Сase studies
From Intercultural Workshops to Corporate Culture Transition: Supporting an International Music Technology Company after a Major Acquisition and Beyond
My client is a large international music technology company. Their employees live and work in 15 countries and hail from 14 different cultural backgrounds. The company is known for its fast-paced, highly autonomous work culture built around personal responsibility, asynchronous collaboration, and taking ownership of results.
Following the acquisition of a long-established American-British-European company in the music publishing industry, my client faced a new challenge in 2024. Although both organizations operated internationally, their corporate cultures differed significantly. Many employees from the acquired company were accustomed to a more traditional, hierarchical environment with slower communication, stakeholder-based approach to decision-making and reliance on workplace relationships.
As the integration process progressed, the company began to notice intercultural misunderstandings and communication challenges affecting collaboration across teams. This marked the beginning of our long-term partnership.
Following the acquisition of a long-established American-British-European company in the music publishing industry, my client faced a new challenge in 2024. Although both organizations operated internationally, their corporate cultures differed significantly. Many employees from the acquired company were accustomed to a more traditional, hierarchical environment with slower communication, stakeholder-based approach to decision-making and reliance on workplace relationships.
As the integration process progressed, the company began to notice intercultural misunderstandings and communication challenges affecting collaboration across teams. This marked the beginning of our long-term partnership.
Kristina Roppelt
Intercultural Communications
& Soft Skills Consultant
& Soft Skills Consultant
Problem
After the acquisition, employees from different cultural backgrounds often interpreted the same situations very differently.
For example, several male employees from post-Soviet countries recorded a video for International Women’s Day. The men intended to express appreciation for their female colleagues in a manner that would be traditionally considered respectful in their home cultures. However, some British employees interpreted the video differently. They questioned why the message focused on women as "the decoration of the team" rather than on female empowerment. They also questioned why no women had been invited to participate in the recording.
Situations like this one highlighted a broader challenge. Employees acted with positive intentions, yet cultural differences led to misunderstandings, frustration, and conflicting expectations. The company needed a practical way to help employees recognize and discuss these differences and collaborate more effectively across cultures.
For example, several male employees from post-Soviet countries recorded a video for International Women’s Day. The men intended to express appreciation for their female colleagues in a manner that would be traditionally considered respectful in their home cultures. However, some British employees interpreted the video differently. They questioned why the message focused on women as "the decoration of the team" rather than on female empowerment. They also questioned why no women had been invited to participate in the recording.
Situations like this one highlighted a broader challenge. Employees acted with positive intentions, yet cultural differences led to misunderstandings, frustration, and conflicting expectations. The company needed a practical way to help employees recognize and discuss these differences and collaborate more effectively across cultures.
Solution
Conducted an intercultural communication assessment for the leadership team
Collected real-life communication cases through interviews and surveys
Designed and delivered a series of intercultural communication workshops
Developed supporting learning materials for independent study
Our collaboration started with a thorough assessment phase. Since our workshops became part of the company’s Leadership Development Program, we surveyed the leadership team and interviewed employees from different departments. Our goal was to identify recurring communication challenges and collect real-life examples to be used during training sessions.
Based on our findings, we designed a customized intercultural communication workshop. First, the program was piloted with the HR team. Then, it was delivered in seven separate sessions for groups of 15 to 30 participants.
The workshops focused on practical situations drawn directly from the company’s experience. Instead of discussing culture in abstract terms, participants analyzed real cases, explored different cultural perspectives, and practiced methods for resolving misunderstandings.
After each session, participants received additional learning materials for self-study. We answered all follow-up questions in writing and created a knowledge base that could be integrated into the company’s internal documentation and Confluence environment later on.
Based on our findings, we designed a customized intercultural communication workshop. First, the program was piloted with the HR team. Then, it was delivered in seven separate sessions for groups of 15 to 30 participants.
The workshops focused on practical situations drawn directly from the company’s experience. Instead of discussing culture in abstract terms, participants analyzed real cases, explored different cultural perspectives, and practiced methods for resolving misunderstandings.
After each session, participants received additional learning materials for self-study. We answered all follow-up questions in writing and created a knowledge base that could be integrated into the company’s internal documentation and Confluence environment later on.
Results
The initial project helped the company develop a common language to discuss intercultural challenges in a highly international and asynchronous setting. It provided leaders and employees with practical tools to recognize cultural differences, discuss sensitive situations more openly, and prevent misunderstandings from affecting collaboration.
The client was so satisfied with the results of the intercultural communication workshops that they invited us to support several additional projects that went far beyond traditional intercultural training.
Additional Project №1
Intercultural feedback
Problem
The company recognized that feedback conversations were challenging for teams, particularly in an environment where employees came from cultures that had different attitudes toward directness, hierarchy, disagreement, and personal responsibility.
Solution
We designed and delivered a workshop dedicated to intercultural feedback for the entire team. The session helped employees understand how cultural expectations can influence how feedback is perceived as helpful, rude, vague, overly harsh, or insufficiently direct.
Additional Project №2
Corporate culture transition
Problem
After the acquisition, the company launched an internal initiative to refine and unify its corporate culture. Leaders had to clearly understand the updated principles in order to later explain them to their own teams.
Solution
As an expert in communication, leadership, and corporate culture, I was invited to facilitate this process. We examined the new cultural framework and led four workshops for team leaders. The workshops focused on one of the company’s new defining principles: Radical Ownership. Our goal was to ensure that the leaders understood the concept, could explain it, and could implement it within their own teams.
As part of this project, we organized a series of 15-minute learning sessions for employees company-wide. Using interactive tools such as Miro, Menti, and Aha Slides, participants completed specially designed exercises, quizzes, and reflection activities to deepen their understanding of the new principles.
Additionally, we developed workshop materials and practical exercises for the company’s HR team. They later delivered leadership training to employees at music printing facilities in the United Kingdom. Since many participants worked in production roles, the exercises had to be simple, practical, and accessible regardless of educational background. Therefore, we adapted the content to suit this audience while preserving the core leadership concepts.
As part of this project, we organized a series of 15-minute learning sessions for employees company-wide. Using interactive tools such as Miro, Menti, and Aha Slides, participants completed specially designed exercises, quizzes, and reflection activities to deepen their understanding of the new principles.
Additionally, we developed workshop materials and practical exercises for the company’s HR team. They later delivered leadership training to employees at music printing facilities in the United Kingdom. Since many participants worked in production roles, the exercises had to be simple, practical, and accessible regardless of educational background. Therefore, we adapted the content to suit this audience while preserving the core leadership concepts.
Additional Project №3
Company-wide engagement events
Problem
In a globally distributed, asynchronous company, employees often have limited opportunities to meet informally and learn about each other’s cultures. This makes it difficult for them to feel like they’re part of the same organization.
Solution
In both 2024 and 2025, we designed and hosted company-wide virtual holiday celebrations. These celebrations brought together more than 200 employees through interactive quizzes focused on the company’s various cultures and significant events from the previous year.
We also organized an online celebration for the company’s anniversary. Employees participated in music-themed quizzes, learned about milestones in the company’s history, and exchanged messages of appreciation with their colleagues.
We also organized an online celebration for the company’s anniversary. Employees participated in music-themed quizzes, learned about milestones in the company’s history, and exchanged messages of appreciation with their colleagues.
Additional Project №4
Intercultural сonflict resolution
Problem
As the company continued to integrate teams with different working styles, managers needed tools to identify and resolve intercultural conflicts before they escalated.
Solution
We conducted a new assessment focused specifically on managing intercultural conflicts. After conducting surveys and interviews, we designed and delivered three workshops for managers. Participants worked through real cases from the company and practiced identifying, preventing, and resolving conflicts before they escalated.
Additional Project №5
DEIB workshop
Problem
The company wanted to foster a deeper understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging among the entire team, particularly with regard to unconscious bias in everyday workplace interactions.
Solution
We held a large-scale DEIB workshop for approximately 200 employees. During the session, participants explored concepts such as unconscious bias and completed exercises to help them recognize and mitigate biases in their everyday workplace interactions.
Overall Results
Our partnership evolved from a single intercultural communication project into a long-term strategic alliance that supported the company's organizational development during a period of significant growth and transformation.
Through a combination of assessments, workshops, facilitation, engagement events, leadership development sessions, DEIB work, employees and leaders received practical tools for navigating cultural differences in a highly international, asynchronous environment.
The company strengthened its leadership capabilities in areas such as providing feedback, taking ownership, and resolving conflicts. . The company also created opportunities for employees from different countries to connect with one another more effectively.
Throughout our collaboration, we worked with employees at all organizational levels (from production teams and individual contributors to managers, human resources professionals, and senior leaders) helping to build a stronger, more cohesive global culture.
“
In an international, mostly remote team it’s next to impossible to find common ground when it comes to communication principles and patterns. That was the initial thing Kristina helped us with. But she is so much more than an intercultural trainer. What sets her apart is her versatility and adaptability. Kristina supported us not just through the Leadership development program, but through a full-scale corporate culture transition, two company-wide Christmas celebrations, a company birthday, and helped with many more projects behind the scenes. Besides, I can’t but mention her delivery: all sessions with her are always extremely practical, engaging, and accessible to audiences at any level of understanding, which is crucial for a multinational company like ours.
“
After successfully facilitating several of our initiatives, Kristina became our go-to expert for any soft-skills trainings. So when we felt the need to work on conflict resoultion with our leadership team, we knew whom to approach. As with previous projects, Kristina created a very engaging and practice-focused workshop, based on feedback from our leaders and real-life conflict cases from our company. Originally, we wanted a general conflict resolution training, but Kristina convinced us to opt for the intercultural angle, as she thought this would be the best approach for our global, remote-first team.