Background and goal
Our client is a leading, worldwide-operating German company in the special machine construction industry. In the past years, a number of companies have been acquired and it is now important for the cooperation between the different company parts to be developed and improved.
ANXO received the assignment to create a measure of the development and awareness of a consistent corporate culture (values) within the whole group as well as to develop openness for change processes and to enable the usage of synergy effects.
Realisation
The main task was to create openness for the cooperation within different management levels. In other words, to create a kind of “One-company-spirit” and to lay the foundation for a common approach.
At the beginning of the project and the described program, a special team event for the first management level of the group was held. Next to common activities and specific workshops, the focus of this event was to create a common company spirit and to discuss and develop a common value culture.
Each of the newly-acquired companies, in addition to the mother-company had their own corporate culture and value system, which are neither changeable nor creatable during a workshop. Therefore, the main idea was to evaluate the values of each company and each manager individually and to compare and discuss them.
The focus of the workshop was to find commonalities and to define potential points of consensus with the help of the value circle devised by Shalom Schwartz as the main instrument. The value circle was easy to use , during the event, on a variety of mobile devices (such as phone, tablet or PC). By means of the resulting value, each participant was quickly able to find their own position and their colleagues’ positions within the value circle.
Based on the results, a profound discussion regarding commonalities and differences was possible. The value circle not only facilitated the creation of an overview of existing values, but also allowed for those values that are essential to change processes to be brought to the foreground.
In subsequent workshops, a common value culture was discussed and defined. During these workshops, it became apparent which values were important and elementary on a group-wide basis and which ones would be important for the change process.
Outcome
Our client received an analysis of the values existing in the different parts of the organisation (acquired companies) and defined common values for the group. This common understanding of the values of the organisation was a key driver for the success of the integration of the acquired companies. The value circle is now also used for the discussion of team processes in the organisation as well as a selection criteria for new employees.