1. Background & Mandate
In this case, a startup from a corporate group with
approx. 80 employees contacted us. They were on a growth trajectory and in the process of acquiring a Circle Economy company with approx. 3,000 employees. The employees of the newly acquired company were concerned: “Now we will be swallowed by a corporation.” One year later, a name change occurred. The company name used as a brand disappeared.
The major question was: How can a common corporate culture, complete with vision, mission, values, and a strategy leading to success, be established and embodied?
That was our mandate. Today we can say: It succeeds with professional guidance. We thank you for your trust. We were able to intensively accompany this change and transformation process for over a year, contributing advisory and supportive services to the successful merger. The company has since grown to approximately 30,000 employees. The results of our values work are still tangible today, even after five years.
Would you like to learn more about how this result was achieved? Then please read on. In the next chapter, we will provide insight into our approach.
2. Building Blocks & Process
Step 1: Defining Corporate Culture
- Within 4 workshops, the corporate guidelines "Vision & Mission" were formulated together with the company's board of directors. Between the workshops, planned "rest periods" were scheduled for completing "homework" and allowing the results to "take effect."
- Every employee was involved in the value development. Within approximately 3 months, 3-hour values workshops were conducted with 6-8 people each, following a standardized questionnaire. This allowed for comparability and consolidation of all results.
- Strategy development was placed in the hands of the leadership team. Commax acted as a moderator in this process.
Step 2: Living the Values
- Together with our partner Conmoto, a large event was organized where all employees could experience and live the corporate values at various stations.
- Participants could try out and exchange ideas in experience-oriented exercises.
- A special supporting program made the event a unique experience.
Step 3: Leadership Culture
The objective was: “To live values as an integral part of the leadership culture.”
Sustainably successful change and transformation processes are characterized by their integration and interlocking with existing systems and processes. Therefore, the next step was to integrate the newly defined values into the leadership culture.
- In several leadership workshops, it was determined how the values are reflected in leadership work and how they can be used as guidelines for action in employee discussions.
Step 4: Rollout
- Consulting. The company decided, on the advice of our consultants, to show courage and prove the opposite to the new employees who feared being "swallowed up." They took a risk that paid off.
- The new employees were allowed to go through the same values process (cf. value development in Step 1). The only variation, due to the large number of 2,500 employees, was that one selected person always participated in the values workshops as a representative for approximately 20 employees.
Step 5: Sustaining
The objective was: “To ensure the lasting impact of the change process.”
Sustaining is crucial for change processes that are to be lived out sustainably. How can effective sustaining be resource-efficient? In another client project, the follow-up occurred approximately three years after the development of the leadership guidelines.
- Leadership work was evaluated and discussed by employees across three hierarchical levels in 3.5-hour online workshops. This was done based on the leadership guidelines, following a uniform schema. Commax provided the concept, infrastructure, and moderation for this.
3. Conclusion & Outlook
Are you facing a similar challenge or currently dealing with topics such as corporate mission statement or leadership culture? We are your competent and experienced partner in achieving your goals. Please feel free to contact us.
