Decision Rights After a Carve-Out
The first hundred days after a carve-out are full of people asking permission from a centre that no longer exists. Others spend money as if the parent still backstops the risk. Both are decision-rights problems wearing a culture costume.
Coach the rights. The story about “how we do things here” can wait until someone can sign.
What to map in week one
List the twenty decisions that moved last quarter: hiring, pricing, capital, legal, brand, and customer exceptions. For each, write who decided it in the parent and who may decide it now. The blanks are the coaching agenda.
This sits with Change-Management Coaching for Post-Merger Integration and Coaching Family-Owned Businesses when the carve-out is from a family group.
A rights table worth putting on the wall
| Decision | Parent used to own | New owner | Temporary rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiring above a grade | Group HR | Local CHRO + CEO | Chair informed for 90 days |
| Capex | Group treasury | CFO | Board above a line |
| Brand and claims | Parent comms | CEO | Legal still reviews |
| Customer exceptions | Regional VP | Revenue lead | CFO sees discounting |
| Regulatory contact | Group legal | Named officer | No informal parent calls |
What not to do
Do not run a values workshop while invoices still go to the old shared-service desk. Do not keep a shadow “group” reviewer because it feels safer. If two headquarters remain, read Coaching across dual headquarters without splitting culture.
Why culture talk fails here
People ask for a new purpose statement because the old parent’s purpose still sits in their email footer. Purpose will not tell you who can sign a lease. Map twenty real decisions from last quarter before you workshop anything that sounds like identity.
The most dangerous leftover is a friendly group reviewer who still “has a look.” That person is now a ghost. Either they join the new company with a title, or they lose the informal veto. Coaching the CEO to keep the ghost “for safety” recreates the parent in miniature.
The first ninety days
Week one: the twenty-decision map. Week three: a public list of who owns hiring, capex, brand, and customer exceptions. Week six: stop copying the parent on regulatory calls. Week twelve: ask the board whether any paper still assumes a centre that does not exist.
If a dual headquarters remains after the carve-out, you have two problems, not one. Decision rights first, then the shared calendar. Do not run a culture offsite while invoices still go to the old shared-service desk.
Customers and regulators
They still email the parent. Put a named officer on every external channel in week two, and tell the parent in writing to forward, not to answer. Informal parent calls are how decision rights leak while the org chart looks clean.
Brand claims are the same problem in public language. If the parent still signs off a press line, you are not carved out. You are a division with extra legal entities. Coaching a “new culture” on top of that is decoration.
Keep the temporary rules dated. A ninety-day “chair informed” rule that never expires is the parent in slower clothes.
People who still wait for the centre
They are not stupid. They were trained. Retraining is a dated list on the wall, not a town hall about empowerment. When someone asks the ghost parent for permission, the answer is the new owner’s name, every time, for ninety days. After that, asking the ghost is a performance issue.
Coaching the CEO to be patient with the ghost is how the parent survives. Be clear, then kind. The other way around keeps two companies on one payroll.
Close the desks that still answer for you
The first month after legal close is when old shared-service desks quietly keep answering. Invoices, leases, and “just a quick look” from group legal are how a parent survives in the plumbing. If those desks still reply, you are not carved out. You are a division with extra entities.
Write a stop date for every temporary rule. A “chair informed for ninety days” line that never expires is the parent in slower clothes. On day ninety-one, either the new owner signs or the rule was theatre.
Then tell the parent, in writing, to forward rather than answer. Informal parent calls are how rights leak while the org chart looks clean. Be clear first, then kind. Patience with the ghost keeps two companies on one payroll.
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