Lehigh Hanson
Organisational Change Programme
With more than 650 facilities in operation in the United States and Canada, Lehigh Hanson is one of North America’s largest suppliers of heavy building materials to the construction industry.
Objective
Lehigh Hanson is the legal entity for the North American operations of the HeidelbergCement Group. HeidelbergCement acquired the Lehigh Cement Company in 1977 and Hanson plc in 2007.
Following the Hanson acquisition, the newly combined IT department was experiencing significant change. The integration required reassignment, relocation and redundancies for many within the department. Prior to the acquisition, IT personnel performed their jobs well, but often worked independently from other areas of the business. Lehigh Hanson needed a ‘one team’ approach that focused on common goals and a consistent vision of success.
Solution
After conducting 1:1 interviews and online questionnaires, Impact USA worked with Lehigh Hanson to create a two-tiered approach to bring the department together.
The first tier focused on developing an aligned management team to lead the transition. The second tier consisted of a cascading series of team development programmes.
Five critical areas for personal and organisational development were identified: connection, alignment, influence, dialogue and action. Each Impact intervention consisted of theory inputs, facilitated dialogue, experiential projects, Q&A with senior leaders and business discussions to create actionable solutions for the integration process. The evening session concluded with a team cooking challenge supported by an award-winning chef.
Result
Following the programme the management team and IT department were better able to:
• Articulate and align around a vision for the new IT dept
• Create a common sense of purpose and motivation for the whole team
• Foster a shared sense of identity and belonging
• Develop the trust, relationships, and systems for good coordination
• Increase awareness and understanding of the different functions within the entire IT department
• Improve communication and ability to collaboratively solve problems
• Change team-working behaviours
"Our work with Impact significantly helped our IT Team to get to know each other and individually realize that they are not the only ones with significant challenges at work as a result of the Lehigh Hanson merger. Our sessions helped all the participants develop their ability to have influence on the current reality as well as positively impact the future state of the IT department."
Donna Ashabranner
Director of HR Southwest and West Regions
Further Information
Read more about Impact's approach to Accelerating Change
Read more about Impact's approach to Creating High Performing Teams
