There weren’t many moments in London where I was directly confronted with differences in culture – most were little things that just confused me before I even realized it was an aspect of culture. My internship is where I was able to notice the most of these little behaviors, and where I spent the most time adjusting.
In my internship, I got to learn firsthand how very unstraightforward you have to be in the workplace. Sending emails was always accompanied by wordy greetings and thanks, corrections were delivered and worded carefully, and people were extremely polite. People went out of their way to be extremely nice in emails, chats, and even face to face business conversations.
To me, this all felt weird and unnecessary, as I am a straightforward person who doesn’t see the need for pleasantries if I’ve already talked to you earlier or am just asking for something simple or even because I work with you and don’t see the need. However, after working there for months my email style had definitely changed to reflect more of my colleagues’ after learning that it is something they expect and I would look very mean rather than straight to the point for disregarding their norms.
Learning such norms and cultural aspects organically definitely helped me realize the importance of taking on the culture you’re in, no matter how similar it may seem to your own. While ignorance of culture could have an impact on myself, had I not recognized and adopted to the workplace culture there, there could have been bigger consequences and losses for myself and the company.