Working in a technology organisation across continents to shape culture and manage change.
Telesign connects and protects online experiences globally but obstacles emerged from misalignments between California HQ and their Serbia tech hub. Learn how focused leadership training and culture shaping, tailored to the local team, empowered and motivated employees, ultimately enhancing collaboration and growth trajectory.
Get the team on the same page to improve growth
NEEDS
Telesign’s leadership team identified a challenge that was impacting the organisation’s ability to grow. There was unintentional misalignment between the head office stationed in the epicentre of tech and innovation, California, and a crucial technical team in Belgrade, Serbia. The 100+ team in Belgrade, despite being hardworking and highly skilled, felt at times like a poor relation, far from the ‘centre’ of action and a secondary voice. The CEO in the US needed expert support to shape a united culture, develop leadership capabilities, engage employees and manage change.
In many organisations there are cultural challenges between departments, even when everyone is situated in the same location. Take a cultural disconnect across continents, and the gap becomes more pronounced and needs a skilled hand to navigate.
Attempts to replicate the Californian culture in Belgrade had resulted in a vibe that wasn’t quite working. It didn’t feel authentic and did not play to the strengths of the Belgrade team.
Working with this large tech organisation, Sycol prepared to deliver work in person, both in LA and Belgrade.
Prioritising and executing a plan for change
SOLUTION
Working with the executive team, SYCOL identified and prioritised a list of actions to kickstart change. To make this happen, Sycol placed an expert consultant into the Belgrade office, to deliver an improvement programme. This meant over a three-month period, the executive team had the benefit of a physical person, working alongside them, offering them guidance, challenge and support. An innovation cycle was introduced that demonstrated how to work collaboratively in teams to design and own change.
Alongside day-to-day training and mentoring, close links were forged with the HR team to create new IT, communication, people management and professional development systems.
The working environment, culture and employee conditions were adapted to be more appropriate to the local team. Previous attempts to recreate the Californian atmosphere shifted focus toward fostering a complementary workplace culture inclusive of both the Telesign headquarters’ ethos and Serbian staff.
The team were shown how to draw out all their positives and create a culture that aligned with their colleagues in the US, but also maintained their own autonomy. The improvement programme was embedded over three months and continues to be used by the organisation to this day.
Persistence established new habits
IMPACT
After 3-months of intensive work the Belgrade office was immensely improved, and a new director was recruited to continue the innovation cycle. This person could hit the ground running, as they came into an organisation with a structure that was working well, and a team empowered to collaborate and innovate.
“The experience helped us change our view on how things can be done. I would emphasize the benefit of the consultant's outsider status and expertise. As an outside expert, he brought fresh air and made us think outside boundaries. His extensive knowledge and focus solely on this project made everything more efficient. The consultant's experience could help in predicting mistakes we can fall into, and how to avoid them. His persistence helped to establish best practices and stick to them. He was very professional, patient, open to feedback, and encouraging. SYCOL arranged an impactful collaboration and it would be great to work with them again in this capacity.”
Nada Krkobabic - IT Helpdesk Manager
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