Case Study #4
A high-performing culture achieving breakthrough productivity and profitability is created working with two recently merged companies whose cultures had been at odds.
An oil company in Canada bought another company of equal size and soon found themselves in somewhat of a predicament: the two cultures were polar opposites. The purchasing company had thrived on empowering its employees and being innovative and entrepreneurial; the other was methodical and process-driven and had more of a command-and-control management style. Each had been successful enough in their own way to make a case for maintaining status quo, and it was clear early on that both were strongly resisting change.
We helped the leadership see that the most effective end result would be achieved by combining the best of both worlds. We brought together teams composed of high-performing employees of both cultures, and each team had its own charge that would bring forward a different facet of the ideal culture they were creating. In addition, we organized large town-hall type meetings to engage the rest of the workforce in collaborating on building this new culture. Together, within a relatively short period of time, they had the high-performing company they had desired. The end result was breakthrough performance measured in productivity and profitability, as well as being named one of the best companies to work for in the country.
