Change Lessons from Corporate Mergers and the Movies!
Blending your Teams…
I remember standing in the lunch room at our corporate headquarters back in 1986 during our acquisition orientation and having an informal conversation with Roy Vagelos, then CEO of Merck & Co., Inc. and listening to him say he hoped we would blend our two companies well together and think of our products and personal blending of people as one. He went on to share that during the early years of the Merck Sharp and Dohme merger into the one company Merck, he experienced what he had continued to hear during his term at Merck. Instead of people referring to the merged products as Merck products, in the halls he would hear people saying “oh that’s a Sharp and Dohme product” or “oh, that’s a Merck product”. He wanted our acquisition of our largest competitor to be a blending from the start with no lines of division between people or products. I can’t say that it happened immediately; it did happen and it was a result of a shift of focus to the customer and in your case it would be the patient. The leaders set the example, created processes for inter-development and cross-training and set goals and expectations with measurable outcomes. The processes helped the transition work well and resulted in record breaking sales and incredible personal and professional development, ecstatic customers and innovations.
From the movies – Yours, Mine, and Ours is a silly comedy about the ultimate blended family. The first movie (1968) features Helen North played by Lucille Ball who marries a widower named Frank Beardsley played by Henry Fonda. They have 18 children between them, and what takes place in the movie is the “not so typical” situations you can face with blending people together who have other pre-set ideas and thoughts about how things work in a family. It is a whacky demonstration of how resistance might get in the way of making things work harmoniously and how personalities, ways of being and differing ideas can challenge the best in us. What we witness is a series of events that are comical and frustrating and yet in the end, a “happily ever after” story is created as harmony results. This might be a good film to recommend as you experience major changes in your practice, merge with another or are just beginning and want to know what fun you could experience!
Examples such as these demonstrate that there are stages (forming, storming, norming and performing) your team will go through as you introduce change, and the more that you can embrace that there will be some challenges, the easier it will be to focus on the results you desire. By setting objectives and measurement guidelines you can track your progress and celebrate your successes.
If you want a more in-depth look on the stages as well as a brief introduction on the stage called adjourning – check out – Wikipedia
In addition to supporting those who need assistance in working through the processes in the course1in 9 Change Blaster for Dentists, this blog is here for you to participate and share what is working as you implement change in your practice. If you struggle with change, this is a place to learn how to embrace it and bring change process into your practice with ease and grace.
A “change master” has written this course and it incorporates everything you need to successfully and easily create the changes you desire to have the practice you vision. It is fun, entertaining and irreverent – and most importantly makes it easy for you!
Thank you and let me know how this is landing for you!
Kathy
