Once upon a time, there was a healthcare provider that was rooted in an old culture and resistant to change. Employees were risk averse and made little impact on the organization. When this healthcare provider merged with another company, there was immediate conflict.
According to the Harvard Business Review, employees had trouble adjusting to the new company’s aggressive culture and struggled to embrace new business initiatives. The new CEO quickly realized that he could not force a major cultural shift within the organization. Instead, he worked closely with respected employees within the healthcare company to understand the values deeply ingrained in the culture. Using these findings, he focused on building a brand that preserved the company’s strengths while also incorporating key aspects of the new company’s culture. As a result, employees across the organization displayed an increased level of comfort in adopting a new cultural framework.
The moral of this happy story? Even in the face of seemingly insurmountable resistance, culture transformation is feasible; however, there are a few best practices that will pave the way to lasting change.
