Day in the Life: Ben de Haldevang, corporate integration specialist

0645: If I'm not awake by this time, something has gone wrong - it's rare to get a full night's sleep with a six-week old baby! The first hour of the day passes in a blur breakfast, taking my eldest son to nursery, and generally getting organised.

0745: I move upstairs to my home office to take an initial look at the e-mails and news that have accumulated overnight. Integrum has been a virtual business since its inception, recognising that the vagaries of travel in London are not conducive to creative thought, and that commuting per se is often a pointless exercise.

So we have invested heavily in technology with broadband communications to all employees' homes, and a central telephone and server allowing continual, protected access to our intellectual capital.

1000: I'm meeting the CEO of a recently merged major financial services company to discuss the results of a cultural assessment which we have just completed. He is particularly interested in finding out how he can develop a culture to deliver his strategic objectives.

Given the poor performance of mergers generally as a mechanism for creating shareholder value, he is anxious to tackle the critical 'people' issues that might prevent a successful integration as quickly as possible.

1130:: My next meeting is with a couple of the Integrum team and Simon Ball, one of our non-executive advisers. Simon chairs our product development team, and today we are talking about the progress made in the development of our cultural due diligence project.

One of my colleagues, Massoud Janekeh, is reporting on recent discussions with our academic partners in this work, Manchester Business School (UMIST). We're looking to soft launch the first stage of research by the third quarter.

1300: Lunch with a director of a small but fast growing investment banking boutique. We see opportunities to market through deal-driven advisers and potential clients who are considering a merger or acquisition, and who might be concerned about the integration process. The lunch is a chance to update him on our recent experiences and also to get a sense of where some immediate prospects might lie.

1430:: A change management workshop with the risk department of one of our banking clients. The agenda for the workshop is relatively straightforward: what issues are impacting our performance, how are we perceived currently, and how do we want to be perceived. We are looking at what constitutes 'best practice' for us and what immediate steps we can take to start establishing it.

Many of the participants have not met each other before which is a reflection of the newness of the merged structure, and there is some initial hesitancy in talking openly. We have prepared the team manager for this, and he sets a great example, opening up to our questions in terms of his concerns and wanting to understand the needs that others have of him.

After that, the dialogue begins to flow easily and almost imperceptibly, the group starts to establish a code of conduct that is acceptable across the team. The discussion about perceptions leads to the definition of some strategic intentions - what they want to deliver to their clients.

After a short break, they split into groups of three with the task of coming up with a plan of easily to achieve actions related to the strategic intents defined earlier. One of these is the development of a flow chart of information and relationships which attempts to illustrate graphically the opportunities and needs of the department.

This is well received by the rest of the group - they begin to share a common understanding of their function and responsibilities towards clients by looking at the relationships in a new way.

1730: I spend 20 minutes with the team manager, identifying the issues that arose in the workshop and agreeing next steps and a time frame for delivering these. We agree to convene again in a couple of weeks to see how the situation has progressed.

He comments that he has a real sense of the challenge facing the team and its existing capabilities. He is excited about the next phase.

1800: Domestic life resumes for an hour, after which there is an opportunity to wrap up the day with a couple of calls to my colleagues to get their news and agree priorities for the next day. Today we hold a telephone conference call at 1900 to brainstorm a proposal and presentation for a new client.

1930: Time before supper to prepare for an important presentation to a new client tomorrow. The challenge he faces is to retrieve some value from an integration that took place two years ago and was largely unsuccessful. The organisation has lapsed back into its traditional silos, there is no cross-functional flow of information and cross-sell revenues are virtually non-existent. He wants some help to take the business out of its current, 'sullen' poor performing state.

Our task is to give him a clear set of tools and processes that will actively engage his people and make the necessary change happen. This will be a complex balancing act - engaging hearts and minds, whilst maintaining a clear sense of strategic objectives and tracking performance carefully. In order to help them deliver the change, we will need a team on site for a significant proportion of the project.

2045: Just about ready for another day. One of the things I really enjoy about doing this job is that each day is different and offers a learning experience.