are a few of the other M&A titles previously published/in the works:
– Will Your M&A be a Success of Failure?
– The Importance of a M&A Strategic Plan – 3 Tips!
– Mergers & Acquisitions – Six Diversification Questions
– How to Successfully Survive Mergers & Acquisitions
– M&A: Creating Shareholder Value
– M&A: Should You Go For Stock or Cash?