The client
Our client is a global leader in clinical services and customizable medical devices, working with biopharmaceutical and healthcare organizations around the world. With operations and clients across multiple countries, including the US, UK, Germany, India, and many others, the company drives healthcare innovation on a global scale by combining advanced technology with deep clinical expertise.
The challenge
As the organization expanded its Project Managers and Project Coordinators team in India, these teams were managed primarily from the US, UK, and Germany. Operating in such a multicultural environment brought challenges, as many employees were unaware of how their actions might be interpreted differently across cultures.
While India often mirrors Western processes on paper, the reality of doing business there can differ significantly in practice. This created potential friction in areas such as leadership, communication, decision-making, feedback, and conflict management.
Why Global Business Culture?
The organization selected Global Business Culture for this program because of our proven expertise in helping Western companies integrate successfully with India-based teams. With more than 30 years of experience delivering cultural integration projects, we are recognized for guiding global businesses through the challenges and opportunities of working across borders.
The program was led by Navkaran Singh, a UK-based intercultural management consultant with over a decade of experience in cultural transformation. He has supported numerous multinational organizations in building effective India–West collaboration and brings both practical expertise and personal cross-cultural experience. His leadership ensured the workshops were tailored, engaging, and directly relevant to the client’s global and India-based teams.
What we did
Global Business Culture designed and delivered a series of cultural integration workshops tailored for different levels of the organization:
- Leadership workshops to help senior leaders set the tone for collaboration and align expectations across borders.
- Manager-focused sessions to build practical skills for managing India-based teams, balancing global standards with local practices.
- Team workshops to support day-to-day collaboration, strengthen trust, and ensure smoother cross-cultural interactions.
The workshops were delivered in two phases:
- Awareness: interactive sessions where participants shared experiences, reflected on challenges, and explored cultural differences.
- Application: follow-up sessions once collaboration with Indian colleagues had begun, focused on problem-solving, case studies, and developing practical action plans.
Participants worked through real scenarios in small groups, developing strategies to improve effectiveness, share best practices, and embed culturally sensitive approaches into daily work.
The results
The workshops delivered measurable benefits across the organization, equipping leaders, managers, and teams with:
- Stronger awareness of cultural differences in global operations
- Practical strategies for successfully integrating the new India team
- Shared best practices for ongoing collaboration
- More inclusive and culturally sensitive processes
One of the most important outcomes of this program was the decision to create a global eLearning solution on cultural competence. This initiative, designed for all employees worldwide, ensures that the lessons from the workshops are scaled across the business, supporting long-term improvements in global teamwork, communication, and cultural awareness.
