My response is not specific to M&A, but since my recent work takes a unique and provocative stance on culture, here are some ideas for your consideration, thumbs-up, and thumbs-down.
My comments reflect a partial (not full) success story from the past (my previous employer). My comments aim for full ("integrated" to use your term Rebecca) success stories for the future – so it qualifies as a superpower.
"Every company's culture is different." That is the accepted expectation, perception, and reality of current state. However, in conversations about culture, we hear the same terms and buzzwords about what is healthy, i.e., future state. Because of the regurgitation of the same terms that form a healthy culture, trying to formulate and routinize the right habits shouldn't make anyone's head explode.
And these healthy habits don't have to be – and should not be - "secret sauce." The ideas are purposely not secret.
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Consider two sources for a cultural superpower: your rational brain and your emotional brain. My rational brain wants to minimize chaos and maximize discipline. My emotional brain wants to minimize cruelty and maximize empathy. I believe that discipline and empathy comprise an excellent foundation for a culture.
For amazing discipline and empathy, consider three metaphors.
- An expectation setting factory. An unhealthy culture shrugs at setting expectations or meeting expectations. Low discipline and low empathy are a license for low expectations. No bueno. A healthy culture loves setting expectations and meeting expectations. High discipline and high empathy form a license for high expectations.
- Keystrokes; i.e., documentation. For documentation-averse employees, grant them their inclination that their work is not worth documenting. Keep them in forums that are strictly conversational – this is their "seat at the table." For employees who see value in documentation, their seat at the table is represented by some combination of five verbs in this expectation-setting factory (draft, review, revise, approve, distribute). Back to documentation-averse employees, there's no need to formalize their verbs, plans, or results, since it only exists as diverging expectations wandering around people's heads or caught in meeting gridlock or email overload.
- Performing arts. Partner dance, theater, improv, and music ensembles are role models for collaboration, competition, and audience (customer) centricity. The arts are role models to minimize systemic and systematic (institutional) errors and be resilient to sampling (human) errors. Healthy arts ensembles are forgiving to the performers in the right way.
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Could the pillars of discipline and empathy be a superpower?
Could the metaphors of an expectation setting factory, five verbs, and the arts comprise a superpower?
Do these ideas give clarity for those who opt-out so they can retain low expectations, keep things conversational, and keep their systemic and systematic errors?
On a light-hearted note, could we turn a culture of bumper cars into a culture of symphonies?
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Robert Snyder
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Original Message:
Sent: 2023-11-14 16:22
From: Rebecca Mox-Persak
Subject: Culture as an Organizational Superpower
Hello Community -
I was reading this article Culture in M&A: A Source of Opportunity | Accenture and it got me thinking about the positive power that can be gained from a good cultural integration. So much we hear about how culture can kill a deal, and the risk involved when culture isn't understood or integrated well. It's not all bad in the world of culture and M&A though. What success stories do you all have, where the culture of the combined companies was stronger and more positive than either of the legacy orgs? Did it become a Superpower? What were the keys to your success?
I'd love to hear some real examples that you've lived, and how you apply those learnings to deals.
Becky
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Becky Persak
Aon
Head of M&A - Leadership, Culture & Change
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