Six Lessons in Effective Credit Union Merger Communications

By Bobby Dhillon

Consolidation, mergers, acquisitions – we’re seeing and hearing a lot of this in the financial services world. Every industry has their cycles and right now, for financial services, particularly credit unions, it’s the time for mergers and acquisitions. 

I’ve been directly involved in a handful of credit union mergers over the past five years. All five were approved by membership vote. While clear and effective communication isn’t the only strategy to a yes vote, it certainly is one of the key elements. 

While every merger has its nuances, I quickly learned that when it comes to effective communication, there are some clear patterns – what to do and what not to do. If you’re involved in, about to be involved in merger communications, or if you’re a communication nerd like me, keep reading.

(1) Create a Partnership

Whether it’s a merger of two, three or more, all credit unions offer value. In my experience, it’s not the most effective when one credit union drives all the communication and strives to make all the decisions. Whether it’s the acquiring or the acquired, each credit union partner brings valuable insights about their culture, membership and market that should be considered in communications – from tone of voice, to tactics, to timing. What works at one credit union might not be the best approach at the other. At the same time, be open to try new things. Do some A/B testing and see what really resonates. 

Quick tips: 

• Create a Merger Communications Team and set regular meetings to connect, regroup and confirm next steps  
• Take the time to hear and sincerely consider each perspective 
• Make suggestions versus telling. Starting with, “in my experience,” feels better than, “we tried that, that doesn’t work, do this instead”

(2) Plan to Update the Plan

Every good project starts with a solid communications plan to guide the team and to ensure everyone is on the same page. A few things to include in this plan – agreed upon communication principles, tone of voice, high-level project phases, an approval process – just to name a few. 

Remember though, a plan is only as good as the moment it’s created. Things change – a lot and often – especially during potential mergers. Don’t be married to the plan you lovingly created three months ago, or even two weeks ago. The plan needs to flow and adapt based on sentiment – both employee and customer sentiment. 

Quick tips: 

• No plan is ever final – don’t be married to it and don’t take changes personally 
• Don’t spend months trying to perfect a plan – draft and keep iterating  
• Be open to try new things – don’t get hung up on how you’ve always done it

(3) Measure and Act on Sentiment

Speaking of sentiment, it’s a good idea to know what your key audiences are thinking. How do employees feel, especially after a merger update? How does employee sentiment differ between employee groups? What could be behind this? The same goes for customers – what are they thinking? How do they feel? Afterall, in the credit union world, members have the power to move the merger forward or stop it in its tracks with their vote. 

Don’t just measure sentiment because it sounds like a good thing to do. One way to negatively impact engagement is to measure sentiment and not act on the findings. 

Whether it’s members or employees, they take the time to provide valuable feedback – that was asked for – and it gets shelved. This is especially frustrating for employees who are not only living the uncertainty of the merger, but are also fielding member comments, questions and feedback. I found that at a minimum, it’s important to provide a high level overview of the findings and share next steps. 

Quick tips: 

• Include measuring sentiment as part of the plan from the get-go – schedule in regular check-ins with employees and members
• Don’t measure sentiment if you don’t plan to learn from it 
• Have an “always on” way for employees and members to provide feedback – keep the two-way communication open

(4) Create Consistent Key Messages for Leadership

For every communication, have your top key messages and ensure leadership is aware of and behind them. If needed, work with specific team leads to support the message for their department. Consistency is key. In times of uncertainty, it’s amazing how quickly a slight change in messaging from one group to the next spreads and from this, uncertainty grows, and sadly, so do conspiracies. One group can easily feel left out because they believe they didn’t get the inside scoop, when in reality, there was no scoop.  

Quick tips: 

• Three to five key messages usually do the trick 
• Keep the messages as general as possible, giving managers the flexibility to use their own voice, but not so much flexibility that the message is at risk of being altered 
• Give leaders time to review and prepare for delivery – not every leader is a master storyteller who only needs five minutes of prep time

(5) Communicate, Communicate, Communicate 

Mergers are high stakes – there’s a lot of time and effort involved and there’s a lot riding on them. Naturally, this makes some people nervous. The Board and CEOs want reassurance that, as the lead communicator, you have everything under control. They are coming from a good place, and they’re not in the day-to-day communications, so they might forget what’s been done, and what’s in the pipeline. 

I found it effective to schedule a regular update with key decision makers. Remind them of what’s been done from a communications perspective in the last two weeks, along with any outcomes and learnings. Then share what’s planned for the next two weeks, along with adjustments that have been made based on learnings from the last two weeks. Bottom line – reassure them that you’ve got this. 

Quick tips:

• Schedule regular updates with key decision makers – share what’s been done and what’s to come 
• Don’t be biased – ideas can come from anyone – after all, we all communicate on a daily basis. It doesn’t mean you have to implement all ideas, but take the time to listen and hear different perspectives 
• Remember, most people aren’t as focused on communication as you – give them some grace if they need some reminding

(6) Have fun!

Last but not least, have some fun. While mergers are serious, and there will be a lot of communications demands, take it one day at a time and have a few laughs in between. Schedule in fun activities that can be shared across all credit unions, like silly sock day or share your pet photos day – you get the drift. Get to know each other – not just the credit union, but the people. Sounds simple but it goes a long way.

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