Client Stories > Global Diversity and Intercultural Productivity: Technology

Global Diversity and Intercultural Productivity: Technology

Improving Employee and Vendor Relationships Across Cultures for a Technology Company

Client Case Study

Situation

This growing three billion dollar global company develops software and provides related services for businesses and consumers. The company believed that efficiency and effectiveness in their employee and vendor relationships and in their interactions among diverse populations and across geographical boundaries were key goals for continued success.

Specific goals included:

  1. Addressing and identifying current communication challenges when working with their counterparts in EMEA and APAC
  2. Making cultural awareness learning opportunities available to all employees who interact with international counterparts
  3. Ensuring international employees feel supported in their interactions with US counterparts
  4. Integrating cultural awareness and a global mindset into future development offerings

Complications

  • Overseas Growth: An international employee ramp-up was on the horizon adding another component to their already diverse workforce.
  • Communication: Effective communications between offices and partners across geographical boundaries would become increasingly difficult.

Approach

  1. Assess & Design 
    • Conducted assessments of entire target audience
    • Conducted interviews with key managers
    • Customized course design based on assessment and interview results
    • Tailored approach to fit seamlessly with the company’s leadership practices and values
    • Designed interactive lab, role plays, case studies, and on-the-spot coaching

Approach (cont)

2.  Tools and Best Practices

  • Shared best practices from leading global high tech companies to leverage model for understanding how cultural differences impact working relationships, expectations, teamwork, and communication
  • Supplied methods for promoting initiative, inclusion, and open communication
  • Provided strategies for communicating across distances, including minimizing challenges due to language differences and to cultural issues with India and APAC
  • Taught a highly effective model with the use of virtual communication tools for understanding cultural communication differences, minimizing challenges due to language and accent differences, strengthening productivity and communication with global colleagues, building trust, and maintaining relationships remotely

3.  Pilot: Piloted half-day program for key group of internal sponsors

4.  Continuous Improvement and Roll-out 

  • Incorporated feedback and lessons learned from the Pilot into design and delivery
  • Implemented twenty-two (22) half-day interactive sessions in North America and India for over 500 employees for key business units including finance, call centers, engineering, human resources, and marketing.

Results

  • 97.2% client satisfaction
  • Improved Relationships: Deepened teamwork, communication and collaboration across multiple global locations. Put strategies in place for building and maintaining relationships virtually.
  • Improved Efficiency: Improved efficiency and collaboration by creating alignment and a common language for all levels of the organization in North America and India while improving utilization rates.

Related Information

I can’t emphasize enough what a huge shift you helped to create for us as an organization. Thanks again for your change management consulting help and guidance.

The clarity, practicality, focus, and accountability are exactly what we needed to make this strategy and major transformation a success from a hearts and minds perspective.

Cris Alvarez
VP Corporate Strategy

LSA Global Cambridge Investment Research Financial Services Client

You have become our premier change leadership strategic partner. Your expertise in the human side of change is unparalleled and enabled our company to successfully implement our ERP Solution under challenging and ever-changing circumstances.

Thank you for your practical and outcome-oriented approach.

Ted Ramlet
CIO & SVP

McKesson

We highly value the relationship we have with LSA Global.

I highly recommend LSA to anyone who is looking to strategically, practically, and fundamentally improve individual and organizational effectiveness in a way that makes sense for their unique culture and strategy.

Laura Dominguez
Director of Human Resources

Great job in designing the Mergers and Acquisition strategy session for our global leadership team. The session was excellent.

I gained additional insight on the importance of the role of HR regarding strategy, culture, and people in Mergers and Acquisitions and would recommend LSA to anyone looking to align strategies and cultures.

Gloria Veon
Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Fujitsu

The experiential New Employee Orientation was an incredible success for 2,500+ new hires over 4 years spread across the globe.

LSA partnered with us to create an innovative solution on very short notice and added a huge amount of value.

We could never have done it without their unmatched combination of expertise, professionalism, and creativity that aligned everything with our unique culture and growth strategy.

Even our executives and experienced hires were blown away!

Brenda Wagner
Founder and President

Proxicom

We looked to LSA Global as a consulting partner to help us explore innovative and scholarly approaches to promote employee engagement and sustain the unique culture we’ve built over the last decade.  LSA helped us perpetuate coaching as a discipline across the organization by integrating our core values, goal setting, and performance management.

We appreciate LSA’s commitment to cutting-edge practices to help keep us a step ahead during this time of rapid change.

Rosalyn Chan
Vice President, Human Resources

Redwood Trust

The LSA customized Organizational Alignment Survey gave us a comprehensive view of how our employees experience our culture, talent, and strategy.

The systemic approach provided us with a great forum to discuss the strengths and opportunities in our organization, and then to quickly get focused on the key actions critical to executing our business and people strategies.

Mark Forrest
General Manager, FSM Division

Trimble

LSA Global really shifted our perspective about strategic clarity and organizational culture.

The 3 C’s approach to workplace culture is very practical and really helps  executive teams – even skeptical ones – ensure that your culture is healthy, high performing, and aligned.

Amy Cappellanti-Wolf
Chief Human Resources Officer

symantec logo LSA Global

It was a challenge to find a consultant with an approach to performance improvement that fit our unique performance culture and style. We were pleasantly surprised to discover LSA’s depth of expertise in the fields of motivation, developmental coaching, performance management, and measurement.

LSA seamlessly integrated those components without our folks feeling like the intervention was forced. They understood what we were trying to accomplish, helped us clarify our objectives, and created a solid, refreshing approach that quickly got us moving and engaged at all levels across the organization.

Overall, I couldn’t be happier that we found a true strategy and implementation partner in LSA.

Doug Hansen
President and Director

Redwood Trust

Thanks a million for the great strategy and cultural alignment session for our global leadership team.

Your experience and patience to expertly deal with the inherent and complex challenges between business units uncovered many hidden truths that created a great roadmap for us to move forward as a unified leadership team.

I recommend LSA to any leader looking to shape and align organizational culture.

Juan Plaza
Geospatial Sales Manager, Latin America

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