Culture Assessment
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Do you have experience in running a culture assessment, find out the key differences accross the 2 companies? I have the feeling we talk a lot about this important topic, but I have not found yet a good assessment tool.
ThanksI find cultural assessment to be an undeveloped topic and one which whilst largely ignored may break a deal.
We have done a culture survey where we ask questions about business process, decision making, collaboration, etc. The survey was given to both the recently acquired company as well as the employees from the existing company to see the differences. However, I would be interested if anyone has any other ideas of beyond a basic survey for gathering this type of information.
I think talking to the employees of seller/buyer (is it in the way of a survey or performing workshops etc.) is the best and only way to evaluate cultures and reveal cultural differences as this is nothing which is written somewhere (maybe values and purpose but not the way it is “lived”).
Agreed Hedwig – for bigger integrations, we have performed this workshop style discussion. It is sometimes a bit more challenging for smaller acquisitions. The target company is not as structured and still major culture gaps create challenges along the way. I think we have a good understanding of the key elements of our culture that could imapct others, and I am trying to find a way to focus on those key elements early on to check if this is a major gap or not.
Appreciate everyone’s feedback here 🙂I agree that a general tool would be helpful – maybe the lack of an easily available one as a base is further indication of how change and culture is not addressed as often or deeply as it should be. As we deal with primarily small acquisitions, having a workshop to discuss culture and potential change generally does not get to a full understanding of all aspects of change. The senior staff of the small company are filling multiple business roles (owner, manager, finance) and may not be looking at the discussion from a place that addresses all roles. We’ve run into issues down the road as it turned out we were speaking two different languages – their definition or ‘management” is different than ours, for example. Having a tool that removes ambiguity and helps ensure full understanding – plus sign-off and commitment – is important. I’ve started developing a company ‘dictionary’ – documenting where we’ve found these differences in interpretation to flag for clarification in any future M&A.
I have some thoughts for the smaller targets. Where you know your looking for them to adopt your culture as opposed to having a mix of cultures or a parallel culture structure, start by understanding your culture. when you can classify your culture well (try using this as a guide https://www.mindtools.com/ass7geb/handys-four-types-of-culture) then survey the target against it to see where the oppositions are and work to address them.
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