Take a piece of printer paper. Unlined. Fold it in half. Twice. Unfold it. You have quadrants. Turn the paper sideways. To the landscape position. Now use a pencil and an eraser:
1. Number
First, choose a baseline number. Assume that you’re in the M&A space. Take the acquisition price. It’s most likely a rather significant number.
2. Factors
Second, what are the key success factors? In the bottom-left quadrant list no more than five factors. These are the things which the combined companies must do well in order to meet the baseline number.
3. Collaboration
Third, which factors are dependent on cross-border collaboration? In the top-right quadrant list those of the max. five success factors which are based on collaboration. Then sketch out per factor, and on a separate piece of paper: who working with whom, on what, why, and most importantly how.
4. Actions
Fourth, what actions are being taken to ensure that those colleagues understand the influence of cultural differences on their collaboration? Write those in the bottom-right quadrant.
Now put some numbers to it. Four Questions with Numbers
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