 Leaders today have finally come to the understanding that culture matters … a lot! SCG has developed powerful methodologies to assist organizations in integrating unique cultures resulting from a major merger or acquisition.
Realizing the full value of a newly merged or acquired business has proven to be a complex and uncertain undertaking. What has become clear, however, is that the speed and effectiveness of any integration begins and ends with the newly formed leadership team.
SCG recognizes that the work of integrating leadership teams is fundamental in determining the success of any merger or acquisition.
Aligning leaders from two different companies (often competitors) to work together as a resilient and effective team is our first priority. There are many challenges, including:
- Leaders’ beliefs about what is possible and what is important are often very different.
 We discern enabling from disabling beliefs and create the conditions for  making powerful shifts.
- Power and positioning is the dominant behavior.
We confront the dysfunction, clarify the consequences, and develop clear accountabilities.
- Goals and roles are unclear.
We facilitate clarity and alignment, and catalyze emotional reasons for
collaboration and shared commitment.
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4 Steps in Integrating Culture
Step 1 – Assessing the Reality
 In this phase, we strive to understand the newly formed organization’s current reality; from understanding the fundamentals (including products, structure, and performance) to understanding the challenges facing the organization (including internal operating climate, external market/environment conditions, customer issues and expectations). Most importantly, we see how those differences are perceived by each of the heritage organizations. We assess this reality through a combination of studying relevant internal data, interviewing key constituents/leaders of your business, and utilizing the most valid culture survey instrument today: The Denison Culture Assessment. Through this assessment, we will not only ascertain the strategic issues and opportunities, but will also gain an understanding of the beliefs, attitudes, and capabilities of the leadership team, and the cultural similarities and differences across each firm.
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Step 2 – Building the Framework
Our number one recommendation in this phase is to take your senior leadership team offsite for up to three days. StrattonConsultingGroup designs, develops, and facilitates a series of structured exercises and discussions intended to address the real issues identified in Step 1. Open, constructive feedback is integrated into the process to enable participants’ to identify and understand issues across 3 major topics:
- Developing a compelling vision for change
- Defining the transition strategy on key behavioral metrics
- Defining roles and responsibilities in implementing the change
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 Step 3 – Implications of Change – Creating an Executable Transition Strategy
This step includes rigorous “back-at-work” validation, most typically regarding the implications of the integration at deeper levels in the organization. Common areas of investigation include:
- New Leadership Roles: Do any tension points require resolution?
- Integrating Assets & Capabilities: How do you quickly and effectively integrate your most valued resources?
- Aligning Behavior to Current Systems: Are there conflicting messages?
Our job is to provide facilitative, ongoing support through workout teams, focus groups, etc., leading ultimately to the creation of a strategic vision, which will become the framework for strategic and operational planning.
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Step 4 – Firm-Wide Strategy Alignment Rollouts
Motivating people to move deliberately and effectively in the right direction is a significant challenge facing businesses today. As goals and strategies are defined and communicated, the human factor is triggered. People immediately ask questions:
- “What does this mean?”
- “How does this affect me?”
 Unfortunately, most of these questions are not asked publicly and individual interpretation wins the day. Here lies the greatest obstacle to mobilization and organizational alignment.
SCG has designed and perfected a powerful organizational alignment process that quickly and effectively engages people. This process uncovers the most complex implications, and moves people to change their day-to-day actions so that they reflect the new direction of the firm.
It is a highly interactive process that, from the eyes of participants, is led by senior management and facilitated by StrattonConsultingGroup. This is an important distinction. SCG serves as a catalyst for the change; Senior Leaders serve as the owners.
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