Building a New Culture

Post Acquisition Integration, Leadership - Financial Services

Introduction: Post M&A 

This organisation is a Financial Services business and a key component of the largest company by capitalisation in the World (2008). This extremely successful USA business moved into Europe in the early 90's and started making major acquisitions in Financial Services.

Initially, though we worked with the Motor Finance business in the early 90's, in the rush of activity in the mid to late 90's in the Retail Financial Services, business required a rethink. Following the acquisition of other businesses in the UK we worked in partnership with the HR Director to develop a Leadership programme that could be rolled out to the top 130 people in the UK operation.

Leadership Intervention

The company had acquired many businesses and because of its dynamic nature had grown organically at the same rate. The culture of the parent company was particularly effective at driving change and improvement - however, the culture of the new business required some alignment because as a bye-product of swift acquisitions there remained a 'cocktail of cultures',.

Designing Leadership Programme & Process

Working with the HR Team we created a five-day Leadership programme that would integrate the new businesses quickly along corporate lines, install the new business culture, and at, the same time, create a 'role model' for driving new business by growth and acquisition.

The five-day programme was designed around principles of Action Learning and became 'best practice' for the business worldwide.

Work continues with other divisions of the larger business.

Benefits

• Top Team members drove the process of change. Many of these people had been acquired from other business or were new recruits. They soon understood the purpose of the Leadership programme and were central in driving the events. This was an extremely successful programme because of the degree of commitment offered at all times by the top team.
• "Without Leadership there is no change" became the anchor for the programme. 120 senior people who had 2,500 reporting to them undertook the programme.
• Of the 120 attending - over 15 Teams were formed to work, diagnose, design and deliver customer service solutions across the organisation. Each team had a Top Team sponsor.
• Because of the nature of the programme - "self discovery" and "taking a good look in the mirror" at personal Leadership behaviour, staff were able to commit to personal action plans for change.
• A company wide Rapid Improvement Methodology was installed with each of the attendees, and used to project manage the 15 groups. This later became part of the new business credo.