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After a merger, a senior vice president (SVP) of human resources contracted with Saltzman Consulting to design and facilitate meetings with his leadership team as well as with the entire international human resources department. The purpose was for people to get to know one another and to establish key strategic objectives reflecting the needs of the merged organizations.

Phyllis Saltzman initially met with the leadership team to identify and prioritize key human resource objectives. This process required significant negotiations, as each team member came to the session with the top priority objectives from the organizations they represented, which had to be integrated into a merged list of objectives. After this was accomplished, the list was prioritized into a manageable set of objectives for the department.

The first part of the meeting with all 40 members of the international human resources department focused on exercises for people to get to know one another. This was important as their interactions were primarily by telephone or email, and personal familiarity was highly valued. This segment of the meeting also included a presentation by the SVP about his leadership style, so everyone would have greater understanding of his expectations for the department. During the second part of the meeting, the priority list of department-wide objectives was verified and action plans were developed to achieve the objectives.

Results

Participants reported that these meetings contributed to increased departmental focus and effective communications; key processes established at these sessions became a standard way of operating for the department.