Most HP acquisitions had not been very successful, and we wanted to make the HP-Indigo integration work. The challenges included different company cultures, different countries (US and Israel), different management styles, and split responsibilities where Indigo employees now reported to HP managers and vice versa. The people at the hinges (i.e., those closest to the edges of each organization) were feeling the most pain. Our goal was to better understand what was going on and to give these people tools to handle this challenge better; we also wanted to sensitize the company's leadership to these problems.

With Conversant's help we created a 2-day cross-boundary collaboration class. We did this in a very short time frame and invited key staff to the class, which was held in the Netherlands.

The class was very successful. The turning point came when everyone realized that neither group (HP nor Indigo) felt valued or appreciated. We quickly mapped a strategy that focused on what conversations we could have to make this situation better.

The findings from this class were taken to senior management who were surprised by the issue and pleased at the progress toward resolution. This process was the impetus for speeding up the integration of HP services and the sales function into the broader HP."

— Susan Copple Commercial Printing, Hewlett-Packard

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