It’s been nine months since the venerable Tampa accounting firm Dwight Darby joined SBF – a move which coincided with “busy season,” the ramp-up to the mid-April federal tax filing deadline. That’s a high-stakes time for a merger, but today, the team is on its way to a unified identity and an exciting future.
Mergers have a reputation for being all-or-nothing takeovers, yet they don’t have to be this way at all. SBF managing partner Rich Franz, principal CPA and former Dwight Darby partner Dawn Moore and chief people officer Jessica Espaillat sat down to talk about how two well-established business cultures can successfully become one integrated powerhouse.
“Culture is based on trust,” says Franz. “Once you build that trust, the culture comes naturally. But it takes time.”
These three crucial elements have paved the way.
Preparation
When it comes to merging cultures, the actual work itself becomes much easier with thorough due diligence and values-driven prep.
After the passing of two of Dwight Darby’s partners, Moore knew it was time to get her firm more resources. She did plenty of groundwork, interviewing a number of prospects before approaching SBF. As part of the process, the partners at SBF also wanted to talk to Dwight Darby’s employees and its clientele, and asked to “be interviewed” by both groups to get buy-in.
The commitment to matching personalities, styles and shared values paid off. “We don’t look to ‘buy’ clients,” Franz says. “What we’re looking for in a merger is people. Dwight Darby already had a similar culture to SBF, where they genuinely cared about clients and employees. I think the merger was just continuing what they already had; it’s really that simple.”
Communication
Once the two offices began to integrate, keeping open lines of communication was important across the board. First was phasing out any duplicate processes — all while being sure everyone was on the same page. “It helped to understand each other’s processes in detail up front,” Moore says. Sometimes that’s about personal style, but it can also be about technology.
Because the two firms merged during busy season, leaders agreed it was best to save shifting Dwight Darby’s software and other systems until everyone’s case load had slowed down. Unfortunately, this also meant that sometimes a needed piece of information was on an entirely different IT system, and the duplication of processes sometimes gummed up the works.
“Trying to do the right thing, trying to be nice and avoid change right away, ended up making it harder on everyone in the long run,” Franz says. “We learned that if instead you rip the Band-Aid off and make all the changes Day One, you’re all one firm so you can support each other.”
Listening to employees also paid off as SBF looked to extend its engaging and often fun office culture to the former Dwight Darby employees. But this meant hearing what would work for the Tampa folks. For instance, during busy season, SBF offers employees perks like masseuses. “We decided to ask the Dwight Darby employees whether they even liked or wanted this, and if not, that would be okay,” says Espaillat. “We opted for setting up a meditation room instead, based on their feedback.”
Openness to change
“If there are changes to be made as part of a merger, we want people involved with the decision-making,” Espaillat says. “Let’s get team members from both sides of the merger together, talk about pros and cons and pick the option that’s right for us.” This happened recently with some tax software; the SBF “main office” in St. Pete found that the Tampa office had a more flexible and helpful platform, which the whole company now uses. “We wanted to pick what’s right or what makes the most sense,” Espaillat says, “not just what’s easiest.”
Moore and the other former Dwight Darby employees have also enjoyed participating in some new traditions taken from SBF. For instance, when sending documents by courier from Tampa to the St. Pete location, she’ll now throw in something small with the package — a candy bar or some other treat. “And I’ll just say, ‘Please deliver this to a random person, to pay it forward,’” she says. “I would never in a million years have thought before of doing something so fun among the staff.”
Beyond participating in SBF traditions, the Tampa employees will have a lot more opportunities to participate in different areas of the firm, Franz says. Mentoring opportunities, administrative support and getting more time with clients are also on the table for everyone.