5 ways to deliver on the promises of integration Last year marked the comeback of cross-border merger and acquisition beating pre-recession peaks for the first time, and 2015 holds the promise of another record year for international deals. All of these deals will no doubt promise to produce cost savings and new-found growth prospects. But what rarely makes the headlines is that combining companies can realize a variety of benefits by bringing together broad expertise and different perspectives to form (or maintain) a core corporate culture following a merger. Getting culture right can be as important as strategy, if not more so. I can show you three spectacularly failed or flailing mergers for every modestly successful one. Talent acquisition and retention are everything; high-performing individuals can pick and choose where they want to spend their professional time. Corporate culture is essentially all about the people and their behaviors. As CEO of Ciena Corp. CIEN, -2.79% , a networking company that has been fairly acquisitive during the last 15 years — most notably our 2010 purchase of Nortel Networks’ NRTLQ, +29.63% Metro Ethernet Networks business, and most recently announcing our intent to acquire Cyan CYNI, -2.69% for around $400 million — I am highly in tune with the promise and challenges of M&A, and corporate culture’s particular role within that process. Throughout the integration of the Nortel unit, we learned many lessons that other companies might apply to address the culture conundrum and to empower a company built for the long term. Here are five ways to navigate the challenging road toward successful cultural integration: 1. Make decisions quickly: Executives face many tough choices when bringing together two companies of equal size. One common pitfall in decision making is the risk of either falling into a pattern of all-inclusive deliberation or making immediate, politically motivated decisions. We implemented a “speed-over-perfection” plan that made both teams equally uncomfortable to some degree, but forced faster and tighter integration and alignment. For example, all product decisions for the combined company were made before the deal closed, so we could hit the ground running with customers on day one. This approach mitigated potential points of conflict, prompted faster adoption of values, and unified behaviors to achieve positive momentum. 2. Over-communicate: Nobody likes surprises at work. We provided a tremendous amount of detail and transparency to employees about the overall integration plan and timelines. We deputized managers and used the leadership chain to involve multiple layers in the organization. We also used quarterly CEO meetings to communicate integration updates and allow for open Q&A. And we regularly held town hall meetings with leadership to keep the dialogue open and the process on track. All of these communications vehicles helped keep employees from both companies on the same path. 3. Identify alignment and gaps in cultures: We found that some commonalities and differences were obvious, and others, less so. Companies are often aligned on the goals for standardized policies and procedures that allow for consistency and efficiency (such as procurement and expense reporting), and any changes in those areas tend to be tactical. Less-standardized aspects of the business can be more challenging. For example, vacation behavior was difficult for us to reconcile. At Ciena, the approach to vacation time was one of remaining “always on.” At Nortel, employees took full advantage of their paid time off. Yet collectively we believed in a solid work-life balance. To resolve this difference, we adjusted leadership expectations and changed the tone from the top down. 4. Define cultural aspects that are favored and critical to keep: An open discussion about the attributes that will serve as the foundation of the newly combined company is the first step toward molding its desired culture, followed by the establishment of a shared set of core values. In our case, and put simply, Nortel employees needed to be liberated, while Ciena’s culture needed to mature from its largely start-up ethos. Efforts to instill these changes centered on blending teams and exposing everyone to other ways of thinking and working. 5) Celebrate cultural and key integration milestones: We treated the combination of our two companies as a celebration. On the day the deal closed, we held employee celebrations around the world, including renting out Ottawa’s hockey arena, where senior leadership from both teams spoke via live webcast to other locations. We also implemented peer-to-peer recognition programs designed to drive relationship-building, collaboration, and acknowledgment of positive behavior, celebrating individuals as part of the corporate whole. Combining two companies of equal size proved challenging, and adding the cross-border element makes it doubly so. Not losing sight of these five steps can absolutely make or break whether a deal is succeeds and delivers value, or fails. Gary Smith is president and CEO of networking company Ciena Corp.