My staff see me as an outsider. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I bought a company six months ago in the face of many warnings. But not for the reason they said. The financials are fine and we are actually meeting the budgets set by the previous owners at half year. But my problem is the people. It is a very close knit “family” culture. They regard me as an outsider who does not understand their business.
It is true that I am unfamiliar with their industry and I am an immigrant (Kiwi), but I have had lots of experience starting and running businesses and can add a lot of value. The company still has the systems of a start up and urgently needs to introduce technology and change the way they do things. But the staff seem to think that any change means their company DNA will be destroyed.

Do you have any tips to speed up change as I am feeling very frustrated that it is taking so long. Also how can they accept me and stop seeing me as an outsider?

AD,
Sydney,

Dear AD,

It can take three years to change a culture like that unless you sack the key staff who are resisting the changes. While that can work well – look at what Kerry Stokes has done to the West Australian – the danger is that you can also rip out a bit of DNA and disrupt client relationships.

Here is what you must do.

Explain that you are not going to destroy their DNA. You are just going to introduce processes to support the DNA. Explain to them how a business grows. It is a bit like a house. You can’t just keep adding bits or it will topple over. You have to keep checking the foundations and adding buttresses and whatever else you do when you build a house.

Processes means stability not chaos.

You must also employ your best management skills. While you need to be firm about what must change you must also encourage. That means always talking about “we” not “I”. It means celebrating small victories and it means listening – really listening – to how things work.

Also take into account cultural differences – make sure you appear warm because sometimes Kiwis can come across as a little chilly to the more relaxed Aussie (oh shut up all you Kiwis, you know it’s true).

You also need some strategy sessions and off-sites. Get in some experts to talk about what is changing and then you can get your people to talk about how they can deal with this. Above all be patient. Change takes time!

Good luck,
Your Aunty B

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