Change is always challenging, regardless of its nature. Even positive changes like a new job, promotion, or moving to a new house can be difficult. This is especially true when the change is imposed rather than chosen, as in the case of an acquisition.
As an engineering manager, I recently experienced my first unexpected acquisition, onboarding a small team of developers I was leading into a much larger development team within a new organization. Although challenging and not without its difficulties, I was told it was a relatively smooth and successful integration. With just over a year since that fateful day when we learned of the acquisition, I thought it would be interesting to look back and consider what may have contributed to this success and what proved challenging.
What worked
Retaining team cohesion
It may seem obvious, but it’s crucial to remember that at the core of every team are people, each with their own ambitions, hopes, and fears. As a social species, we naturally seek strong relationships during challenging times—and the uncertainty of an acquisition is certainly one of those times. Keeping the structure and ways of working the same as before the acquisition greatly helped preserve the team dynamic, making for a smoother transition into the new organization. This doesn’t mean the team shouldn’t eventually be integrated; rather, it’s a question of timing, allowing individuals to adapt at their own pace.
An acquisition is a daunting and stressful experience, often unexpected and sometimes unwelcome. Retaining the established relationships among team members and working alongside colleagues likely going through the same emotional roller coaster was crucial to maintaining positive engagement. This approach provided team members with the best peer support network they could have during this challenging process.
Limiting the scope of changes
Considering that developers spend 60%-80% of their time coding or reviewing code alone, the core of a developer’s work remains largely the same from one organization to the next. Thus, keeping consistent processes around how work is groomed (design discussions, architectural reviews, discovery sessions, etc.) and delivered (planning, stand-ups, retrospectives, demos, etc.) helps limit the additional cognitive load required by the acquisition. This allows developers to focus on only the unavoidable changes, such as new organizational processes, colleagues, architecture, coding languages, libraries, and deployment practices.
Change is difficult, especially when unexpected. Reducing additional cognitive load and limiting unknowns can significantly ease the ramp-up period. Additionally, we were able to start with a project that was only lightly coupled with the existing codebase, which further reduced cognitive demands on the team.
Welcoming champions: bridging the gap
Another important factor that greatly aided our integration into the new organization was having multiple champions on the welcoming side. These champions not only helped us navigate the transition into the larger structure but, more importantly, ensured that the team felt valued and recognized within the new organization. Ideally, these champions should come from the top management as well as from various areas across the organization to reinforce the message that the acquired team is part of the larger team, not just a side project. They help bridge the gap between both teams and provide the space for the acquired team to demonstrate its capabilities and build credibility with the new team.
Incoming champions: leading the way
Equally important was having a few champions within the acquired team to lead the transition. As mentioned earlier, change is never easy; however, it can be more manageable for some individuals, who can then become champions for the team. These champions facilitate a smoother transition by removing roadblocks, finding answers, ensuring smooth touchpoints, building connections with the new team, extending the team’s network, and, most importantly, creating a vision for the team. From this vision, each individual can begin to see a path forward, emerging from the fog of uncertainty brought about by the acquisition, and start to build their own personal vision for a brighter future.
Creating a safe space
Last but certainly not least, I believe a key factor that helped the team transition was providing a safe space for everyone to express their fears, anxieties, and doubts, allowing them to realize they were not alone. Psychological safety is essential for creating a high-performing team, especially during an acquisition. Joining a new organization is unsettling under the best circumstances, and an acquisition brings even more uncertainty about the new organization’s plans for each person.
Want an inside look at how seamless post-acquisition integration really works?
Discover our vacancies!
We held short weekly meetings to discuss progress, offer support, and share insights that could help others with their transition—whether technical, administrative, or otherwise. This approach provided me with valuable insights to guide the team, offer support, and seek answers that would alleviate their concerns, enabling them to focus on their work and find satisfaction in these new opportunities.
Challenges faced
Knowledge gaps
Every time you join a new organization, there are new tools, processes, and best practices to learn. There’s a lot of information to understand, and you often don’t know what you don’t know. This challenge is amplified when trying to maintain the cohesion of the team to enhance the well-being of the acquired members. Typically, when you join a new organization, you become part of a team that provides support and scaffolding to help with integration. However, that support may not be available when keeping the team intact.
It’s essential to find ways to access the necessary information; curiosity and regular meetings—whether weekly or bi-weekly—with key people (champions) can facilitate this process. Initially, it might be best to keep the core acquired team separate to ensure cohesion, maintain team dynamics, and create a safe and familiar environment amid the whirlwind of change. Over time, however, it’s important to gradually integrate people from the new organization into the team, as well as to integrate acquired team members into other teams.
Resistance to change
Change is inherently difficult for some individuals, and many dislike disruption. Integrating a new team into a larger existing one can be both challenging and disruptive, leading to resistance on both sides. The acquired team must recognize that they face a steep learning curve; while they may not agree with everything, acceptance and a willingness to learn are essential. Conversely, the welcoming team should understand that the incoming team did not come from nowhere; they must have been competent to some extent to have been acquired.
The acquired team brings a new perspective and mindset that can spark innovative ideas within the welcoming team, helping to shake things up. Ideally, both the acquired team and their new colleagues should approach the transition with an open mind. While difficulties are inevitable and disruption is challenging, solutions and common ground can always be found, potentially fostering growth and learning for everyone involved. This is by far the biggest challenge.
Building trust
Trust is essential for effective collaboration, yet building trust can be challenging, especially when individuals join without going through the normal hiring process and bring their own ways of working. However, trust must flow both ways; the acquired team must also trust the new organization. Both sides need to believe that each party brings value to the table, that everyone—regardless of their team—is committed to doing their best work, and that issues will arise, and mistakes will happen; this is only human.
They must understand that merging two teams will take time, but eventually, there will be a single cohesive team. The key element here is time. Trust takes time to develop, but it will grow if everyone approaches the situation with good intentions and a positive attitude.
Embracing change as an opportunity
In the end, change is about people, and everyone is different, which compounds the difficulty. All we can do is try to remove some roadblocks and allow everyone to progressively adapt to the new reality. This transition involves closing significant knowledge gaps, managing instinctive resistance to change, and building trust.
We can help by keeping the previous team together before separating them, providing something for people to anchor themselves to during this challenging process. The unknown is intrinsically taxing on one’s well-being; gradually introducing change can alleviate some cognitive load during an already difficult period. Naturally, this support must come from somewhere, which is why it requires champions within both the acquired and welcoming teams. They are crucial to the success of any transformation, particularly one that is difficult and unexpected. Finally, creating a safe space where people can fully express themselves, feel heard, and stay connected is essential.
Change is an opportunity to learn, grow, and blossom. While it’s not easy, a little resilience can make the process smoother. Be open to the new reality, curious about new possibilities, and, above all, be human. Teams on both sides are, first and foremost, made up of people.
