While abroad I had a very difficult time adjusting to the very vague and hands off aproach to interns of the leadership I was under. I didn’t understand how to work with such little direction and support. A specific example of this was when I asked my supervisor for help understanding my assignment and she responded with “you’re doing fine” instead of offering assistance. This attitude that I perceived as rude was normal in the british workplace. Rather than being mentors, the british intern supervisors are exclusively supervisors. They have higher expectations and I had to adapt my work style in order to meet those expectations.
I felt this lack of guidance was very unfair towards me. I felt as though I was being asked to complete tasks that were of a higher level than I was at. It almost felt as though I was being set up for failure and left unassisted. It was especially frustrating for me when I asked for help and was ignored and left to figure it out on my own. In addition to this I almost felt as though my skills and ability to quickly make things work was being taken advantage of because I was free labor. In the United States internships are mostly for the benefit of the intern. In the United Kingdom internships were definitely more for the benefit of the company.
I felt that someone from the United Kindgom would see my experience as very genuinely “London”. I worked with people from many different countries that had very diverse backgrounds. In addition, I had a commute and worked in various parts of the city. Both of these aspects are essential to the London worker’s daily experience. I also think that someone from the UK would say that the conversations surrounding the weather, the banter-y humor and the off-standishness of my coworkers were all classically british. I think that a british person would find my frustrations quite normal. I do think that, given the multi-cultural nature of the people I worked with, some of the coldness and the lack of assistance was less the british tendency to be vague, and more the eastern european lack of expression.
I think that going forward, contexualizing every experience I encounter will be essential. While cultural reasons cannot be used to excuse poor behavior or treatment, cultural backgrounds can be used to better understand the root cause of such behavior. For example, if someone in the US is from the southern states, they may be more likely to want to chat and develop relationships with coworkers while if someone is from the northern states they may be less likely to want to be friendly with their coworkers. Neither of these approaches are incorrect, but a southerner in a northern state would be perceived poorly if the context of their background was not understood. Without understanding the educational and cultural backgrounds of my supervisors, I had a very hard time coping with the way they were treating me. But once I understood how they had grown up and what their intentions were the coldness was less of an issue. In future situations I will have to be sure to consider the cultural context.