A CASE STUDY
INFORMA: STRENGTHENING A GLOBAL CULTURE THROUGH CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE.
Informa is a business that thrives on global connections.
With colleagues in more than 38 countries, collaboration sits at the heart of how work gets done.
As teams grew more geographically spread and projects stretched across borders, something became increasingly clear.
Expertise alone was no longer enough.
People needed a shared understanding of cultural norms, the ability to interpret communication styles, and the capacity to build meaningful relationships across regions.
That realisation became the starting point for Informa’s Cultural Intelligence journey with Prabhaav.
INFORMA
14,000 Employees
30 Countries Worldwide
WHY CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE BECAME ESSENTIAL
The story began with a simple but consistent pattern. Teams were not struggling because they lacked skill. They were struggling because they were navigating different expectations around pace, hierarchy, decision, making and communication tone.
A meeting that felt direct in one region felt abrupt in another. A silence that signalled reflection for one team signalled disagreement for another. These small moments created friction and slowed collaboration.
Cultural Intelligence gave colleagues a structured way to decode these differences. It helped them step back, observe cultural cues and work together with more clarity and empathy.
The commercial opportunity was equally clear. Informa’s clients and partners are as diverse as the markets they operate in Sales, product and event delivery teams needed to adapt quickly when working across cultural contexts.
CQ equipped them to read the room, build trust faster and tailor their approach in ways that deepened relationships and enhanced commercial outcomes.
Beyond collaboration and customer engagement, CQ played a powerful role in strengthening inclusion. In a federated organisation, leadership styles, communication norms and expectations vary widely. CQ offered a practical and accessible way to create environments where people felt understood and seen.
The India workshops brought this to life beautifully, showing what can happen when cultural awareness becomes a lived practice rather than a theoretical idea.
Ritika’s session on Cultural Intelligence for the Informa teams across the world was simple and subtle, yet informative and thought provoking..”
Lord Stephen Carter, Group CEO, Informa
WHAT CHANGED
The impact of the work could be felt almost immediately.
The impact of the work could be felt almost immediately.
Teams reported fewer misunderstandings and more productive conversations.
Meetings became smoother and decisions were made with greater speed and clarity.
Colleagues grew more confident navigating cultural nuances and more grounded in their approach to global collaboration whilst leaders began using the language of CQ naturally.
It became a touchpoint for coaching conversations, project planning and conflict resolution.
It helped them build psychological safety within multicultural teams and strengthened their leadership presence across borders.
And over time, CQ shifted from being a workshop to becoming a shared global capability. It became part of how people thought, worked and connected. A common cultural thread running through a global organisation.
HOW WE DELIVERED THE WORK
Prabhaav designed and delivered a set of interventions that met colleagues where they were and brought CQ to life in diverse contexts.
This included:
A sixty-minute online workshop for the AMEA region
A sixty-minute online workshop for APAC
An in-person workshop at Informa’s Essex headquarters for all employees
An in-person workshop at the Mumbai office
An in-person workshop at the New Delhi office
Across these sessions, more than 650 colleagues from different time zones, functions and cultural backgrounds took part.
Working with Informa has been one of our most meaningful partnerships. They provided the opportunity to explore Cultural Intelligence across borders, prioritizing genuine impact over a 'tick-box' exercise. I am especially proud of our work with their India offices, bridging East-West dynamics to shift how teams collaborate”
Ritika Wadhwa
A partnership centred on people.
This work with Informa showed what becomes possible when an organisation invests in a capability that brings people together.
Cultural Intelligence didn’t replace technical expertise or local knowledge. It amplified them. It gave colleagues a shared lens through which to interpret difference, a shared language to navigate challenges and a shared mindset to collaborate more effectively across the world.
For Informa, it marked the beginning of a more connected, culturally aware and inclusive way of working. And for Prabhaav, it was a privilege to support a global organisation in building the skills and confidence to thrive across cultures.
If your organisation is already doing the work but behaviours aren’t quite aligning, or inclusion feels patchy across teams Cultural Intelligence can help close the gap.