Christy Soukhamneut

Never underestimate the power of saying good job. People like clear guidelines and want to know when they have met or exceeded your expectations. If the person to whom you delegated a task doesn't report to you, be sure to send a note to their boss and copy them noting what they have done well. Also ask to give feedback for this employee's annual or other period performance reviews. Specific examples are best.

When choosing the right person, ensure that this person has the necessary skills to perform the task, has the capacity to do the task, and is properly incented to perform this work with high quality. Ensure that you are clear in your expectations of how the work is to be performed and check-in regularly to keep alignment between you and the person to whom you have delegated the task.

Identify what tasks "only you" can do. Be ruthless here. Once you have the list of items that could be done by others, prioritize those tasks. Take the low risk (likely non-customer facing) tasks and look to delegate those items.

All good and necessary steps. Make sure that the KPI’s you select actually evaluate what you want to measure and there is agreement on the meaning of the terms and how data is captured and evaluated. Ensuring data is readily available is also a necessary step. There have been times an ideal KPI gets scrapped because the measurement data isn’t easily accessible. Too often, the KPIs selected don’t truly represent the key factors contributing to success and get changed out during the process. Be willing to be flexible as you learn during the process.

Culture is a key fundamental that should be evaluated prior to a merger agreement. The finer details of culture cannot always be worked through ahead of time. Major items should be addressed in advance, but are often left out in favor of the numbers and product fit. Be the voice in the room that ensures this piece isn’t an afterthought.

With a merger, there is often a loss of focus. This can lead to significant derailment in meeting customer expectations resulting in loss of income, client loyalty, and future business. Dedicating resources to the merger and having a plan to prioritizes customers is key to creating a successful endeavor.