Aligning Culture and Ways of Working After a Complex Merger

The Situation

Following a major merger, the organization faced a critical question: how to align two distinct cultures into a coherent, effective operating model.

While significant progress had been made on structural integration, leadership recognized that cultural alignment remained unresolved. Employees from both legacy organizations held different assumptions about how decisions were made, how information was shared, and what behaviors were expected.  

There was a clear need to define a shared culture that could support the combined organization’s strategy, rather than allowing legacy norms to continue operating in parallel.

The Challenge

The organization faced several interconnected challenges. Leadership was trying to define a “best of both” culture, but there was limited clarity on what that meant in practice or how it would translate into day-to-day behavior.  

Employee input highlighted both aspiration and friction:

• A desire for a more open and empowered culture, with less fear and greater transparency
• Frustration with behaviors perceived as intimidating or overly controlling
• Misalignment in how information was used and shared

These tensions showed up in direct feedback:

• “Don’t use information as a weapon.”  
• “No more intimidation.”  
• “Minimize disconnect between suits and grunts.”  

Without a structured approach, the organization risked defaulting to inherited norms rather than intentionally defining the future culture.

The LDW Solution

Leadership Development Worldwide partnered with the organization to conduct a comprehensive culture assessment and alignment process.

The work began with an organization-wide diagnostic using the OCAI framework, combined with internal data and qualitative inputs from across the business. This created a fact-based view of both the current and desired culture across legacy organizations.  

LDW then:

• Synthesized quantitative and qualitative data to identify cultural gaps and alignment opportunities
• Facilitated sessions with senior leaders to review findings and define the desired future state
• Engaged a broad group of top leaders in a structured workshop to align on the desired culture, values, and expected behaviors
• Translated cultural priorities into practical guidance, including leadership expectations and ways of working

The process focused on moving from abstract values to clear, actionable norms that could be applied across the organization.

What Changed

The organization developed a shared understanding of its current culture and a clear definition of the desired future state.

Leaders aligned around a more collaborative, empowered, and transparent culture, with greater emphasis on communication, autonomy, and cross-functional teamwork.  

Importantly, the work translated high-level aspirations into concrete expectations. This created greater clarity and consistency in how leaders were expected to operate across the organization.

Impact

The culture alignment effort created a clear and scalable foundation for how the combined organization operates.

Leaders left with aligned expectations for behavior, decision making, and communication, reducing confusion and inconsistency across legacy teams. The work also established a baseline for measuring culture and tracking progress over time, enabling the organization to manage culture more deliberately as part of business execution.  

By grounding culture in data and translating it into actionable norms, the organization accelerated integration and reduced the risk of fragmentation between legacy entities. The result was a more unified organization with clearer ways of working, better positioned to execute its strategy and scale effectively post-merger.