Understanding culture: key messages for leadership

It is crucial, in an era of healthcare mergers and acquisitions, that leaders understand organizational culture and the role it plays in major transitions. Research indicates that organizational factors can lead to either the success or failure of a major change. Too many failed mergers testify to the fact that cultures sometimes collide, rather than coalesce. Culture is the human dimension of an organization. Anytime an organization makes a major change, some of its employees will experience the change as chaos. But chaos is not necessarily a bad thing. It can free people from the constraints of the past, enabling them to create new structures. But, for this to happen, leaders must help employees separate essential from peripheral matters and specify their common values and beliefs. Good leaders are vital for change as significant as an acquisition or a merger. They may want to begin with assessments of their respective cultures. They will certainly give employees an opportunity to express their sense of loss. As early in the process as possible, they should create communications mechanisms that involve employees in the change process and share vision and values. And leaders should share themselves, both their strength and vulnerability, so that employees can see change as something all are experiencing together.