5 Tips to Adopt with Different Workplace Cultures

From a theoretical perspective, workplace cultures could be a relatively difficult concept to elaborate on. However, it does have a significant influence on an individual’s career. Workplace cultures comprises of different elements. They could include a company’s business values, physical environment, management styles and even dress codes. Every organization has its individual culture that it is required to adapt to if you have to start a new job. A company’s workplace is a mixture of the organization's values, leadership, beliefs, traditions, interactions, behaviors and attitudes that could help to contribute towards the emotional and relational environment of a company’s workplace. To further elaborate this notion, we will describe five tips that can help to adapt to different workplace cultures:

Tip#1: Observe people’s behavior

This is a winning one in terms of workplace cultures. During your initial days post joining, observe how your peers interact with their supervisors and colleagues. It helps to know whether they make small talk or not because that is an indicator of the work environment. It will tell you whether the nursing unit manager is candid and cool with the subordinates or the subordinates maintain their distance out of respect. While all of this is a combination of the individual personalities of your coworkers, it will serve as a good example of what to do and what you should not do for yourself.

Tip#2: Don’t hesitate from asking questions

There are certain things that are not up to become observed in the first place. For instance, a coworker in your unit doesn’t interact much with the team unless unavoidable, or you have the same coworker treating two supervisors totally differently. You can ask your peers about these things in a non-intrusive polite manner when you feel easy too. This also helps workplace policy and procedure wise, because it avoids conflicts ahead of time. Don’t shy away from clarifying beforehand what the suggested procedure for things is at your workplace. When you start learning about new projects, processes and people at your new job, you should certainly not be afraid to ask questions. Take down comprehensive notes regarding everything you learn, even if it is very simple.

Tip#3: Try not to assume about or judge others

Including medical facilities and hospitals, every workplace has its own eccentricities. For instance, if you see a supervisor behaving apathetically, it’s possible the higher management’s giving them a really tough time. Or, the coworker who doesn’t socialize might be taking care of a sick child or parent at home. If you look at people’s behaviors without judgment and assumptions, you will find explanations for even the weirdest of patterns. It really does make all the difference by doing so since this directly helps you accept people as they are. Even as a professional, if you do happen to grow close to someone at your workplace, you should always maintain your individual relations aside.

Tip#4: Don’t make the mistake of comparing it to your previous job

While it may sound natural to compare your old job to the current one, don’t do it out loud. It makes people feel you are unhappy with your current job and they start resisting having a working relationship with you. The overall morale of the team gets affected if you just keep ranting on and on about how much better things and processes were at your previous job. This makes for a very annoying coworker to deal with, making people maintain their distance even more than you would want them to.

Tip#5: Treat your vertical relationships wisely

Vertical relationships are the ones that define the hierarchy and workplace cultures, such as a supervisor and his subordinates. The performance of a nursing supervisor gets judged by the overall performance of their team, which is derived from the individual performance of the nurses on the team. Since your supervisor has a lasting impact on your career as a nurse, it pays to foster a positive relationship with them early on. Ideally, supervisors encourage a close interpersonal environment, but that doesn’t always hold true.