Cigna Corp., a global health services organization, recently sent eight IT executives to Indonesia as the first project for the Cultural Agility Leadership Lab (CALL) at the D’Amore–McKim School of Business. The executives spent two weeks in Indonesia conducting research on the people and to helping to improve the computer capabilities for two anti-poverty groups. Cigna’s human resources officer for global information technology, John Staines, volunteered Cigna to complete the first project.
The Cultural Agility Leadership Lab was launched last fall through the help of a $100,000 donation from Northeastern’s Darla and Fred Brodksy Fund for International Initiatives. The program matches corporations with non-profit groups that are operated in developing regions throughout the world. Corporations that participate in the program provide volunteers for up to one month to help these non-profits with anything from marketing to finance to technology. Company employees gain knowledge and understanding of cultures and countries that can be important for global business.
The idea for CALL came from Paula Caligiuri. Caligiuri is a professor of international business and strategy at D’amore-McKim. She modeled CALL after programs used by corporations that send teams abroad for a short time to advise non-profits. CALL works with the Peace Corps to provide coaches to corporate teams to help them learn about foreign cultures and can accompany the corporations on international trips.
The group of Cigna executives worked with two non-profit groups to build websites, educate the employees on different computer programs and developing software programs. One group of Cigna employees worked with the East Bali Poverty Project, an organization that provides schools to teach children about nutrition, hygiene and agriculture. The other group of Cigna employees worked with the ROLE (Rivers, Oceans, Land, Ecology) Foundation, which helps to promote sustainable agriculture and women’s education and business development.