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March 2020 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \ 29 culture aligned with Stantec’s culture, so this made the acqui- sition go easier. RNL was employee-owned, and although this added challenges in the acquisition, everyone with stock re- ceived value for their stock whether they were with RNL for several years or several decades. Anonymous: If you have a succession plan, you are less vul- nerable to an outside buyout. An employee stock ownership plan takes time, potentially a decade of continuous contribu- tions to build up enough value to transition to employee own- ership. Anonymous: We were interviewed for what we thought was a project partnership. As the conversations became more candid, we realized we were being courted for a merger. At the time we felt it was in our best interest to back away. Q: Are you keeping the talent you hoped would stay? Is staffing for projects easier? Carl Hole, AIA: Staffing hasn’t really changed; we are in control of our business center. We have visibility into other centers who may have available staff, or need our help, and we can reach out when needed. Since our design cultures aligned, we have been able to provide new opportunities for our staff that we would not have had as just RNL. Adam Harding, AIA: We are a small firm, so the staffing hasn’t changed really from before to now. We are getting better talent each year. Q: Howdid it work culturally and creatively? CarlHole, AIA: StantecandRNL leadershipwerevery focused onmaintaining RNL’s culture. RNL has always been a leader in sustainability,whichwasoneof the reasonswewereacquired. Creatively, we now have more opportunities for bigger proj- ects on a global platform. AdamHarding, AIA: I think our process has changed for the better,morecollaborative,morebuy-infromthestaff. They feel ownership in the projects in a different way than before. The office culture has improved: We havemade an effort to get the right people in the right seats and made sure that culturally the people in the officeworkwell together. Anonymous: Being absorbed into a larger organization was a shift froma service-oriented boutique practice to an efficien- cy-based business model. Culture shock was unavoidable and we lost key staff. In an internal transition, the key is planning. Best case, the outgoing owners will get value from their life’s work and the incoming owners will be left with sufficient capital to main- tain the business. In a buyout, open-minded due-diligence and frank assessment of financials, culture and priorities are cru- cial. If both firms are like-minded in their business strategies andapproachtocultureandstaffing, thenewrelationshipwill bemore successful fromthe start. \\ LDundon@semplebrown.com ELEMENTS Mergers & Transitions

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