Posted by vandyleads on Thursday, November 9, 2017 in News.

Mitesh Bhalani is a junior at Vandebilt majoring in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering from Georgia. As part of our Reflection Assignmetn #2 for ASCEND, we asked each participant to think of a company that has successfully implemented change in the last several years. Check out Mitesh’s thoughts on Medtronic, a company he interned for last summer.

A Summer at Medtronic

As a summer intern at Medtronic, I got a first-hand look at how big organizations handle institutional change. Our segment of Medtronic was a recently acquisition by the company that sold low tech products as compared to Medtronic’s more advanced surgical and diagnostic medical devices. As a result, Medtronic decided to sell our part of the business to Cardinal Health, a company more in line with our low-tech line of products. The change was mutually beneficial, as Cardinal was able to expand its product lines and more sources of revenue, while Medtronic was able to divest itself from our part of the business and spend more time focused on the products they were more familiar with.

When I started in late May, the official paperwork had all been signed, and the machinery to make the change was already underway. All of my co-workers knew about the change, the official date the ownership would change(a few weeks before I finished my program), and some basics about how Cardinal Health would different as a boss compared to Medtronic. Through the summer, there were multiple sessions with both Cardinal Health and Medtronic representatives, teaching the transitioning employees how their computer log-ins, badge access, health care plans, and other parts of daily life would be different. Since representatives were available from both companies, there was enough shared expertise to answer any lingering questions we had. In addition, the transition team had recorded hours of tutorials on logging in to the new system and navigating them. The transition team also shared video messages from top management at our new company, allowing them to share their vision and concrete plans for us for the coming months and years.

Although most of the younger employees approached the change warily, the majority of employees who had been in the company during the Medtronic acquisition were calmer. As they had underwent a similar process a few years ago, they were accustomed to what a change in leadership would look like. They recognized that some things would not work initially and it would be difficult at first, but by and large, life would go on the same.

The most important part of the transition was the welcome party. Cardinal Health rented a party hall at the Patriots stadium, had catered lunch, and gave everyone the afternoon off to mingle and relax. This was the most crucial step for the transition because no amount of preparation could completely avoid missteps and course-corrections during the change. It was extremely important for Cardinal Health to gain the goodwill of its new employees, and show that although the change would not be easy, it deeply valued the sacrifices and hard work of the workers.

Although this was my first transition, my boss had seen no fewer than five ownership transitions in his almost 50 years at the company. When he told everyone that this was one of the smoothest changes he had ever seen, we knew that he spoke from a wealth of experience. The important parts of the successful transition were communication between the transition team and the affected employees, calm demeanors on all sides, and an appreciation for the difficulty of the change. Communication was not simply information pushed out to the workers but rather an exchange where employees were able to learn about how things would be different and resolve their concerns. Accepting inconveniences and uncertainty with equanimity were important in making sure that any issues were resolved quickly and without conflict. Finally, Cardinal Health’s commitment to making its employees feel appreciated was of the utmost importance, as their loyalty and hard work would ultimately make the change work.