09 July 2017

Mergers & Acquisitions: Achieving Trust Awareness...

Building relationships is a continuous process that requires an effective approach, mutual intent and clear understanding of the purpose.  Operational Risk Management is at the center of all kinds of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) activities.

Whether it is a mega-merger between Amazon and Whole Foods or even a planned meeting with a potential partner or client invested to discover the possibilities of working together;  you can improve the ratios of a positive outcome.

Developing new capabilities, launching a new solution or improving an existing line of business, requires a substantial investment in "Relationship Building."  A team of individuals with their respective areas of knowledge, subject matter expertise and mutual mission still require continuous hands on facilitation.

The building of relationships requires at the core, a persistent devotion to "Trust Awareness."  This means that you have to be conscientious about looking through your individual and organizational behaviors and messaging, that could in some way erode trust.  This trust awareness is the ability to detect anything that could diminish the possibility for the relationship to grow.

Building and growing trust with new partners, mentors, clients or customers requires an investment in time and resources to monitor, measure, document and adapt with change.  It requires a new level of transparency and focus on integrity.  Simultaneously, it means that you have to accept a new level of vulnerability.

Regardless of the logo on your business card or web site, the tag line of what you are about, or even the URL for your domain name, what are you doing today to build trust?  With your employees, co-workers, supply chain or channel partners.  What is the process and method you utilize to improve your trust awareness and to build stronger and lasting relationships?

Jeffrey Ritter says it best from his book "Achieving Digital Trust":
"Whether in government, in business, in classrooms, or at the dinner table, the ubiquitous presence of digital assets and devices enables us to do something radical—immediately seek out information that allows us to challenge and evaluate our trust in the decisions of others we are expected to follow. So, in addition to your own decision process being shaken, so too are the evaluations others make to trust your decisions. If you are a business leader, IT executive, information security manager, systems architect, elected public official, educator or stay-at-home parent, you have surely felt the discomfort.

As soon as you announce a decision, someone is thumb-typing on a device to find information to validate or contradict you. A few clicks and your questioner has acquired data that enables that person to question your decision process, view it differently, or weigh it with lesser confidence. Admit it, you surely have done the same when you are on the other side of the table, hearing the decisions, opinions, or guidance of others—a superior officer, a corporate manager, a business partner, a teacher, or even a spouse."
Building effective relationships between people in the digital age will certainly involve e-mail, iMessages, web sites and even Twitter.  How often do you read a persons name or see them perform before an audience and immediately do a "Google Search" or LinkedIn lookup?  What you see and read there, could influence you and how much you initially trust that person.

There are dozens of ways that due diligence is accomplished during any M&A activity including the asset inventory, testing and validation along with a forensic records review.  Yet in the initial days of the team coming together to identify, approach and cultivate a meaningful relationship with a new partner or buyer, the process is vital.  The methodology can mean your success ratio is improving, flat-lined or declining.

Step back and take a look at your relationship building capabilities.  Analyze why your success ratio is declining.  Understand the trust awareness factors that could be part of the answer to your achieving even greater digital trust.  The next step is to effectively identify and solve the problems that you will encounter as the M&A trends continue.

Building new relationships takes time and resources.  Yet, keeping those relationships effective and continuously growing "Trust Awareness" for years and decades requires even more.  Listening, learning and compassion...

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