Train Them Anyway: Why People Development Is Essential During M&A

What If You Train Them and They Leave?
What if you don’t—and they stay?

Moments of Disruption Are Moments of Opportunity
This classic dilemma comes into sharp focus during M&A activity. As organizations merge, restructure, or get acquired, uncertainty can spike and clarity can thin. Leaders often feel the need to “wait until things settle down” before investing in their people. But here’s the truth: your systems are never more pliable than in moments of disruption.

Rules Change—So Can Your Culture
During M&A, the rules get rewritten. New players step in. Decision rights shift. Culture cracks open. These are not just risks to be managed—they’re also opportunities to reshape the system for the better. And the most underleveraged move during these transitions? Leveling up your people.

Your Team Is Watching
Your team is watching you. Not just to see if they’ll have a job, but to see if this organization sees them. Will they be expected to absorb more without support? Or will they be invested in, developed, and trusted to help co-create what’s next?

Integration Is Human Work
Most M&A checklists focus on structure and finance. But integration happens in meetings, in handoffs, in how we navigate tension and uncertainty together. That’s human work. And it requires real skills: communication, feedback, coordination, resilience.

Build Skills on Purpose—Especially Now
You don’t build these muscles by accident. You build them on purpose—and especially when the terrain is shifting.

The Real Risk Is Inaction
Ironically, organizations often hold back from investing in leadership or team development at these moments, afraid people might leave. But in truth, people leave most often when they feel confused, disrespected, or stagnant—not when they feel deeply engaged and equipped to thrive in change.

The Payoff of Investment
When you invest in your people, you increase your odds of retaining them. And if they do leave? You’ve still made the right move. Because they carry your reputation with them. And the people who stay? They’re the ones who will build your future.

The System Is Soft—Shape It Now
The system is soft right now. That’s not a reason to pause investment in your teams—it’s a reason to accelerate it.

Because when the dust settles, what you’ve built will depend not just on the deals you’ve closed, but on the people who stayed—and the skills they had to carry you forward.