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In today’s business landscape, mergers and acquisitions are common. But while the technical aspects of integration – contracts, systems, org charts – move swiftly, the human side of the merger often lags behind.

And that’s where things quietly fall apart.

My team and I have coached leadership teams navigating post-merger integration across industries – from financial services to media and manufacturing.

The pattern is alarmingly consistent: a successful merger on paper, and a disconnected leadership team in practice.

5 Hidden Challenges that Derail Newly Merged Senior Leadership Teams: and What You Can Do About Them:

1. Role Clarity Vanishes Overnight

“I suddenly had 11 direct reports and no roadmap.”

That’s what one executive told me after their team doubled in size post-merger. No one had taken the time to redefine roles or decision-making lines. The result? Duplicated efforts, growing frustration, and stalled progress.

• What helped: We restructured the team, reduced reporting lines, and clarified authority – all while building a succession plan and creating development opportunities for emerging leaders.

2. Culture Clashes Are Avoided, Not Addressed

One organisation tried merging a fast-moving, entrepreneurial brand with a legacy culture steeped in process and hierarchy.

“Each part of the business kept its own ‘personality’,” the Group CEO admitted. “We didn’t know how to blend them.”

• What helped: Identifying cultural ‘tradition holders’ and ‘catalysts’ across the businesses, and designing deliberate partnerships across difference, rather than expecting assimilation.

3. Communication Breaks Down Beneath the Surface

“We nodded in agreement… then realised we’d interpreted everything differently.”

That’s how a senior leader described post-merger team meetings. Different communication norms meant alignment was surface-level at best.

• What helped: We built shared language and structured feedback loops to create mutual understanding – not just mutual agreement.

4. Leadership Styles Collide

One pairing I coached involved two brilliant execs: one methodical and risk-averse, the other instinctive and visionary. They couldn’t stop clashing.

Until we reframed it.

• What helped: We designed their working relationship to be deliberately complementary – one generating energy, the other grounding it. Co-leadership became a strength, not a threat.

5. Identity Gets Lost in the Transition

“Am I still who I was?”

After a merger, people often feel invisible in the new system. One star from a creative agency said, “I used to feel seen. Now I’m just another cog.”

• What helped: We created storytelling spaces to honour both legacies while crafting a compelling shared narrative. Belonging returned.

Merged Doesn’t Mean Aligned

Successful integration doesn’t stop at legal agreements. It’s emotional. Relational. Cultural.

In our Senior Leadership Team Accelerator – designed specifically for merged or restructured leadership teams, we develop tired, new or downright dysfunctional teams to:

• Realign around purpose, power and people
• Rebuild trust across historic lines
• Reconnect leaders to their roles, each other, and the future

Over to You

If you’ve been through a merger, what was the toughest leadership challenge no one prepared you for?

Heading into a merger – or just come through one? Don’t wait for alignment to sort itself out.

Because the real integration? Starts (and often stalls) at the top.