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Building an organisation identity based on values and collaboration
Rik Berbé MSc
October 4, 2019
3:23 pm
A change project by Humap (Finland) in collaboration with ChangeLabs. In 2015, Cadmatic bought the Dutch software company NCG with which it had been cooperating for a couple of decades. After the acquisition, the goal was to combine the operations of the two companies and build a single, global organisation.
From the start, our goal has been to build a shared culture between our offices that resonates with our values. The forming of values seemed like a good platform for developing a shared culture, says Jukka Rantala, CEO.

Cadmatic has offices in nine different countries, and it was clear from the very beginning that the values would be formed together with the whole organisation. The organizations had different ways of operating and working but, through inclusive value work, the management was able to grasp the employees’ way of thinking right from the start.

The process helped us to understand that matters that are self-evident to some, are not for everyone. People think differently about these kinds of themes. Each of us has their own everyday life challenges that became visible through this process. We understood our company’s current value base and the things we wanted to consolidate further, emphasises Rantala."
A digital platform bringing a global organisation together


In Cadmatic, the value work consisted of management interviews, workshops for the whole organization, small group sessions, and peer sparring. The work was supported using Humap’s digital platform HowSpace both in large, multi-location workshops, and in between meetings.


The discussion started flowing surprisingly effortlessly on the platform. The tool had an important role in having discussions and sharing thoughts when people participated in the workshops from different parts of the world. Making the discussion transparent was also an eye-opener for me.

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According to Rantala, when the values of the organisation had been chosen, it was time for perhaps the most important stage of the process – living the values.

Value work was actually a trigger for doing this. We were able to build a dialogical connection between all our offices. Teams around the world had their voices heard. The spirit of collaboration surely grows through these kinds of processes. Our employees appreciated the fact that they were able to participate in the value process from the very beginning, notes Rantala cheerfully."

This project is an example of an Identity Lab.

Category : Organisations Tools