culture caused acquisition crisis

A successful global consultancy that secured its growth through acquisitions, had recently acquired a small US based niche consultancy. The match was a perfect fit for both parties and care was taken to make the integration process as smooth as possible while maintaining the autonomy of the smaller consultancy. Thus one hope to capitalize on the expertise acquired and successfully harvest the expected synergies.

When we met the company the CEO of the acquired company was in the process of resigning due to the emerging organizational cultural differences. His key people were certain to follow suit once their mandatory period was over. As a consequence the acquisition was about to fail, leaving the global consultancy with a hard learned lesson and little ROI.

The 3 – days team intervention revealed how the cultural programming of the executive board members were impacting the integration process negatively. The workshop highlighted the dynamics of the global organization and its board through the lense of global leadership competencies combined with Relationship System Intelligence. The team came away strengthened and inspired, with a more including and open-minded approach set to make the acquisition a success. The CEO, who felt the workshop changed both his niche consultancy and his life, stayed on and both parties were finally able to move on. Pre-acquisition and merger intervention are now a standard part of the global consultancy`s acquisition strategy.