When organisations expand through acquiring other businesses, the priority is often aligning finances and internal processes. But failing to account for culture can create all sorts of problems for organisations wanting to navigate rapid growth.
“Culture is essentially shaped by the behaviours of humans within an organisation, and the relationships within it,” says Alicia Stephenson, chief executive of Workforce Dynamics.
“When acquisitions happen, those patterns of behaviours and relationships have a tendency to shift. We often see a dominant culture emerge between the acquiring party and those being acquired, and as a result relationships and work transparency can retreat a bit.”
It can be hard for companies acquiring smaller businesses to retain the aspects of the businesses that attracted them in the first place, such as an entrepreneurial culture or agility.
Keeping culture at the core
Successfully aligning culture requires more than just creating motherhood statements or abstract policies.
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“One of the most powerful things that I’ve seen is taking individuals from the acquired organisation that embody the values [the bigger organisation] wants to retain – such as agility or entrepreneurship – and demonstrating that they are respected in the new organisation,” Stephenson says.
“They attach those desired behaviours to those individuals as a social proof – it’s not being imposed top down, but it’s really a person who people can see, trust and follow. You’re also showing that you’re backing the way of operating in practice; it’s not just all theoretical.”
During periods of change, people find a sense of stability and identity, and greater motivation, in “smaller, relational anchors” than abstracted brand shifts, Stephenson says. “If you get it right, people can tolerate a lot of organisational ambiguity.”
“Everybody leans into making LMG a great place to work,” says LMG group executive – people and culture, Carly Lloyd.
One organisation that’s navigated this challenge well is Loan Market Group (LMG). After acquiring three businesses in 2021 from NAB, LMG more than doubled its headcount – and today, it’s the largest mortgage and finance broking aggregator across Australia and New Zealand.
That scale matters. As an aggregator, LMG provides the platform, tools and support that allow brokers to run and grow their businesses – so they can focus on helping clients secure the right loan.
And with mortgage brokers now responsible for around 76 per cent of all home loans written in Australia, LMG plays a critical role in the housing journey for most Australians.
It’s why the strength of its culture in the wake of its expansion has led to LMG securing a spot on The Australian Financial Review’s 2025 Best Places to Work list.
“Everybody leans into making LMG a great place to work,” says Carly Lloyd, LMG group executive – people and culture. “Our people are genuinely proud of the journey that we’ve been on, and how it feels to work here today.”
Bringing workforces together
At the outset, LMG had “a clear plan for how we would integrate the technology for brokers, but we needed to bring the different workforces together,” Lloyd says. Simple aspects such as people being paid to different payment schedules inherited from their former employers were small but constant reminders of difference.
To keep its culture strong and put its people front and centre during its rapid growth, LMG embarked on a process of consultation across the business to map out a new business strategy, vision and purpose.
“We consulted across our whole workforce, not just with the new employees, and created a whole new contract and set of policies and benefits that applied to everyone,” Lloyd says. “We did that in a way that was informed by our people and an extensive change management process and we got a really high vote, and quick approval.”
The result was the implementation of the “One LMG” program across the company, a “huge milestone” for LMG’s people, Lloyd says. Benefits that are now available for everybody include six “Me Days” of leave a year, 16 weeks of gender-neutral parental leave, extra leave for everything from volunteering to fertility treatment, and a unified set of conditions.
Loan Market Group (LMG) has managed to retain its core spirit while
growing at pace, incorporating a range of benefits for employees under its flagship ‘One
LMG’ program.
Stephenson, of Workforce Dynamics, says the success of the “One LMG” program shows that workplace perks can be a key pillar of a company’s culture, but only when they are authentically reinforced.
“People are much more emotionally intelligent than they used to be in the workplace environment,” she says. “Everything from wellbeing days to volunteer days can reinforce a strong culture, but they need to reflect how the organisation truly works.”
‘Big enough, small enough’
LMG has embraced the phrase “big enough, small enough,” Lloyd says – it’s an organisation that’s big enough to invest in development and opportunities for its people, but small enough that they can forge genuine relationships and maintain a dynamic, entrepreneurial culture.
“We often find when talking to talent that our size makes us unique. There’s an art to getting it right – we work hard to give the benefits of scale while retaining shared moments of intimacy and connection in how we come together.”
It’s a balance that attracts many people looking to leave bigger corporate environments and embrace an organisation that fosters innovation and enables its people to make a difference.
“We’re part of the multi-generational Ray White family group of companies, which gives us a great heritage and set of values. We’re not in a constant capital-raising cycle, but we aren’t a start-up either. It’s quite a unique balance in financial services.”
