I've been on the inside of a company that was pieced together from several smaller ones. It wasn't a disaster. The work got done. But there was an uncomfortable tension in the air.
Each group thought it was the most important one on site. The truth is the job didn't work without all of them. It took years for those old loyalties to fade.
The crews didn't invent that rivalry. They learned it from the people leading them. When the people at the top are each looking after their own corner, the field picks it up fast.
That's the lesson I took with me. A crew takes its cue from the people at the top. If the leaders pull in different directions, the field will too. If they pull the same way, that carries across the whole company.
A crew takes its cue from the people at the top.
So that's where we start. Before we worry about trucks or paperwork, we get the leaders pointed at the same goal. We tie managers' incentives to how the whole group performs, not just their own yard. We share equipment across companies. We put people through the same training.
It also shapes how your crew hears about the sale. They hear it from the owner, Bradley and me, standing in the same room at the same time. Not through a rumour, and not in a memo. From the first minute, they can see we're on the same side.
They'll have questions we can't always answer on day one. Is my boss still my boss? What changes for me? Often the honest answer is that it depends on the company and the people. When I don't know yet, I say so. Then I give them a date when they'll hear more, and my cell number.