Unifying cultures after major acquisitions: leadership integration across brands

The acquisitions made our client the largest truck maker in Europe and the second largest in the world. They had to reorganize, share resources and technology, and still protect what made each company itself.

Two things stood in the way. People were loyal to the company they had joined, and those companies had been competitors for a long time — attitudes built over decades had to change. And three genuinely different cultures had to be merged rather than averaged.

The work was to create a new global culture everyone could get behind.

Workshops. Two- and three-day leadership and team development workshops for major project leaders, with tools and methods to carry a project from kick-off to completion — and the room to build relationships and agree on a mission before the work started.

Meeting facilitation. When new groups came together we facilitated, keeping the room free of threat and animosity and fixed instead on trust, understanding, and clearly defined roles.

Leadership simulations. Custom coaching experiences where intact teams practiced the behaviors they wanted to keep, in real time and with immediate feedback.

Change management resources. A project management toolbox covering change readiness, accelerating change, tracking success and managing conflict, plus two- to four-hour modules delivered to key staff so they could teach their own teams.

Publications. Organization-wide leadership titles, including The First Ten Days: A Project Management Guide to Starting an Effective Team Project.

The work reached three major truck companies across three cultures, three countries and multiple languages.

Over several years it helped our client's top leaders improve teamwork, communication and effectiveness across countries and cultures, and made it possible for project leaders to move from vision to action without stalling in between.