Jos van Ruyven - Lindenberg
Jos van Ruyven, Deputy Director, Lindenberg, House for the Arts
"De Lindenberg was in the middle of a merger of two, different-sized organizations. A small-scale theater came to join a large-scale arts-education institute. The Change Monitor was used to guide that merger.
We wanted to show that we took the problems that go along with a merger seriously. We saw that each of the organizations had a completely different culture. Moreover, we wanted both organizations to benefit equally from each other's good sides. And we wanted to make sure that the culture of the smaller organization wouldn't be completely overwhelmed by the dominant larger one.
Some of the results surprised me. I found it valuable to be engaged in a change process in such a well-documented way. Organizations often race through that sort of process, paying little attention to the shared interests of all those involved. The results of the questionnaire enabled me to better design that process.
After the feedback meeting that is part of working with the Change Monitor, we went through a process in which we jointly came up with definitions for both the way we would be working and the culture in the new organization. The results of that process were unpredictable but they were supported by the employees.
Those definitions still form a frame of reference that people refer to. They include many elements of the culture of the smaller partner in the merger. That is something that never would have happened without the Change Monitor."