9 ways board meetings can maximise ROI for merging companies

Mergers are built on promise. The promise of scale, efficiency and growth. But while deals may be signed in boardrooms, they succeed or fail in the months that follow, when two merging companies try to become one. 

This is where the board plays a crucial role. Not just by approving terms or overseeing compliance, but by guiding integration in real time. When used well, board meetings become the engine room of a merger. They drive alignment, surface risks, and set the tone for leadership across the organisation. 

This involves navigating people, politics, and pressure. That’s why newly merged boards cannot afford to treat meetings as routine. As Nertila Asani, Senior Vice President of Sales EMEA at Datasite, puts it, “M&A is so much more about people and culture than it is about balance sheets.” 

This article draws on Nertila’s experience working with companies through complex transactions and the integrations that follow, providing nine ways that board meetings help merging companies to deliver ROI. We’ll cover:  

• How board meetings help protect value following a merger  

• How newly formed boards can avoid common pitfalls of post-merger governance 

• Practical ways to achieve ROI through enhanced formal meetings  

How board meetings protect ROI after a merger 

Once the deal is done, the real challenges begin. Costs have been committed; expectations are high, and the pressure to deliver ROI starts immediately. For many companies, this is where the value of a new merger begins to leak through missed targets, sluggish integration, and cultural misalignment. 

Board meetings can stop this from happening. 

When they’re managed well, they help boards and leaders to stay focused on what matters most after a merger, which is turning strategy into action and keeping integration on track.  

As Nertila highlights, “alignment before execution” - which is precisely where many boards fall short. After a merger, alignment needs to be reinforced, and the boardroom is where that work begins. 

9 ways to improve the ROI of a merger through board meetings  

What follows are nine ways board meetings help merging companies realise the value they promised, and deliver returns their investors expect:  

1. Align the strategic vision from day one 

Before any value can be created, everyone needs to be rowing in the same direction. Board meetings are where alignment begins. 

Merging companies bring together leaders and executives with different backgrounds, visions, and priorities. If these differences don’t surface early, they can quietly derail integration. Meetings provide the structured space to explore assumptions, challenge ambitions, and co-create a shared direction. 

This is where alignment becomes a performance advantage. When boards use meetings to agree on purpose, values and long-term goals, they lay the foundation for every future decision. 

As Nertila notes, “Boards need to begin with a shared vision and clearly defined operating principles. If you start running before you’re aligned, you risk pulling in different directions and slowing down integration instead of driving it forward.” 

Without a common direction, even the most sophisticated merger will struggle to generate real momentum. 

2. Make faster decisions on integration trade‑offs 

Mergers create complexity. From IT systems to talent structures, merging companies face a long list of tough choices. What to keep, what to drop, what to reinvent. 

Board meetings are the ideal forum for making these tradeoffs. When structured well, they bring clarity and speed to integration decisions. Leaders come prepared. Agendas are focused. Debates are grounded in data, not a gut feeling. 

And speed matters. Dragging out decisions creates confusion further down the line. Teams stall, costs rise, and value begins to leak. 

By using board meetings to explore trade‑offs openly, agree on priorities, and assign clear follow‑ups, companies can keep integration on track and investor confidence intact. 

3. Revisit deal assumptions with rigour 

While due diligence is done when the deal is signed, the assumptions behind a merger need to be stress-tested, and board meetings are an important factor in doing so. 

Board discussions provide the space to scrutinise assumptions, ask hard questions, and challenge optimism bias. Are the synergy estimates realistic? Are hidden liabilities fully accounted for? Have you considered cultural fit as well as operational synergies? 

Strong governance demands more than a checkbox review. It means using board meetings to bring rigour, independence, and objectivity to the process, before the real work begins. 

4. Build robust risk governance from the outset 

There’s no way to engineer risk out of mergers, but the earlier that boards find structured ways of identifying, reviewing, and managing risk, the better the outcome will be for everyone involved. 

Board meetings are where this structure is built. They allow directors to explore worst-case scenarios, identify critical dependencies, and agree on contingency plans. Risk committees can feed into full board discussions, helping shape a shared understanding of what could go wrong and how to respond if it does. 

Using these meetings to regularly revisit risk helps boards stay alert. It also ensures risk governance evolves as integration progresses, rather than becoming outdated. 

5. Track integration progress and value creation 

The deal is signed; the press release is out, but the real work is only just beginning. Integration is where the value of a merger is won or lost. 

Board meetings give structure to this phase. They provide a regular touchpoint to review progress, assess risks, and keep leadership accountable. Clear metrics are essential here. Dashboards, KPIs, and milestone tracking allow the board to see where integration is moving forward and where it is falling behind. 

This visibility matters. It helps boards spot early warning signs, make timely interventions, and avoid the slow drift that quietly destroys value. 

Used well, board meetings turn vague aspirations into measurable outcomes. They keep teams focused, integration efforts coordinated, and the entire organisation aligned around what success looks like. 

6. Manage culture and leadership transition 

Culture is often overlooked in M&A, yet culture clashes are one of the fastest ways a merger can fail. When leadership teams don’t take culture seriously, friction builds and trust breaks down. Nertila confirms this, explaining, “Culture and ‘soft factors’ are some of the hardest things to get right on a new board. They’re also the fastest way that deals can fail.” 

Board meetings create space for these issues to surface. They can be used to explore how different teams work, where values align, and where subtle differences might cause confusion. These early conversations help boards shape the tone of the new company, starting from the top. 

As Nertila puts it, “When you bring newly created boards together, you’re combining leaders with very different cultures, governance traditions, risk appetites, decision-making styles, and emotional intelligence. That mix can be incredibly powerful, but it also creates the potential for friction if it’s not addressed from the outset.” 

Boards can also guide leadership transitions by using meetings to review appointments, clarify expectations, and align incentives. And they should treat onboarding seriously, not as formality. 

“Board onboarding should be treated with the same seriousness as onboarding senior executives,” Nertila confirms. She continues, “It has to be inclusive, not just a box-ticking exercise.” 

These meetings become a foundation for trust. And that trust keeps leadership aligned even when integration hits bumps in the road. 

7. Oversee capital allocation and structure 

Merging companies often inherit two of everything, two finance teams, two sets of assets, and two capital strategies. Rationalising all of this takes careful judgement and a steady hand. 

Board meetings play a central role in making these decisions. They provide a space to weigh competing priorities, debate where to invest, and decide what to divest. These conversations need to be grounded in data, but also in the newly aligned strategy the board has set. 

The board also has oversight on the capital structure. Should the merged company carry more debt? Should equity be used to fund future growth? What is the right balance between stability and ambition? 

These are not just financial questions. They signal to investors how disciplined the company is and how prepared it is to deliver on its promises. 

Regular board meetings help ensure that capital allocation stays consistent with the long-term strategy, rather than being swayed by legacy loyalties or short-term tactics. 

8. Support investor and stakeholder confidence 

Mergers are closely watched. Investors, regulators, employees, and the media all want to know whether the newly formed company can deliver. Uncertainty breeds doubt, which is why clarity and consistency are so valuable. 

Board meetings help shape that clarity. When discussions are well structured and decisions are clearly recorded, the board becomes a steady source of truth. This creates a strong foundation for external communication. 

Mindset matters here; if board members aren’t working from common ground, signals to stakeholders can become inconsistent or even contradictory. 

As Nertila notes, “Boards need a neutral ground for discussions. If you focus only on divisive issues, you risk polarisation. Focusing early on shared purpose and long-term goals makes it easier to navigate cultural differences when tougher debates inevitably arise.” 

Meetings grounded in purpose to help boards speak with one voice. And in a merger, that signal can make the difference between investor patience and investor panic. 

9. Drive board effectiveness and adaptability 

Merging companies face constant change. Strategies evolve, priorities shift and unexpected challenges emerge. The board needs to adapt at the same pace, and board meetings are where that adaptability gets tested. 

Regular reflection on how the board is functioning can prevent small issues from growing into major blockers. Clarity of roles is a big part of this. Without it, overlaps and misunderstandings can quietly erode trust. 

As Nertila explains, “One of the most important steps is to clarify roles early in the process. Everyone needs to know what’s expected of them, the difference between executive directors and non-executives, for example. Without that clarity, misunderstandings can build quickly and undermine trust.” 

Evaluating board effectiveness doesn’t need to be heavy-handed. It can begin with simple questions at the end of each meeting. Was this session productive? Did we stay focused on outcomes? Are we hearing all voices? 

Data can also help. Nertila highlights the power of using dashboards and KPIs in meetings to guide discussions rather than dominate them, “Using dashboards and KPIs to anchor discussions depersonalises debates and keeps them constructive,” she says. 

This helps take the emotion out of decision-making, and ensures the board stays focused on outcomes, not personalities.  

Use your board meetings to achieve post-merger ROI  

The success of a merger isn’t sealed when the ink dries. It’s shaped by what happens next, the decisions made, the priorities set, and the ability to keep people aligned when the pressure is on. 

Board meetings are where that happens. They give merging companies the structure to move with focus, the visibility to track what matters, and the discipline to protect their investment. More than oversight, they are a working tool for value creation. 

For investors, that translates into real confidence. For leadership teams, it creates the conditions to deliver. And for the organisation as a whole, it means the promise of the merger has a fighting chance of becoming reality. 

The ROI of a merger depends on what happens in the boardroom. Make every meeting count. Book a free consultation today and find out how Sherpany can help.