A multi-country European HR team within a global fund manager were finding it difficult to get their heads together when it came to making decisions and dealing with their global counterparts. The US Head Office was therefore able to exert pressure and influence on the territory because it was dealing with a divided team. Ultimately, the team was having difficulties in getting the US to grasp local cultural necessities on a range of HR issues – not least of all to do with compensation; the European team’s internal clients were far from impressed with the mixed messages and lack of support.

 

PEC put together a brief series of sessions to give individuals the opportunity to get to know one another on many levels both professional and interpersonal. Given that this was a sophisticated group of internationally focussed, senior HR professionals, swinging from ropes and jumping over barrels was never going to appear on the menu when it came to devising the 'let's all get to know each other' phase. A carefully selected site and a few specifically chosen facilitated activities gave the group room to have some tough discussions, set a few realistic actions and to get to trust each other a lot more.

 

The sessions resulted in much strengthened relationships within the team as well as in the various parts of the group talking to one another about subjects that had never been broached before – the stuff of which divisive rifts had been the foundations. The group as a whole was also quickly able to devise a strategy for dealing with their American counterparts as a unified team that shared an approach and clear positions on important issues.