Cancer Care Associates' head of people and culture on keeping culture consistent through acquisitions and expansion into Queensland
When a business grows by acquisition, its culture can fracture faster than most HR leaders expect. Luke Turner, head of people and culture at Cancer Care Associates (CCA), says effective change management during rapid growth depends less on head office and more on the managers running each site.
CCA, an Australian-owned private oncology provider, has spent the past 18 months acquiring practices in Queensland and Western Australia while opening new centres in Noosa, Moreton Bay and Taree.
The organisation is now in a period of consolidation, and Turner says the people function's job is to make one organisation out of many.
Why frontline managers carry the culture
Turner says the most common blind spot is how quickly culture drifts once an organisation outgrows its informal networks.
"During rapid growth, HR leaders often underestimate how quickly culture can become inconsistent and how critical frontline managers are to maintaining it. As businesses expand, you can no longer rely on culture being passed on informally – you need clear expectations, consistent leadership practices and managers who are equipped to lead people well," he said.
"Ultimately, your frontline leaders become the ones who translate the organisation's culture and strategy into the everyday employee experience."
CCA's response has been twofold: new company values and a deliberate investment in the leaders who run its centres.
"We have done a lot of work around implementing our new Company Values and also investing in and empowering our Frontline Leaders through training, development and greater autonomy to help empower them to improve the employee experience in their centres," Turner said.
There is a compliance dimension too. Safe Work Australia's model Code of Practice on managing psychosocial hazards at work lists poor organisational change management as a psychosocial hazard. For HR leaders weighing those obligations, our practical guide to managing change and psychosocial risk offers a starting point.
Balancing local identity with one organisation
Acquisitions bring in people with established relationships and routines. Turner said CCA set out to understand what made each practice work before asking anyone to change.
"When bringing new practices and teams into the organisation, we've been very conscious that we are bringing together people, relationships, and established ways of working for the practices we acquired. Our approach was to understand and respect in those instances what made each practice successful, while being clear about the values and behaviours we want to share across the broader organisation," he said.
He framed the challenge as a balance rather than a takeover.
"It's about finding the balance between preserving the local identity and strengths that make each team unique, while creating a consistent employee experience and a strong sense that we are all part of one organisation."
That inside-out approach echoes the argument that an employer brand must be felt inside before it works outside – culture has to be lived by existing teams before it can be credibly offered to new ones.
What consolidation means for the people function
With the acquisition phase settling, Turner said consolidation is about building foundations, not simply issuing new rules.
"Consolidation for us is about creating the foundations that allow our people and teams to operate efficiently and effectively with confidence. From a People & Culture perspective, we have done a lot of work around consistent policies and procedures to date, and while that work continues, it's also about communicating better and more frequently to our people across the organisation to help us move from good to great," he said.
The next priority is performance and frontline autonomy.
"This includes building on our performance frameworks and providing more autonomy and information to our frontline leaders to enable them to better run their centres and help our people grow."
Communication also means telling a consistent story about purpose. CCA operates centres in regional communities including Griffith and Taree, and Turner said the organisation is reframing how it explains its growth to staff.
"Our core purpose is to provide comprehensive world-class cancer care closer to home. Unlike any other private practice, we have centres in regional areas such as Griffith, Taree, and where we first started in Wagga Wagga," he said. "… we are really refocusing our story-telling to help everyone know the great work they are doing and with our growth, how many more patients and their families we are helping on a daily basis."
For HR teams looking to do the same, there are lessons in how one organisation embedded storytelling at scale.
Change management lessons for HR leaders
Asked what he would tell another head of people facing growth and integration at the same time, Turner pointed to visibility and listening.
"It is important to be authentic, be visible and take every opportunity to listen. In our roles, it's important to demystify the fact that HR is not the grim reaper, and instead they are an enabler to help connect and engage our people," he said.
Time spent on the ground has shaped that view.
"I have really enjoyed any opportunity I have had to work from one of our centres and see the diversity and passion of our teams. We do such fantastic and important work and put people at the centre of everything they do, so it's crucial for me and in partnership with our leadership to do the same."
For HR leaders managing restructures, leadership changes and integration at once, Turner's experience points to a clear sequence: equip frontline managers, respect what already works, and keep communicating.
