USA 
United KingdomSusan LaMonica,
CHRO, Citizens Financial Group
Susan LaMonica reveals how she has navigated the chaos to turn the company’s growth story into an unmitigated success for its candidates, colleagues, and customers...
Susan LaMonica,
CHRO, Citizens Financial Group
Susan LaMonica reveals how she has navigated the chaos to turn the company’s growth story into an unmitigated success for its candidates, colleagues, and customers...
Since its 2014 Initial Public Offering (IPO), Citizens Financial Group has been on a remarkable journey of growth. In that time it has completed 12 acquisitions, from Franklin American Mortgage in 2018 to Investors Bancorp in 2023. These transactions provided Citizens with the skills and capabilities to secure its position as a leader in the “super-regional” bank category, but managing talent integration and company culture throughout so many acquisitions has not been without its challenges.
Susan LaMonica, CHRO at Citizens Financial Group, has led the company throughout this critical period. In this HR Grapevine interview, she reveals how she has managed talent integration challenges and navigated the chaos to turn the company’s growth story into an unmitigated success for its candidates, colleagues, and customers.
Most mergers and acquisitions are not a quick close. There is often a time during which acquired colleagues experience a great deal of change, uncertainty, and concern about their future. One of the largest challenges and opportunities for the acquiring company is infusing as much optimism, transparency, and excitement about the future while ensuring that the teams stay focused on delivering core initiatives and serving customers.
Simultaneously, we invest a huge amount of time to understand the acquired company’s best practices, roles, skills, and operating rhythms. We also think about the people from the acquired company we want to retain and what it will take to keep them. Retaining influential leaders and managers through the entire transaction can be very effective as they can help architect the integration blueprint and ensure you are combining the cultures of the two organizations.
We often refer to these early days and months of integration as a cultural onboarding during which time we are introducing and inviting them into our company as a valued member of our family
Once the deal officially closes, talent integration then must become the top priority. Frequently communicating is key and ensuring colleagues feel valued, respected, and heard is vital. We often refer to these early days and months of integration as a cultural onboarding during which time we are introducing and inviting them into our company as a valued member of our family. Retention of talent is critical, and we strive to remove as much of the unknown as possible, aiming to retain that talent and drive the business forward with minimal disruption.
Our acquisitions have progressed well, and we have continued to prioritize the seamless integration of our cultures, new colleagues, and customers. Our philosophy and commitment to fostering a culture of continuous learning means that we naturally take time to reflect, learn, and pivot when it is required.
We are consistent in the importance of investing time upfront to understand the culture of the acquired organization and ensure we are transparent, always listening and highly collaborative. For example, our First Republic talent positioned us to launch Citizens’ new private bank, so it was critical that those colleagues be engaged early on to help co-create our desired end state.
Several guiding principles enabled us to create a collaborative and inclusive environment.
Firstly, create meaningful opportunities for senior leaders from both companies to spend time with colleagues to share information and address questions. Next, offer multiple forums and colleague pulse checks to assess sentiment and to understand our new colleagues’ experience.
Also, demonstrate strong responsiveness to feedback, communicating clearly and often about actions being taken – or not taken – so colleagues feel their voices are being heard. And lastly, do not erase past accomplishments, processes, and best practices of acquired companies, and instead remain open to adopting those that may be improvements to ours.
Our overarching strategy is to move as quickly as possible, communicate as often as possible, and be authentic, forthright, and empathetic. I mentioned earlier that we approach onboarding as a cultural onboarding first and foremost.
We understand the range of emotions that newly acquired colleagues are feeling and prioritize our actions and plans to "meet them where they are". That ranges from concerns about the new culture they are entering, their role today and future opportunities, compensation, benefits and more.
Our overarching strategy is to move as quickly as possible, communicate as often as possible, and be authentic, forthright, and empathetic
We commit to regular updates through a variety of channels such as skip level and manager calls, newsletters, ‘All Hands ‘meetings, internal intranet postings, meet and greets, office hours, and more. We’ve also offered mentor and peer support programs to ensure that our new colleagues have a "buddy" who can help them navigate across any aspect of their integration.
Notably, we have seen strong success with our "Green Ambassador" program. For our HSBC and Investors Bank branch integrations, high-performing Citizens branch leaders were selected as Green Ambassadors -- designated people to be on the ground, working hand in hand over an extended period of time to help with the transition.
Start with understanding the acquired company’s culture and the context people are accustomed to operating in. When comparing HR programs and practices, probe to understand the “why.” Respect the work teams have done and find ways to integrate their work and or processes, if possible. Where you can’t, explain why.
Whether a merger or acquisition, you must recognize that people are going through a lot of change and change can be very difficult. Take time to think about how to help people no matter what scenario they face and move with as much speed as possible to get people out of the grey and resolve the state of the unknown. Whether colleagues are staying in the same role or transitioning to a new role, assure them they will have the tools, resources, and training to be successful. If exiting, be candid and empathic.
Leadership is the uber lever in any healthy organization, especially during times of change. During acquisitions, we make sure Citizens’ leaders are highly visible, engaged, and in a constant state of “listen and learn.” They are authentic and empathetic. They exemplify the attitudes and behaviors inherent in our culture.
When preparing our change management and communications plan, we brief leaders so that they share consistent information and messages and don’t shy away from answering tough questions. To determine effectiveness, we continuously ask for feedback and course correct when necessary.
All of what’s noted above is based on learnings from our decade of acquisition experience. We continuously ask what worked well, where can we improve, and what activities we need to dial up or dial down.
It’s important to reiterate that culture is key. As the connective tissue that binds an organization, understanding and integrating cultures is equally important as it is for products and capabilities.
And, as mentioned earlier, never lose sight that people are at the heart of any transaction. Strive to move as quickly as deal terms will allow, anticipating and addressing colleague’s needs throughout the acquisition process.
