When internal communicators share the next steps after a merger or acquisition, that message carries a great deal of weight. If it’s too vague, it can cause employees to become anxious. If it lacks structure, it can be easily misunderstood. While everyone wants to know what’s next for them and the company after changes happen, next steps memos need to prioritize disciplined writing alongside speed.
Ted Birkhahn, managing director at Vested, said that without careful writing and audience knowledge, an internal next steps announcement may be poised to fail.
“If you’re just doing general communication out to all internal audiences, you’re going to appeal to almost no one,” Birkhahn said. “Employees all experience a merger differently depending on who they are, where they sit and what they’re worried about. If you don’t take the time to map that out before you write, the announcement might be accurate, but it won’t be effective.”
Here are some steps internal communicators can take to ensure they’re writing the best next steps messages possible.
1. Interview leaders before you begin a draft. Birkhahn said that before working on any next step announcement, he thinks like a journalist and interviews leadership. This enables Birkhahn to capture tone — that can guide the internal announcement’s feel and affect how it lands with employees. “Give me 30 minutes with the CEO and I can cover a lot of ground,” he said. “I want to understand why they’re doing the deal, what they hope to accomplish, what concerns them and even the things they’re uncomfortable talking about. I may not include all of that in the announcement, but I need to understand it so the message reflects reality, not just optimism.”
2. Pin down the structure before the copy. Before he decides what the next steps memo should emphasize, Birkhahn focuses on the merger or acquisition announcement’s structure. This helps keep it from getting either unfocused or too dense. This gives the overall message a framework that’s easy for employees to digest. The three big questions Birkhahn asks himself while drafting are:
- What’s happening now?
- Why is it happening?
- What are the concrete next steps?
- What’s the format of the announcement? Is it an outline, a bulleted list or and FAQ doc?
The one thing you don’t want a next steps announcement to become is an explainer essay. Employees might not find that accessible if it’s filled with jargon and technical details. Instead, write in an easily replicable format and use it as the next steps evolve and shift to help people adjust. “If you can answer those three questions clearly and succinctly, you’ve removed most of the complexity,” Birkhahn said. “That structure works whether you’re talking to a senior executive or someone on a factory floor.”
3. Determine what the announcement needs to acknowledge at the top. While he’s drafting, Birkhahn determines the ultimate takeaway of the communication and ensures that it shows up in the first sentence or two. “When most employees go through a merger or acquisition, their top concern is, ‘Is my job safe?’” Birkhahn told Ragan. “You have to address that at the very beginning. If you don’t, they’re not going to process anything else. You can’t make false promises or set unrealistic expectations, because you’ll lose credibility later if things change — but you still have to acknowledge that concern early and directly.”
4. Write one master version before you refine it for specific audiences. By maintaining a single source of truth with a root version of the announcement, internal communicators can easily adjust it for specific employee audiences, rather than rewriting it entirely. “You can layer down or level down messaging for specific audience groups, but it all ties back to that core message,” Birkhahn said. “That’s how you make sure you’re not contradicting yourself or sending mixed signals internally.”
5. Compose the message as if it’ll be explained aloud by team leaders. Birkhahn said that he evaluates the success of a memo not just by polish, but by how well a manager can paraphrase the key points into something their team can be told verbally. For instance:
- Less relatable phrasing: “This transaction enables strategic alignment across the enterprise.”
- More relatable phrasing: “This move helps us combine our teams and tools so we can be faster and avoid duplicating our work.”
He added that conversational clarity in writing can help the message withstand questions from employees. “If the announcement isn’t written in a way that managers can confidently explain it in their own words, then the message is going to fall apart once it leaves the page,” he said.
Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications.
